Patent ID: 7991844

Claim:
A method of processing a plurality of electronic mail files, wherein each electronic mail file includes a subject field of one or more strings, the method comprising: a computer machine checking a first string in the subject field of each electronic mail file against a list of prefixes to determine whether the first string matches any of the prefixes in the list of prefixes; said computer machine removing the first string that matches a prefix in the list of prefixes and reinserting the first string at the end of the subject field and thereby producing a revised subject field; and performing a sorting operation on the revised subject fields of the electronic mail files after each electronic mail file has been checked against the list of prefixes; said computer machine displaying a user interface to a user, wherein the user interface simultaneously displays both a prefix area and buttons, said prefix area displaying the prefixes in the list of prefixes as consecutive rows of text in the prefix area, a totality of text in each row of text in the prefix area consisting of one unique prefix in the list of prefixes, said prefix area and buttons being simultaneously viewable in different spatially non-overlapping regions of the user interface, said buttons displayed in consecutive rows of buttons within a portion of the user interface that is external to the prefix area, a totality of buttons in each row of buttons consisting of one unique button of said buttons, said unique buttons sequenced in a first direction within the user interface, said unique prefixes sequenced in said first direction within the user interface wherein said buttons being simultaneously displayed to the user consist of: a Create Prefix button whose functionality consists of enabling addition of a new prefix to the currently displayed prefixes in the prefix area; a Remove Prefix button whose functionality consists of enabling removal a selected prefix from the prefix area; a Cancel button whose functionality consists of enabling cancellation of a current action; a Validate button whose functionality consists of enabling validation of all current actions by the user; and a Help button.