Patent ID: 7475114

Claim:
A method for notifying the recipient of an electronic message mail of a local action required to the contents of the electronic mail message comprising the steps of: receiving an electronic message; determining whether there is a local action required by recipient in response to the contents of the message; when the determination is that a local action is required, determining a priority for the received electronic message based on sender supplied information and inserting the message into a priority message list; when the determination is that a local action is required, informing recipient of such local action requirement; performing periodic message reply checks to determine whether recipient has performed an action in response to the contents of the message within a specified time period by examining action completion information supplied by recipient, said periodic checks being performed until the completion of the local action requirement or as desired by the message sender; after a periodic check and a determination that recipient has not responded to a local action requirement, generating a message at the recipient location to remind the recipient to perform an action in response to the received message, when there is a determination that recipient has not performed an action in response to the received message within a determined period of time; continuing to perform checks to determine whether that recipient has responded to a local action requirement; detecting a completion status of a local action requirement from information supplied by recipient; and transmitting an action completion message to the sender of the original electronic message notifying the sender of the completion of the local action by the recipient.