Patent Document ID: 7743103
Application ID: 10586136

Base Claim:
1. An electronic mail management system for handling electronic mail in a shared multiple user environment, in which the users' incoming electronic mail are sent and received from external correspondents, said system includes a common mail server with a central storage wherein electronic mail items of the users are stored and may be retrieved, said system comprising: detecting means for monitoring the flow of in- and outbound electronic mails on the mail server for a specified set of users, and intercepting the in- and outbound e-mails; journalising means for creating a notification record of a set of e-mail information data for each of the intercepted electronic mails, wherein the users can decide if intercepted electronic mails are to be available for a search query, whereby electronic mails are journalized and shared between a multiple of users; an electronic mail manager database (EMM-DB) for storing said notification records and the associated electronic mails in a relation database so that the notification records and the associated electronic mails are archived and made accessible for the users in the multiple users environment by a search query; a query builder (EQB) for creating predefined and ad-hoc search queries that can be applied/submitted to the EMM-DB, wherein a search query is selecting a user-defined series of information data from the notification records in the electronic mail management database irrespective of recipients or senders of said electronic mails; a query database (QUERY-DB) for storing said predefined and ad-hoc search queries; user access means for providing all users access to queries in the QUERY-DB and electronic mails in the EMM-DB, whereby the electronic mails are searchable independent of senders and recipients; and access control means (EAC) for defining user access rights to queries in the QUERY-DB and electronic mails in the EMM-DB.

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Claim 25:
25. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the e-mail journalising step include updating the journalising means, said updating means include a predefined journalisable acceptance criterion.