Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Anthony G Thane

Ojiakonobi Udezue

Bryan T Starbuck

Andrew Keith Glover

Carmen Zlateff

Long Zhou

Daniel S Struthers

Geurt B De Raad

Techniques described herein allow applications that are separate from a mail client to provide conditions and actions for rules to be run upon messages received by or sent from the mail client. That is, these techniques allow a user to create a rule that includes an action and/or a condition that is provided by an application that is separate from the mail client. This created rule may then be run upon either or both of messages received by or sent from the mail client. When a rule includes a condition or an action that is provided by a separate application, the mail client exposes the message to the separate application to allow the application to test the condition and/or perform the action. As such, these techniques allow applications to seamlessly create and provide conditions and actions that are tailored to each particular application.

Rules extensibility engine

Functionality is described for collecting and presenting action information. The action information describes actions that take place on items at specified times. Among other applications, the functionality assists a user in identifying and accessing relevant items. In one illustrative case, the functionality can display action information in a timeline presentation.

Collecting and presenting temporal-based action information

Various embodiments protect against undesirable activities, in at least some embodiments, by combining the protection of a data or message filter with the user's own knowledge and judgment. In at least some embodiments, data or a message that is suspected of being associated with an undesirable activity is identified and indicia is provided to a user that the message is suspect. The data or message is presented to the user in a protected environment that allows the user to access the data or message in full fidelity, but prevents them from interacting with the data or message in a manner which would expose them to the undesirable activity. After reviewing the data or message in the protected environment, the user can decide how the message should thereafter be treated.

Protected environments for protecting users against undesirable activities

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Redmond, WA, United States of America

Anthony G Thane