Managing changes to a directory of electronic documents

A method of providing electronic documents, the method comprising:

• creating a customized directory by mapping at least a portion of a master directory of the electronic documents into at least a portion of the customized directory, wherein the master directory is defined by a hierarchical taxonomy of a first set of categories into which one or more of the electronic documents are classified, and wherein the customized directory has a second set of categories;
• associating, with the customized directory, one or more customizations that reflect differences between the master directory and the customized directory;
• associating, with the customized directory, one or more judgements that indicate whether one or more of the electronic documents are properly classified in the second set of categories;
• in response to the master directory being modified by changes to one or more of the categories, automatically propagating the changes in the master directory to the customized directory, without overriding the customizations or judgements of the customized directory.

An apparatus for providing electronic documents, comprising:

• a second directory of the electronic documents that is based on a first directory of the electronic documents, wherein the first directory is at least partially defined by a hierarchy of a first set of one or more categories into which one or more of the electronic documents are classified, wherein the second directory has a hierarchy of a second set of one or more categories;
• wherein the second directory is associated with one or more customizations that indicate differences between the first directory and the second directory, and with one or more judgements that indicate whether one or more of the electronic documents are properly classified in the second set of categories;
• and
• a directory application software element that is capable of performing the steps of modifying the first directory by changes to one or more of the categories;
• and automatically propagating the changes to the second directory, without modifying the customizations or the judgements, to create and store a modified second directory.

A computer-readable medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions for providing electronic documents, wherein execution of the one or more sequences of instructions by one or more processors causes the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

• creating a second directory by mapping at least a portion of a first directory of the electronic documents into at least a portion of the second directory, wherein the first directory has a hierarchy of a first set of categories into which one or more of the electronic documents are classified, and wherein the second directory has a hierarchy of a second set of categories;
• associating, with the second directory, one or more customizations that indicate differences between the first directory and the second directory;
• associating, with the second directory, one or more judgements that indicate whether one or more of the electronic documents are properly classified in the second set of categories;
• in response to the first directory being modified by changes to one or more of the first set of categories, automatically propagating the changes to the second directory, without modifying the customizations or the judgements, to create a modified second directory.

A computer-implemented method for re-categorizing documents that have been categorized in a first directory based on a first hierarchy of categories, the method comprising the steps of:

• associating judgement data with sets of one or more of said documents;
• wherein said judgement data represents whether said sets of one or more of said documents are properly classified within a second hierarchy of categories;
• generating a second directory based on the first directory;
• wherein the second directory categorizes said documents based on the second hierarchy of categories;
• and
• wherein the step of generating said second directory based on said first directory is performed based on:
• a mapping between the documents and the categories of the second hierarchy of categories, and
• said judgement data.