Patent ID: 7421690

Claim:
A system for threading e-mail messages, comprising: a mailbox processor module for receiving e-mail messages including a first e-mail message and a second e-mail message; a mailbox, communicatively coupled to the mailbox processor module, for electronically storing the received e-mail messages; a threading engine, communicatively coupled to the mailbox processor module, for: determining that the first received e-mail message is related to the second e-mail message, the second e-mail message received subsequent to the first e-mail message; creating an e-mail thread if the first e-mail message is related to the second e-mail message; associating the e-mail thread with the first e-mail message and the second e-mail message, the e-mail thread additionally including a thread header, the thread header having e-mail thread information derived from attributes of at least one of the first or second e-mail messages; and a display device operable to display information about one or more received e-mail messages in a user interface including displaying information from at least one unthreaded e-mail message and thread header information, the displayed thread header information being distinct from information displayed for individual e-mail messages and where the thread header information is displayed in the mailbox in place of mailbox entries for the first e-mail message and the second e-mail message associated with the e-mail thread.