Patent ID: 7730147

Claim:
A method for use in a computer system comprising an email message system that manages a plurality of email messages and an email archive system, wherein the email archive system archives at least some of the plurality of email messages and replaces at least a portion of an archived email message in the email message system with a short cut identifier, wherein the email message system comprises an email message server and at least one email message client, wherein the email message system supports creation of user email accounts, wherein the email message client executes on a client computer that a user of the client computer having an email account operates to manage the user's email messages accessible via the user's email account, the user's email messages comprising at least a portion of the plurality of email messages, wherein the email message client comprises a local message store on the client computer that stores local copies of at least some of the user's email messages, wherein the email archive system comprises a local archive store on the client computer that stores at least some of the user's archived email messages, the method comprising: (A) receiving a plurality of requests each requesting that the local archive store be provided with at least one of the archived email messages, the plurality of requests including requests of a first type and requests of a second type; and (B) prioritizing at least some of the plurality of requests so that at least one request of the first type is given higher priority and processed prior to at least one request of the second type that was received prior to the at least one request of the first type.