Patent ID: 6895426

Claim:
A computer-implemented process for allowing a user to manipulate an email address contained in the preview pane or full message window of an email message of an email program as an object, comprising using a computer to perform the following acts: identifying an entry in the preview pane or full message window of an email message as an email address, said identifying comprising, finding at least one field in the preview pane or full message window containing an email message header of the email message containing one or more email addresses, and parsing at least one email address from the at least one field in the preview pane or full message window which contains one or more email addresses; checking the email address against addresses in one or more contact databases to determine if it is contained in a contact database, wherein a contact database is a set of stored contacts and corresponding addresses, and wherein said checking comprises at least one of, determining if the address corresponds to a single contact in the contact list, determining if the address corresponds to a mailing list in the contact list, determining if the address corresponds to a newsgroup address in the contact list, determining if the address corresponds to an invalid email address or internet address, determining if the address corresponds to a valid email address not found to match any addresses in the contact list, and if so, ascertaining whether the user's computer is in correspondence with one or more servers, if the user's computer is not in correspondence with said one or more servers, appending an icon indicating to the user that more information is needed before sending the email message, flagging the address such that an act of determining if the address corresponds to an address in the contact list of said one or more servers must be performed prior to sending an email message, prompting the user to establish correspondence with said one or more servers, and upon establishing correspondence with said one or more servers, determining if the address corresponds to an address in a contact list of at least one server; marking the email address with an adjacently placed indicator; and upon selection of the indicator by the user, allowing the user to manipulate the email address as an object.