Patent ID: 7640506

Claim:
A method for viewing and managing collaboration data from within the context of a shared electronic document, the method comprising: displaying a document editing pane for editing the shared document; and displaying a collaboration pane adjacent to the document editing pane, the collaboration pane including a section displaying a plurality of icons, each icon for selecting a view associated with one from a set of: an alert list, a collaborator list, a task list, a document list, a web browser, and a help menu, and the collaboration pane operative to display the collaboration data, wherein the collaboration data comprises, when an icon associated with the task list is selected, at least one task list identifying: at least one task to be performed; a subject matter of the at least one task; a priority of the at least one task; and a due date for completion of the task, when an icon associated with the document list is selected, at least one document list identifying: at least one document to be edited; a creating collaborator of the at least one document; a last modifying collaborator of the at least one document; and a last modification date of the at least one document, and when an icon associated with the web browser is selected, at least one link list identifying at least one link associated with the collaboration data.