Patent ID: 7996469

Claim:
A method for sharing a file between a first user being online and a second user being offline, the method comprising: sending from a server in a collaborative communication system a user directory to a first client machine after the first user logs into the collaborative communication system via the first client machine, the user directory including a plurality of registered users including the second user, wherein the collaborative communication system facilitates various communications among the registered users with the collaborative communication system, the various communications including internal mail exchanging, file sharing and message exchanging, each of the registered users is associated with an identifier that is not in form of an email address but uniquely identifies the each of the registered users in the collaborative communication system for delivering the various communications; allowing the first user to choose the second user from the user directory; providing a utility to allow the first user to choose the file from the first client machine; receiving from the first client machine a request to upload the file intended for the second user to a store remotely located with respect to the first client machine; retaining the file in the store after the file is received; and notifying the second user of the file being available to access when the second user logs into the collaborative communication system via a second client machine, wherein said notifying the second user of the file being available to access is performed using the identifier of the second user and includes sending a notification without a copy of the file, the notification is generated by a computing device in the collaborative communication system and delivered to the second user without using an email address, the file is downloaded to the second client machine when the second user accesses the file in the store.