Patent ID: 7155481

Claim:
An e-mail management system comprising: an e-mail browser having a time variance interface that provides for storage into a storage media of e-mail messages that have been received over time, the time variance interface of the e-mail browser also providing for retrieval, from the storage media, of the state of an e-mail system corresponding to a user specified date, such that a retrieved e-mail message, the e-mail browser, a folder heirarchy within the email browser, and a message list appear in substantially the same way as on the date that the retrieved e-mail message was originally received; and the retrieved e-mail messages including an indication of the presence of an accompanying attachment(s) in the e-mail message, an affirmative indication providing the user with an option of retrieving content of the attachment(s) from the storage media such that the content of the attachment(s) is retrieved by the e-mail browser only when specifically requested by the user; wherein the storage media is divided into at least two subsets of storage media having different types of media, a subset for storage of e-mail messages and a separate subset for storage of e-mail attachments.