Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

David R Goodhand

Brian W MacDonald

William J Bliss

Scott A Thurlow

Douglas E Stumberger

Processing electronic messages by applying a rule representing a combination of additions, actions, or exceptions. A conditions window is displayed to present conditions upon which a rule for processing electronic messages cause an action to be taken. A condition can be selected in response to an input signal. In turn, an actions window is displayed to present actions that may be taken in response to the selected condition. An action is selected in response to receipt of an input signal. The actions window is updated to display the current state of the rule in a natural language format presented as a contiguous string of appended clauses corresponding to both the selected condition and the selected action. To create a rule including an exception, an exceptions window is displayed to present a list of exceptions associated with the selected condition. In response to receiving an input signal, an exception corresponding to the input signal is selected. Based on the selection of that exception, the exceptions window is updated to display the current state of the rule in a natural language format presented as a contiguous string of appended clauses corresponding to the selected condition, the selected action, and the selected exception.

System and method for processing electronic messages with rules

In an electronic mail system environment, a system and method for automatically checking recipients' names, providing message flags, providing custom forms, and providing an autoresponse feature. Recipients' names are resolved in the background, while the user of the e-mail system is composing the message. The user easily resolves ambiguous names by using a context menu. The resolved ambiguous names are automatically used to create nicknames, which are used to resolve ambiguous names in the future. Message flags allow a sender or recipient to identify required follow-up action and a deadline. The recipient may use the message flags to quickly determine which messages require follow-up action. The e-mail system notifies a recipient when a due date is approaching or when a follow-up action is past due. A custom forms feature allows a user to create and share custom forms without requiring the form to be published or installed by other user. The custom form's attributes are transmitted to the recipient as an element of the e-mail message. An autoresponse feature allows a sender to create a message that includes voting buttons corresponding to the possible responses to a query. A recipient replies by selecting one of the voting buttons. The recipient's vote is automatically tallied in the sender's copy of the message, thus allowing the sender to view a vote tally, a list of the recipients, and their response.

System and method for resolving names in an electronic messaging

A desktop information manager includes a 'Rules Wizard' for creating and editing rules for processing electronic messages. The Rules Wizard allows creation of rules in a step-by-step manner by selecting natural language phrases representing conditions, actions, and exceptions. As rule components are selected by the user, the current rule is displayed in a natural language format. Variables are displayed as hypertext links. When the user specifies the value of a variable, the specified value is threaded back into the displayed rule. Templates and a rules from context feature expedite the construction of rules. Once created rules are stored on the client computer and possibly uploaded to the server in order to ensure efficient message processing.

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David R Goodhand