Patent ID: 8631065

Claim:
A system for accessing functionality of a third party service through a collaboration application, the system comprising: an integration component for integrating the collaboration application with the third party service, wherein the integration component includes a bundle of files that are deployed to the collaboration application to enable an integration of the collaboration application with the third party service, wherein the integration component is configured to define a plurality of actions that are implemented when a user interacts with a content object within a mailbox item, and wherein the integration component is further configured to enable the content object to be responsive to the user interaction; a client software component for the collaboration application residing on a client system, the client software component comprising a user interface configurable to: present the content object to a user; and based on one or more of the defined plurality of actions, display an element that relates to the third party service while the user interacts with the content object presented by the user interface; and a server comprising a computer processor configured to perform the steps of: providing, to the client software component, configuration information relating to the third party service in order to configure the user interface to display the element and perform one or more of the plurality of actions; receiving a request to access the third party service from the client software component upon an interaction by the user with the displayed element; accessing the third party service to satisfy the received request; and transmitting a response from the third party service to the client software component, thereby enabling the client software component to perform the one or more of the plurality of actions.