Patent ID: 7269787

Claim:
A method for document annotation, comprising: providing a contextual framework extending over multiple electronic documents and multiple software applications, wherein the framework is independent of the software applications that are used to create and view the documents; receiving annotations input to a computer by a user with respect to two or more of the documents, while the user views the documents on a computer screen, the two or more of the documents comprising at least a first document that is viewed by the user using a first software application on the computer, and a second document that is viewed by the user using a second software application on the computer, the annotations comprising an input from the user selecting at least one of the documents and indicating a location in the at least one of the documents at which at least one of the annotations is to be made; storing each of the annotations together with respective context information in a memory of the computer, the context information comprising multiple fields defined by the framework, the fields comprising a file name of the at least one of the documents and the location indicated by the user in the at least one of the documents; sorting the annotations with respect to the two or more documents according to one or more of the multiple fields of the respective context information; and outputting the sorted annotations for viewing by the user in an annotation listing comprising user-operable links from the annotations to the documents with respect to which the annotations were received.