Patent ID: 8701046

Claim:
A method, comprising: receiving user input identifying a scope for item retrieval, wherein scope comprises one of: a local storage location for items, or a search query for retrieving one or more items, the items comprising at least one of: electronic mail messages and electronic mail message attachments; retrieving items according to the identified scope; associating items related to the retrieved items with the retrieved items, wherein when the scope is a local storage location the items related to the retrieved items include items that are stored in a different storage location, and when the scope is a search query, the items related to the retrieved items include items that do not meet the search query; aggregating items within the identified scope with related items outside of the identified scope; presenting a group of the aggregated items in a hierarchical display within a user interface; and displaying an aggregate header for the group of aggregated items, the aggregate header indicating all of the message authors and message senders, a total number of items in the group of aggregated items and a status of items in the group that are within the identified scope.