Patent ID: 8578280

Claim:
A method for collaboration over a computer network, comprising: intercepting data regarding one or more application level events that occur within a first instance of a stand-alone application operable to create and edit to documents in response to user actions, and wherein the one or more application level events reflect user actions that result in changes to a native document file generated by the first instance of stand-alone application; transmitting data comprising the native document file and the data regarding one or more application level events over the computer network, automatically and in real time, to a second instance of the stand-alone application; and causing the second instance of the stand-alone application: to display a local copy of a document corresponding to a local copy of the native document file, to receive and use the data comprising data regarding one or more application level events to replicate the events that occurred within the first instance, to mirror the user actions performed in the first instance without user intervention by performing an equivalent action on the local copy of the native document file and thereby make corresponding changes to the local copy of the native document file, and to display the changes to the local copy of the document, wherein no events that have an effect outside the stand-alone application are propagated to provide security of the collaboration.