Methods, devices, and computer program for managing emails

Abstract

A communication method for managing emails in a system comprising at least one email server and one email managing module, the at least one email server comprising an email space of a user for storing emails sent, received, and / or transferred by the user, the method, in the at least one email managing module, comprising: obtaining, from the at least one email server, at least one email comprising an email body and at least one attachment, the at least one obtained email complying with an email format of the Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions, MIME, type, storing independently the email body of the at least one obtained email and the at least one attachment, and storing a link between the stored email body and the stored at least one attachment.

Description

[0001] METHODS, DEVICES, AND COMPUTER PROGRAM FOR MANAGING EMAILS

[0002] FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

[0003] The present disclosure generally relates to electronic communication management systems and in particular to archiving and retrieval of emails and associated attachments, for example of emails encoded according to the Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension (MIME) format within a corporate environment.

[0004] BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE

[0005] Email communication has become a part of personal and professional life, with billions of users worldwide relying on this mode of communication for daily correspondence. Despite widespread adoption and the role this mode of communication plays in modern communication, users and organizations face significant challenges in managing the ever-increasing volume of emails. The number of emails sent and received each day continues to grow, leading to congested inboxes, increased storage requirements, and challenges in locating specific emails or attachments.

[0006] Current email management solutions offer basic functionalities such as search capabilities and rudimentary organization systems. However, these solutions often fall short in addressing the complexities of modern email usage. Users experience difficulties in efficiently managing and archiving emails, particularly when searching for specific attachments or relevant content within a vast array of messages. Additionally, the existing systems do not adequately support the capitalization of email content at a corporate level or at a level of any organizations bringing people together (e.g., non-profit organizations, scientific organizations, etc.), nor do they facilitate the transfer of email assets within an organization. This leads to a fragmented approach to knowledge management and hinders the ability to maintain a comprehensive corporate memory.

[0007] Therefore, there is a need for improving the email management solutions.

[0008] SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

[0009] The disclosed method and system aim to address these challenges by providing an advanced email management solution. This solution enhances the management of emails by storing email bodies and attachments independently while maintaining a link between them. The method and system also offer robust search functionalities to facilitate the efficient retrieval of emails and attachments. The system is designed to operate with the Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) format. By improving the organization, searchability, and management of emails, the disclosed method and system offer a significant advancement over existing email management solutions, providing benefits to individual users and organizations in terms of productivity and knowledge preservation.

[0010] According to a first aspect, it is provided a communication method for managing emails in a system comprising at least one email server and one email managing module, the at least one email server comprising an email space of a user for storing emails sent, received, and / or transferred by the user, the method, in the at least one email managing module, comprising: obtaining, from the at least one email server, at least one email comprising an email body and at least one attachment, the at least one obtained email complying with an email format of the Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions, MIME, type, storing independently the email body of the at least one obtained email and the at least one attachment, and storing a link between the stored email body and the stored at least one attachment.

[0011] Accordingly, the present disclosure makes it possible to archive emails and attachments in an efficient way, particularly for retrieving emails and / or attachments as a function of their content and / or of other features like the sender of an email, the addressee, its date of transmission, etc. In addition, it makes it possible to control access rights to emails and / or attachments. This may be particularly useful in a corporate environment in which employees are likely to change jobs on a regular basis. Accordingly, knowledge deriving from emails and attachments may be transmitted easily between persons within a corporate organization. The email managing module may be an email managing server or may be implemented in an email server.

[0012] According to some embodiments, the email body of the at least one obtained email, the at least one attachment of the at least one obtained email, and the link between the stored email body and the stored at least one attachment are stored independently.

[0013] Still according to some embodiments, the at least one obtained email comprises metadata, the obtained metadata being stored in relation to the stored link between the stored email body and the stored at least one attachment and comprising at least an identifier of a sender of the at least one obtained email, an identifier of a recipient of the at least one obtained email, and a date of transmission of the at least one obtained email.

[0014] Still according to some embodiments, the method further comprises: obtaining a request for searching at least one stored email body and / or at least one stored attachment, based on at least one item of information associated with the obtained request, searching for at least one stored email body and / or at least one stored attachment, based on the at least one item of information, among a set of stored email bodies and among a set of stored attachments, and retrieving at least one stored email body and / or at least one stored attachment, as a result of the search.

[0015] Still according to some embodiments, the search comprises searching for the at least one item of information in at least one stored email body and / or in at least one stored attachment, the retrieved at least one stored email body and / or at least one stored attachment comprising the at least one item of information.

[0016] Still according to some embodiments, the search is further based on metadata.

[0017] Still according to some embodiments, the set of stored email bodies and the set of stored attachments belong to a same email space associated with a given user.

[0018] Still according to some embodiments, the method further comprises transmitting the retrieved at least one stored email body and / or at least one stored attachment.

[0019] Still according to some embodiments, the method further comprises modifying access rights of the retrieved at least one stored email body and / or at least one stored attachment to give access to the retrieved at least one stored email body and / or at least one stored attachment to a user different from the given user.

[0020] Still according to some embodiments, obtaining the request comprises receiving the request.

[0021] According to a second aspect, it is provided a device for an email managing server, the device comprising at least one database and a processing unit configured for obtaining, from an email server, at least one email comprising an email body and at least one attachment, the at least one email complying with an email format of the Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions, MIME, type, storing independently, in the at least one database, the email body of the at least one obtained email and the at least one attachment of the at least one obtained email, and storing, in the at least one database, a link between the stored email body and the stored at least one attachment.

[0022] Accordingly, the present disclosure makes it possible to archive emails and attachments in an efficient way, particularly for retrieving emails and / or attachments as a function of their content and / or of other features like the sender of an email, the addressee, its date of transmission, etc. In addition, it makes it possible to control access rights to emails and / or attachments. This may be particularly useful in a corporate environment in which employees are likely to change jobs on a regular basis. Accordingly, knowledge deriving from emails and attachments may be transmitted easily between persons within a corporate organization.

[0023] According to some embodiments, the processing unit is further configured for obtaining a request for searching at least one stored email body and / or at least one stored attachment, based on at least one item of information associated with the obtained request, searching for at least one stored email body and / or at least one stored attachment, based on the at least one item of information, among a set of stored email bodies and among a set of stored attachments, and retrieving at least one stored email body and / or at least one stored attachment, as a result of the search.

[0024] Still according to some embodiments, the processing unit is further configured so that the search comprises searching for the at least one item of information in at least one stored email body and / or at least one stored attachment, the retrieved at least one stored email body and / or at least one stored attachment comprising the at least one item of information.

[0025] Still according to some embodiments, the processing unit is further configured for modifying access rights of the retrieved at least one stored email body and / or at least one stored attachment to give access to the retrieved at least one stored email body and / or at least one stored attachment to a user different from a given user associated with an email space comprising the set of stored email bodies and the set of stored attachments.

[0026] At least parts of the methods according to the disclosure may be computer implemented. Accordingly, the present disclosure may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment (including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may all generally be referred to herein as a "circuit", "module" or "system". Furthermore, the present disclosure may take the form of a computer program product embodied in any tangible medium of expression having computer usable program code embodied in the medium. Since the present disclosure can be implemented in software, the present disclosure can be embodied as computer readable code for provision to a programmable apparatus on any suitable carrier medium. A tangible, non-transitory carrier medium may comprise a storage medium such as a floppy disk, a CD-ROM, a hard disk drive, a magnetic tape device or a solid-state memory device and the like. A transient carrier medium may include a signal such as an electrical signal, an electronic signal, an optical signal, an acoustic signal, a magnetic signal or an electromagnetic signal, e.g. a microwave or RF signal.

[0027] BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0028] Embodiments of the disclosure will now be described, by way of example only, and with reference to the following drawings in which:

[0029] Figure 1 illustrates schematically a communication system for exchanging emails, wherein some embodiments of the disclosure may be implemented;

[0030] Figure 2 and 3 illustrates schematically the logical architecture of at least a part of an email managing server, according to some embodiments of the disclosure;

[0031] Figure 4 illustrates an example of steps carried out in an email managing server to split an obtained email into a plurality of independent parts and to store these parts, according to some embodiments of the disclosure;

[0032] Figure 5 illustrates an example of steps carried out in an email managing server to access stored emails or items of stored emails to be retrieved and / or to manage stored emails, according to some embodiments of the disclosure; and

[0033] Figure 6 schematically illustrates a processing device configured to implement at least one embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0034] DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

[0035] Given the number of emails exchanged, their diversity, and the variety of systems used to send, receive, transfer, and manage them, it is very difficult to change the format of emails. Today, a large proportion of emails exchanged use the Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension (MIME) format. The MIME format was created in the nineties to meet a need for standardisation.

[0036] The MIME format structures emails to accommodate various content types beyond plain text. The structure and format of MIME emails is based on several components: - headers: MIME emails start with headers such as "From", "To", "Subject", and additional ones like "Content-Type" and "Content-Transfer-Encoding". These headers provide metadata about the email and its content,

[0037] - Content-Type Header: this header specifies the type of data contained within the email. It includes parameters like "charset" for character encoding and "boundary" for multipart messages,

[0038] - Content-Disposition Header: it specifies how the content should be displayed or handled upon receipt,

[0039] - Content-Transfer-Encoding Header: this header indicates how the message body is encoded for transmission, such as Base64 or quoted-printable encoding,

[0040] - Message Body: The body of the email may contain various content types, including plain text, HTML, images, audio, and video. Each part of the message body is separated by boundaries defined in the MIME headers, and

[0041] - Multipart Messages: MIME allows emails to contain multiple parts or sections, each with its own content type and encoding. These parts are separated by boundaries specified in the Content-Type header.

[0042] The recursive MIME structure enables emails to include rich content and attachments while maintaining compatibility across different email clients and platforms.

[0043] Unfortunately, in view of this structure, the MIME format makes it difficult to carry out efficient searches.

[0044] According to some embodiments of the disclosure, all the emails sent, transferred, and / or received by a user, for example in the MIME format, are provided to a managing email module to be copied in a dedicated database where they are stored in such a way that email bodies and email attachments are stored independently so as to improve searches within emails. Links between email bodies and email attachments are also stored so that each of the original emails may be recreated. Emails sent, transferred, and / or received by a user are stored independently for each user for security reasons. However, emails sent, transferred, and / or received by several users belonging to the same group, for example the same company, may be stored independently in the same environment so that an email administrator may control access to the emails, for example to give access to the emails (or to some of the emails) of a user when another user takes over the position. According to some embodiments, a robot is used in an email module to provide a copy of all the emails sent, transferred, and / or received by a user to an email managing module for storing emails as a set of bodies, attachments, metadata, and links and making it possible to carry out searches out and to manage access rights. The emails stored by a email managing module are preferably preserved, even if the corresponding emails are deleted from the email servers. An email module may be a software that is executed in an email server, in a dedicated server, in a computer cloud, etc. Likewise, an email managing module may be a software that is executed in an email server, in an email managing server (that may also store emails as a set of bodies, attachments, metadata, and links), in a dedicated server, in a computer cloud, etc.

[0045] Figure 1 illustrates schematically a communication system 100 for exchanging emails, wherein some embodiments of the disclosure may be implemented.

[0046] According to this example and as illustrated, users having communication devices 105-1 to 105-4, each provided with an email user agent (MUA), may send, receive, and / or transfer emails through a communication network comprising email servers (MS) 1 10-1 , 1 10-2, and 110-3, and email transfer agent (MTA) servers 115-1 , 115-2, and 115-3. In addition, the communication system 100 comprises an email managing server 120. For the sake of clarity, only one email managing server is represented, but it is to be understood that the communication system may comprise more than one email managing server. Still for the sake of clarity, it is assumed that an email managing server comprises an email managing module and a database for storing emails as a set of bodies, attachments, metadata, and links, but it is to be understood that other configurations exist, for example, the email managing module and a database for storing emails as a set of bodies, attachments, metadata, and links may belong to different computing devices.

[0047] Communication devices 105-1 to 105-4 may be personal computers or handheld devices such as smartphones or tablets that may be connected to the communication network via a cellular network (e.g., the 5G cellular network) or via WiFi (WiFi is a trademark).

[0048] For the sake of illustration, communication devices 105-1 and 105-4 are connected (directly or indirectly) to email server 1 10-1 that stores and forwards all the emails sent or transferred by the users of communication devices 105-1 and 105-4 and that stores all the emails addressed to the users of communication devices 105-1 and 105-4 and makes them available to the latter. Still for the sake of illustration, the emails sent or transferred by the users of communication devices 105-1 and 105-4 to email server 1 10-1 are sent according to the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) and the emails accessed by the users of communication devices 105-1 and 105-4 from email server 1 10-1 are accessed according to the Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP). Likewise, communication device 105-2 is here connected to email server 110-2 and communication device 105-3 is connected to email server 1 10-3, using the same protocols.

[0049] The email servers, the email transfer agent servers, and the email managing servers may be connected to each other through wire links, optical links, and / or any communication links using standard communication protocols, for example the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and SMTP.

[0050] Each of the email transfer agent servers 1 15-1 , 115-2, and 115-3 operates as a relay between an email server and another email transfer agent server or between two other email transfer agent servers, to route emails to the appropriate email server or email transfer agent server for delivery to the final recipient.

[0051] The portion of the communication network comprising email servers 110-1 , 1 10- 2, and 1 10-3, and the email transfer agent servers 115-1 , 115-2, and 115-3 may be a standard communication network.

[0052] According to the example illustrated in Figure 1 , a robot is used in email server 110-1 to provide a copy of all the emails sent, transferred, and / or received by the users of communication devices 105-1 and 105-4 to email managing server 120 wherein the obtained emails are stored as a set of bodies, attachments, metadata, and links and wherein searches may be carried out and access rights may be managed, as described by reference to Figures 2 to 5.

[0053] It is noted here that email managing server 120 may be used to store the emails of only one user, of several users of the same group, as illustrated, for example several employees of the same company, and / or to store the emails of several users of different groups, for example several employees of different companies, as described with reference to Figure 3. If email managing server 120 is used to store the emails of several users, either of the same group or of different groups, a user can only access the emails he / she has sent, transferred, and / or received while an administrator of a group of users can access all the emails of the users of this group (but he / she cannot access emails of users of another group).

[0054] As illustrated with the dotted arrow, a user, for example the user of communication device 105-1 , or an administrator, may access email managing server 120, for example to search for emails, email bodies, and / or attachments. Figure 2 illustrates schematically the logical architecture of at least a part of an email managing server, for example email managing server 120 in Figure 1 , according to some embodiments of the disclosure.

[0055] As illustrated, the logical architecture of the email managing server comprises a data extraction module 200 for obtaining emails, for example from an email server such as email server 110-1 , for example according to SMTP, and for extracting the different parts of the obtained emails. According to some embodiments, data extraction module 200 extracts, from each obtained email, the email body, each of the attachments (if any), and metadata such as the address of the sender of the email, the addresses of the addressees (main addressees and copied addresses), the date and time at which the email has been sent, the size of the email (e.g., in Kbytes or Mbytes), etc.

[0056] The logical architecture of the email managing server further comprises one or more databases for storing the extracted parts of the obtained emails. According to the illustrated example, the logical architecture of the email managing server comprises three databases, one for storing the email bodies (database 205), one for storing the attachments (database 210), and one for storing the metadata associated with the obtained emails and possibly the links between the email bodies and the attachments (database 215). According to some particular embodiments, the link between an email body, metadata, and possibly one or more attachments is done by using a unique identifier that is stored in relation to each of the email body, the metadata, and possibly the one or more attachments. According to other particular embodiments, pointers or hyperlinks are used to link the email bodies, the attachments, and the metadata.

[0057] The logical architecture of the email managing server also comprises a searching and management module 220. Searching and management module 220 makes it possible to search for emails, email bodies, and / or attachments, for example email bodies and / or attachments comprising given items of information and / or emails, email bodies, and / or attachments associated with given metadata. Such a search may be initiated by a user, for example to retrieve particular emails, email bodies, and / or attachments or may be initiated by an administrator, for example to change the access rights associated with stored emails to enable a user to access some emails of another user.

[0058] As illustrated, searching and management module 220 is accessible from a remote device, for from example communication device 105-1 in Figure 1 , enabling a user to search for emails, email bodies, and / or attachments among all his / her emails. The request may comprise searched items of information and / or metadata. Searching and management module 220 may also comprise a search and replacement function that may be used, for example, for General Data Protection Regulation (GPDR) purposes.

[0059] As illustrated, the logical architecture of the email managing server may also comprise a search database 225 for storing search queries and / or search results. Storing search queries and / or search results may be useful for selecting emails and / or attachments associated with a given context, for example a given project within a company, on a regular basis. For the sake of illustration, such a query may be a query directed to specific keywords (e.g., comprising a project’s name), to specific identifiers of email senders and / or receivers, and may concerns all the emails sent or transferred by or received from different users belonging to a particular working group of the same company. Such queries may comprise standard operators like ‘AND’, ‘OR’, ‘NOT’, etc.

[0060] According to some embodiments, searching and management module 220 may comprise an artificial intelligence, allowing for synthesis of search results, for example results stored in search database 225 and / or suggesting responses and action plans, for example on the basis of the search requests and the search responses stored in search database 225.

[0061] It is also observed that a friendly interface may be provided to users on their communication device, either as a local application or via a web interface, to consult easily their emails filtered by any searches at any time.

[0062] Figure 3 illustrates schematically the logical architecture of at least a part of an email managing server, for example email managing server 120 in Figure 1 , according to some embodiments of the disclosure, for handling the emails of several users belonging to several groups, for example several companies.

[0063] The logical architecture illustrated in Figure 3 is similar to the one illustrated in Figure 2 except that each of the databases 205, 210, and 215 is divided into sub-spaces referenced 205-1 to 205-m, 210-1 to 210-m, and 215-1 to 215-m, respectively, for storing parts of emails of a number m of users, and that it comprises several environments for storing emails of users belonging to different groups.

[0064] Accordingly, the emails sent, transferred, and / or received by a first user are stored in first sub-spaces 205-1 , 210-1 , and 215-1 of the databases, the emails sent, transferred, and / or received by a second user of the same group are stored in second sub-spaces 205-2, 210-2, and 215-2 of the databases, and so on. The databases 205, 210, and 215 are configured so that a user may carry out search only in his / her subspaces and / or in other parts of emails to which an access right has been given.

[0065] According to this example, databases 205, 210, and 215 belong to the same environment 300-1 that is associated with a first group of users. As described above, a group of users may correspond to users belonging to the same company. As illustrated, the email managing server may host several environments, here the environment 300-1 to 300-n, each environment being associated here with a group of users, for example with a company. According to some embodiments, the different environments of the email managing server are managed independently so that a right to access emails, email bodies, and / or attachments in a given environment cannot be given to a user or an administrator of another environment.

[0066] Figure 4 illustrates an example of steps carried out in an email managing server, for example in data extraction module 200 in email managing server 120 in Figure 2, to split an obtained email into a plurality of independent parts and to store these parts, according to some embodiments of the disclosure.

[0067] As illustrated, a first step is directed to obtaining an email (step 400), for example an email complying with the MIME format. Next, the obtained email is decoded (step 405). The email is decoded according to its format to obtain the body of the email, each of the attachments (if any), and the metadata of the email. As described above, the metadata of the email may comprise the address of the sender of the email, the addresses of the addressees (main addressees and copied addresses), the date and time at which the email has been sent, the size of the email (e.g., in Kbytes or Mbytes), etc.

[0068] Next, an identifier of the email is obtained (step 410). For the sake of illustration, such an identifier may be a 32-bit number incremented by one each time an email is received for the considered user. Since an identifier is unique for each email of a given user, it makes it possible to establish a link between the different parts of the email. According to other embodiments, pointers or hyperlinks to the email bodies and the attachments may be used. They may be stored, for example, along with the metadata.

[0069] After having obtained the different parts of the obtained email and an email identifier, the body of the email, each of the attachments (if any), and the metadata of the email are stored in relation to the email identifier (step 415). According to some embodiments, the body of the email is associated with the email identifier and stored in a sub-space of an email’s body database associated with the considered user in an environment associated with the group to which the user belongs. Likewise, the attachments and the metadata are associated with the email identifier and stored in a sub-space of an attachment database and of a metadata database, respectively, associated with the considered user in the environment associated with the group to which the user belongs. To enhance data security, the email bodies and / or attachments may be encrypted before being stored.

[0070] Figure 5 illustrates an example of steps carried out in an email managing server, for example in searching and management module 220 in email managing server 120 in Figure 2, to access stored emails or items of stored emails to be retrieved and / or to manage stored emails, according to some embodiments of the disclosure.

[0071] As illustrated, a first step is directed to obtaining a request (step 500), for example a request for retrieving stored emails, stored email bodies, and / or stored attachments or a request for modifying access rights to stored emails. The obtained request may be received from a remote communication device, for example communication device 105- 1 or 105-4 in Figure 1 , may be obtained from an input device of the email managing server (e.g., a keyboard), or may be obtained from a storage of the email managing server, for example search database 225 in Figure 2.

[0072] Next, the obtained request may be processed (step 505). For the sake of illustration, the obtained request may be split into several requests, for example a search request for searching emails, email bodies, and / or attachments and a request for changing access rights of identified stored emails.

[0073] Next, emails, email bodies, and / or attachments are searched (step 510). The search may be based on items of information to be retrieved in email bodies or attachments, on items of information not to be retrieved in email bodies or attachments, and / or may be based on metadata. For the sake of illustration, the search may comprise retrieving some email bodies and / or attachments comprising some keywords and not comprising other keywords of emails sent by a given sender in between two given dates.

[0074] Next, the retrieved message bodies and / or attachments may be processed (step 515), for example to change their access rights, transmitted (step 520), or stored (not represented).

[0075] Figure 6 schematically illustrates a processing device 600 configured to implement at least one embodiment of the present disclosure. The processing device 600 may be a device such as a computer, a workstation, or a server. In particular, processing device 600 may be used as an email server, an email managing server, or as a computing device in a cloud for carrying out particular tasks, for example embedding one or more email managing modules and / or one or more databases for storing emails as sets of bodies, attachments, metadata, and links.

[0076] The device 600 comprises a communication bus 605 connected to:

[0077] - a central processing unit 610, such as a microprocessor, denoted CPU;

[0078] - a read only memory 615, denoted ROM, for storing computer programs for implementing at least some parts of the disclosure;

[0079] - a random access memory 620, denoted RAM, for storing the executable code of the method of embodiments of the disclosure as well as the registers adapted to record variables and parameters necessary for implementing the method of encoding a sequence of digital images and / or the method of decoding a bitstream according to embodiments of the disclosure; and

[0080] - a communication interface 625 connected to a communication network 630 over which digital data to be processed are transmitted or received

[0081] Optionally, the apparatus 600 may also include the following components:

[0082] - a data storage means 635 such as a hard disk, for storing computer programs for implementing methods of one or more embodiments of the disclosure and data used or produced during the implementation of one or more embodiments of the disclosure;

[0083] - a memory card reader 640 for a memory card 645, the memory card reader being adapted to read data from the memory card 645 or to write data onto this memory card;

[0084] - a screen 650 for displaying data and / or serving as a graphical interface with a user, by means of a keyboard 660 and / or any other pointing means.

[0085] The communication bus provides communication and interoperability between the various elements included in the apparatus 600 or connected to it. The representation of the bus is not limiting and in particular the central processing unit is operable to communicate instructions to any element of the apparatus 600 directly or by means of another element of the apparatus 600.

[0086] The memory card 645 may be replaced by any information medium such as for example a compact disk (CD-ROM), rewritable or not, in general terms, by an information storage means that can be read by a computer or by a microprocessor, integrated or not into the apparatus, possibly removable and adapted to store one or more programs whose execution enables the method of encoding a sequence of digital images and / or the method of decoding a bitstream according to the disclosure to be implemented. The executable code may be stored either in read only memory 615, on the hard disk 635 or on a removable digital medium such as for example a memory card 645 as described previously. According to a variant, the executable code of the programs can be received by means of the communication network 630, via the interface 625, in order to be stored in one of the storage means of the apparatus 600 before being executed, such as the hard disk 635.

[0087] The central processing unit 610 is adapted to control and direct the execution of the instructions or portions of software code of the program or programs according to the disclosure, instructions that are stored in one of the aforementioned storage means. On powering up, the program or programs that are stored in a non-volatile memory, for example on the hard disk 635 or in the read only memory 615, are transferred into the random access memory 620, which then contains the executable code of the program or programs, as well as registers for storing the variables and parameters necessary for implementing the disclosure.

[0088] In this embodiment, the apparatus is a programmable apparatus which uses software to implement the disclosure. However, alternatively, the present disclosure may be implemented in hardware (for example, in the form of an Application Specific Integrated Circuit or ASIC).

[0089] Although the present disclosure has been described hereinabove with reference to specific embodiments, the present disclosure is not limited to the specific embodiments, and modifications will be apparent to a skilled person in the art which lie within the scope of the present disclosure.

[0090] Many further modifications and variations will suggest themselves to those versed in the art upon referring to the foregoing illustrative embodiments, which are given by way of example only and which are not intended to limit the scope of the disclosure, that being determined solely by the appended claims. In particular the different features from different embodiments may be interchanged, where appropriate.

[0091] In the claims, the word “comprising” does not exclude other elements or steps, and the indefinite article “a” or “an” does not exclude a plurality. The mere fact that different features are recited in mutually different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these features cannot be advantageously used.

Claims

CLAIMS1. A method for managing emails in a system comprising at least one email server and one email managing module, the at least one email server comprising an email space of a user for storing emails sent, received, and / or transferred by the user, the method, in the at least one email managing module, comprising: obtaining, from the at least one email server, at least one email comprising an email body and at least one attachment, the at least one obtained email complying with an email format of the Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions, MIME, type, storing independently the email body of the at least one obtained email and the at least one attachment, and storing a link between the stored email body and the stored at least one attachment.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the email body of the at least one obtained email, the at least one attachment of the at least one obtained email, and the link between the stored email body and the stored at least one attachment are stored independently.

3. The method of claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the at least one obtained email comprises metadata, the obtained metadata being stored in relation to the stored link between the stored email body and the stored at least one attachment and comprising at least an identifier of a sender of the at least one obtained email, an identifier of a recipient of the at least one obtained email, and a date of transmission of the at least one obtained email.

4. The method of any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising: obtaining a request for searching at least one stored email body and / or at least one stored attachment, based on at least one item of information associated with the obtained request, searching for at least one stored email body and / or at least one stored attachment, based on the at least one item of information, among a set of stored email bodies and among a set of stored attachments, and retrieving at least one stored email body and / or at least one stored attachment, as a result of the search.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the search comprises searching for the at least one item of information in at least one stored email body and / or in at least one storedattachment, the retrieved at least one stored email body and / or at least one stored attachment comprising the at least one item of information.

6. The method of claim 4 or claim 5, depending on claim 3, wherein the search is further based on metadata.

7. The method of any one of claims 4 to 6, wherein the set of stored email bodies and the set of stored attachments belong to a same email space associated with a given user.

8. The method of any one of claims 4 to 7, further comprising transmitting the retrieved at least one stored email body and / or at least one stored attachment.

9. The method of any one of claims 4 to 7, further comprising modifying access rights of the retrieved at least one stored email body and / or at least one stored attachment to give access to the retrieved at least one stored email body and / or at least one stored attachment to a user different from the given user.

10. The method of any one of claims 4 to 9, wherein obtaining the request comprises receiving the request.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a program which, when executed by a microprocessor or computer system in a device, causes the device to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 10.

12. A device for an email managing server, the device comprising at least one database and a processing unit configured for: obtaining, from an email server, at least one email comprising an email body and at least one attachment, the at least one email complying with an email format of the Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions, MIME, type, storing independently, in the at least one database, the email body of the at least one obtained email and the at least one attachment of the at least one obtained email, and storing, in the at least one database, a link between the stored email body and the stored at least one attachment.

13. The device of claim 12, wherein the processing unit is further configured for: obtaining a request for searching at least one stored email body and / or at least one stored attachment, based on at least one item of information associated with the obtained request, searching for at least one stored email body and / or at least one stored attachment, based on the at least one item of information, among a set of stored email bodies and among a set of stored attachments, and retrieving at least one stored email body and / or at least one stored attachment, as a result of the search.

14. The device of claim 13, wherein the processing unit is further configured so that the search comprises searching for the at least one item of information in at least one stored email body and / or at least one stored attachment, the retrieved at least one stored email body and / or at least one stored attachment comprising the at least one item of information.

15. The device of claim 13 or claim 14, wherein the processing unit is further configured for modifying access rights of the retrieved at least one stored email body and / or at least one stored attachment to give access to the retrieved at least one stored email body and / or at least one stored attachment to a user different from a given user associated with an email space comprising the set of stored email bodies and the set of stored attachments.

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