System and method for enabling an external-system view of email attachments

A method, implemented by an email application, for enabling a file-system view of email attachments on a computer having an operating system, wherein the email application appears as a file system to the operating system, the method comprising:

• receiving, by the email application, an email comprising one or more email attachments, wherein the email and the one or more email attachments are stored in a message store accessible by the email application;
• creating, based on the one or more email attachments, categories upon which to categorize the one or more email attachments separately from the email;
• categorizing the one or more email attachments and the email in accordance with such categories;
• receiving a request from the operating system for contents of the file system;
• mapping the categories into folder names and providing the folder names to the operating system;
• receiving a request from the operating system for contents of a select folder having one of the folder names;
• in response to receiving a request from the external system for email attachments associated with one of the categories, identifying any email attachments under the one category by reverse mapping the requested one category to a format applicable to the email application, mapping the email attachments associated with the one category to file names, and using the external system to display the file names as contents of the one category;
• mapping a folder name of the select folder to one of the categories;
• identifying each email attachment under the one of the categories;
• mapping each of the identified email attachments to file names and providing the file names to the operating system as the contents of the select folder;
• and
• in response to receiving a request from the operating system for a file having one of the file names, mapping the file name to a corresponding email attachment from the message store and providing contents of the email attachment to the operating system.

A method, implemented by an email application, for enabling a file-system view of email attachments on an external computer having an operating system, wherein the email application appears as a file system to the operating system, the method comprising:

• receiving, by the email application, an email comprising one or more email attachments, wherein the email and the one or more email attachments are stored in a message store accessible by the email application;
• creating, based on the one or more email attachments, categories into which to categorize the one or more email attachments separately from the email;
• categorizing the one or more email attachments and the email in accordance with the categories;
• providing the categories to the operating system as folders in the file system, wherein the files system is virtual;
• in response to receiving a request from the external system for email attachments associated with one of the categories, identifying any email attachments under the one category by reverse mapping the requested one category to a format applicable to the email application, mapping the email attachments associated with the one category to file names, and using the external system to display the file names as contents of the one category;
• in response to a request to access an email attachment, presenting the categories as the folders in the file system;
• in response to a request for contents of one of the categories, providing, from the message store, each email attachment under the requested category.

A method for enabling an email attachment to be tracked separately and viewed separately from a corresponding email using a system external to an email application that stores and processes emails, the method comprising:

• receiving, by an email application, an email comprising an email attachment, the email further comprising a header that includes metadata corresponding to the email and the email attachment;
• creating a first file comprising the email and the metadata corresponding to the email;
• assigning a first identifier to the first file;
• creating, based on the email attachment, a second file comprising the email attachment and the metadata corresponding to the email attachment;
• assigning the first identifier to the second file and a second identifier to the second file;
• and
• in response to receiving a request from the external system for email attachments associated with one of the categories, identifying any email attachments under the one category by reverse mapping the requested one category to a format applicable to the email application, mapping the email attachments associated with the one category to file names, and using the external system to display the file names as contents of the one category;
• storing the first file and the second file in a memory area accessible by the email application such that upon receiving a request from the external application to view the email attachment without viewing the email, mapping the second identifier and the metadata corresponding to the email attachment and providing the contents of the email attachment to the external application without the email.