Patent ID: 7647559

Claim:
A method for navigating between one or more attachments to one or more electronic mail messages, the method comprising: displaying a user interface for an electronic mail application on a computing device, the user interface for the electronic mail application having a list pane for navigating among unopened electronic mail messages and a reading pane for previewing an unopened electronic mail message and one or more attachments associated with the unopened electronic mail message; displaying a list of the electronic mail messages in the list pane, the list comprising header information associated with the one or more electronic mail messages; receiving a selection of one of the electronic mail messages in the list, the selected electronic mail message having one or more attachments; and displaying a selectable identifier for the selected electronic mail message and for each of the one or more attachments associated with the selected electronic mail message, the displayed identifiers for navigating among the electronic mail message and the one or more attachments and for selecting to preview the electronic mail message or an attachment in the reading pane without switching context of the electronic mail application, wherein selection of the electronic mail message in the list selects the identifier for the selected electronic mail message and displays in the reading pane: a preview of the selected electronic mail message without opening the selected electronic mail message, the selected identifier for the selected electronic mail message, and a selectable identifier for each of the one or more attachments associated with the selected electronic mail message for navigating to and displaying a preview of the one or more attachments in the reading pane without opening the one or more attachments, and wherein selection of a selectable identifier corresponding to an attachment associated with the selected electronic mail message, while the preview of the selected electronic mail message is being displayed in the reading pane, deselects the selected identifier for the selected electronic mail message and displays in the reading pane: a preview of the corresponding attachment replacing the preview of the selected electronic mail message in the reading pane without opening the corresponding attachment, the selected identifier for the corresponding attachment, and a selectable identifier for the selected electronic mail message for navigating to and displaying a preview of the selected electronic mail message in the reading pane without opening the selected electronic mail message.