Patent ID: 7412437

Claim:
A method for searching a plurality of electronic messages exchanged between a plurality of users in one or more conversation threads, the method comprising: receiving a search query including search terms from a user; searching the plurality of electronic messages to identify one or more electronic messages that satisfy the search query, wherein the one or more electronic messages that satisfy the search query are included within one or more conversation threads; identifying one or more additional electronic messages that are included in the one or more conversation threads that include the one or more electronic messages that satisfy the search query wherein the one or more additional electronic messages do not contain said search terms; and presenting a search result to the user, wherein the search result includes (i) a listing of the one or more electronic messages that satisfy the search query, and (ii) indicia associated with individual ones of the one or more electronic messages that satisfy the search query, wherein the indicia associated with a given electronic message that satisfies the search query identify the one or more additional electronic messages that are included in the one or more conversation threads that include the given electronic message that satisfies the search query.