Patent ID: 7171468

Claim:
A method of providing access to a network-based document management system from a client, comprising the steps of: retrieving document management data from an associated document management module, which document management module is adapted to interface a networked document processing system; defining access point data representative of an access point within a local file system of the client; interfacing to said access point with a local file navigation interface such that document processing operations associated with the document management module are represented in a format native to the local file navigation interface; receiving from an associated user, via the local file navigation interface, document management instructions; and communicating received document management instructions to the document management module such that the associated user accesses the network-based document management system from within the local file navigation interface via said access point defined within said local file system; retrieving at least one electronic document file associated with the document management module, which electronic document file includes metadata corresponding thereto; and performing selected document management operations corresponding to retrieved document management data on the at least one electronic document file associated with the document management module such that metadata is retained for document management operations completed within the document management module and metadata is stripped for document management operations communicated outside of the document management module.