Patent ID: 8010613

Claim:
A method, in an email system, for allowing a first user to select an email, belonging to an email thread, on a user interface and for automatically suppressing emails addressed to the first user related to the selected email and belonging to the email thread, the email system having a thread suppress filter with suppression settings, the method comprising: receiving, from the first user, a selection of an email belonging to the email thread; receiving, from the first user, suppression settings; receiving, from the first user, an indication that a thread suppress control button on the user interface has been selected by the first user; receiving, from a second user, an email addressed to the first user; determining whether the received email belongs to the same email thread as the selected email according to the suppression settings; and if so, acting upon the received email based upon the thread suppress filter suppression settings, the acting comprising deleting the received email or moving the received email to a predetermined folder, thereby suppressing the received email belonging to the email thread; wherein the determining further comprises examining MIME <message-id>and MIME <references>headers of the received email to determine whether the received email belongs to the same email thread as the selected email according to the suppression settings, wherein the MIME headers are used to determine an email thread which is characterized by a common sender/recipient list.