Patent ID: 8464161

Claim:
A method executed at least in part in a computing device for managing permissions in a network environment, the method comprising: providing an interactive user interface through a display for enabling one or more users to collaborate on one or more items associated with a collaborative workspace in the network environment, wherein the collaborative workspace defines a linked collection of one or more of: members, permissions, items, activities, notifications, and messages and wherein items include one or more of: word processing document items, spreadsheet document items, presentation-related document items, data items, discussion items; displaying on the display a menu providing a plurality of available functions for interacting with the collaborative workspace provided by the interactive user interface, wherein the available functions include one or more of: a workspace option, a document option, a people option, and a message option; displaying on the display a list of users associated with the collaborative workspace on the interactive user interface; displaying on the display the one or more items associated with the collaborative workspace in an item display portion of the interactive user interface, wherein the workspace stores the items as one or more of: an actual copy included in the workspace and a virtual copy with a reference pointer pointing to where the items are stored; enabling a user with administrative rights to add and remove items from the collaborative workspace utilizing a workspace management module; displaying on the display tasks associated with the collaborative workspace in an activity management module on the interactive user interface for enabling the user with administrative rights to set up tasks for one or more users associated with the collaborative workspace; displaying on the display a message thread in a discussion management module on the interactive user interface for enabling the one or more users associated with the collaborative workspace to exchange messages; upon detection of a request through an input device from the user with administrative rights to manage permissions for the one or more users associated with the collaborative workspace, providing a permissions user interface in a separate window overlapping with the interactive user interface on the display without losing a context associated with the collaborative workspace for enabling the user with administrative rights to specify a permission level of one or more local users associated with the collaborative workspace and to add one or more alternative users associated with one or more alternative systems that are separate from the collaborative workspace to the workspace; and enabling the user with administrative rights to modify the permission level of one or more users on the displayed list of users through drag-and-drop operations on the permissions user interface on the display.