Patent ID: 7707257

Claim:
A method for transforming an email thread into an instant messaging (IM) conversation, the email thread comprising a plurality of related emails, the method comprising: receiving an indication from a participant in the email thread to transform the email thread into an IM conversation with the other participants of the email thread, wherein the plurality of plurality of related messages in the email thread have previously been received and stored by a respective email client of each participant in the email thread; inviting the other participants in the email thread to review the email thread in real time in an IM conversation, the inviting comprising: identifying the other participants in the email thread; collecting the IM addresses of the other participants in the email thread; and sending an invitation to the other participants in the email thread using the collected IM addresses; collecting, by each participant in the email thread, the plurality of previously received messages in the email thread stored by the respective email client of the participant; creating an IM conversation between the participants in the email thread; and displaying the plurality of messages in the email thread in the IM conversation to the participants.