Patent ID: 7493359

Claim:
An e-mail categorization system comprising: a plurality of role templates, each role template being associated with an e-mail account and defining a plurality of categories for categorizing e-mail messages, wherein an authorized account holder establishes the plurality of categories and designates programmatic actions that are to be selectively executed by an e-mail receiving application upon the receipt of e-mail messages based upon categories of the received e-mail messages, and wherein role templates are distributed to e-mail originators so that when e-mail originators direct e-mail messages to an account associated with a role template, the originators are prompted to select one of the categories defined by a corresponding role template; an originator module associated with an e-mail application of one of the e-mail originators, the originator module having machine-readable code that directs a computing device to detect an e-mail origination event, responsive to the origination event and for each e-mail recipient that is to be conveyed an e-mail message, identify a role template associated with the e-mail recipient, and when a role template is detected, prompt the e-mail originator to designate one of the categories defined by the identified role template that pertains to the e-mail message; and a role manager module configured to mark selected categories defined by a role template as stale and to prevent new e-mail messages from being associated with a categories marked as stale, wherein the role manager module further defines actions that an account holder is to take when receiving e-mail messages associated with a stale category, and wherein one of said actions includes conveying an e-mail notification to the e-mail originator to inform the e-mail originator that a stale role has been designated against an e-mail message.