Treatment of cloud-based and local attachments in communication applications

Abstract

Users of communication applications may be enabled to select from a user-friendly and efficiently provided list of files that may be of interest to them to attach to a correspondence and send to one or more recipients. For example, the communication application may retrieve information from one or more application programming interfaces (APIs) associated with applications of the user to determine the list of files. The files may be local files or cloud-based files, and a variety of criteria may be used to determine, group, and present the files to the user for selection. Once selected by the user, the files or links to cloud destinations of the files may be attached to the correspondence, where the files or links may be displayed in an attachment well or a body of the correspondence. Permissions associated with the attachments may be set by default, by user configuration, and/or modified by user.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for treatment of cloud-based and local attachments in a communication application, the method comprising:
 detecting an intent of a user to attach a file to a correspondence;   determining a list of local and cloud-based files of interest to the user;   displaying the list of the local and cloud-based files to the user for selection;   in response to receiving a selection of a file from the list, creating an attachment associated with the selected file in the correspondence, wherein the attachment is the selected file or a link to a location of the selected file;   displaying an option to the user to modify a permission associated with the attachment that is determined based on one or more of an original permission associated with the selected file and a user configuration such that the modified permission is enforced upon receipt of the correspondence with the attachment by a recipient; and   sending the correspondence with the attachment and the modified permission associated with the attachment to the recipient such that an option is provided to the recipient to set a more restrictive permission compared to the modified permission associated with the attachment in response to the correspondence with the attachment being forwarded to one or more other recipients.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining the list of local and cloud-based files of interest to the user comprises determining files based on whether the user has recently viewed, modified, saved, listened to, shared, pinned, or sent the files. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 one or more of ordering and grouping the list of local and cloud-based files based on whether the user has recently viewed, modified, saved, listened to, shared pinned, or sent the files and one or more of a recentness of user interaction with a file, a type of user interaction with the file, and a type of the file.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 one or more of ordering and grouping the list of local and cloud-based files based on one or more default rules, a user configuration, and an inference by the communication application.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 displaying the attachment in one or more of an attachment well and a body of the correspondence using one or more of a textual and a graphical scheme to represent the attachment.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 determining the list of local and cloud-based files by receiving one or more lists of files from one or more application programming interfaces associated with one or more applications of the user.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 if the attachment is the link to the location of the selected file, determining whether the recipient has access to the location of the selected file through a pre-existing service subscription such that a one-time guest access is created for the recipient if the recipient does not have access.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 if the selected file is a locally stored file, uploading the selected file to the cloud and attaching a link to a location of the uploaded file; and   if the selected file is a cloud-based file, downloading the selected file and attaching the downloaded file to the correspondence based on one of a default rule and a user configuration.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 in response to detecting an insertion of a link to a cloud-based file within a body of the correspondence by the user, automatically attaching the cloud-based file to the correspondence and displaying the cloud-based file as the attachment on a user experience associated with the user.   
     
     
         10 . A method for treatment of cloud-based and local attachments in a communication application, the method comprising:
 receiving a correspondence with an attachment, wherein the attachment is a file selected by a sender of the correspondence from a list of local and cloud-based files determined to be of interest to the sender or a link to a location of the selected file;   receiving, along with the correspondence, a modified permission associated with the attachment in the correspondence;   enforcing the modified permission associated with the attachment, wherein the modified permission is selected by the sender based on one or more of an original permission associated with the selected file and a user configuration associated with the sender; and   in response to detecting an intent of a recipient to forward the correspondence with the attachment to one or more other recipients, displaying an option to the recipient to set a more restrictive permission compared to the modified permission associated with the attachment.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein if the attachment is the link to the location of the selected file, further comprising:
 accessing the selected file using credentials of the recipient if the recipient has access to the location of the selected file through a pre-existing service subscription; and   accessing the selected file using a one-time guest access if the recipient does not have access to the location of the selected file.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the recipient is enabled to co-author the selected file upon accessing the selected file. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein if the attachment is a cloud-based file, further comprising:
 retrieving a latest version of the cloud-based file for display if the recipient in online; and   displaying a sent version of the cloud-based file in the correspondence if the recipient is off-line.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the latest version of the cloud-based file is continuously updated as the user, the recipient, or the one or more other recipients modify the cloud-based file. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein if the attachment is the link to the location of the selected file, the selected file is a cloud-based file, and the link is displayed in an attachment well of the correspondence prior to transmission to the recipient, further comprising:
 displaying the link to the recipient in one or both of an attachment well and a body of the correspondence if the link to the cloud-based file displayed in the attachment well is capable of being processed; and   displaying the link to the recipient as a link within the body of the correspondence if the link to the cloud-based file displayed in the attachment well is not capable of being processed.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising:
 if the correspondence is transmitted to multiple recipients, including the recipient, and an intent of the recipient to forward the correspondence to a group of recipients that includes at least one of the multiple recipients and at least one new recipient is detected, transmitting the forwarded correspondence with the attachment to the at least one new recipient and without the attachment to the at least one of the multiple recipients.   
     
     
         17 . A server for treatment of cloud-based and local attachments in a communication application, the server comprising:
 a communication interface configured to facilitate transmission of a correspondence between at least a sender and a recipient associated with the communication application;   a memory configured to store instructions; and   a processor coupled to the communication interface and the memory, wherein the processor, in conjunction with the instructions stored in the memory, is configured to:
 in response to a detection of an intent of the sender to attach a file to the correspondence, determine a list of local and cloud-based files of interest to the sender; 
 provide for display the list of the local and cloud-based files to the sender for selection; 
 create an attachment associated with a file selected by the sender in the correspondence, wherein the attachment is the selected file or a link to a location of the selected file; 
 provide for display an option to the sender to modify a permission associated with the attachment that is determined based on one or more of an original permission associated with the selected file and a user configuration such that the modified permission is enforced upon receipt of the correspondence with the attachment by the recipient; and 
 send, through the communication interface, the correspondence with the attachment and the modified permission associated with the attachment to the recipient such that an option is provided to the recipient to set a more restrictive permission compared to the modified permission associated with the attachment in response to the correspondence with the attachment being forwarded to one or more other recipients. 
   
     
     
         18 . The server of  claim 17 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
 treat the link to the location of the selected file as a local file such that the link is searchable within the list of the local and cloud-based files displayed to the sender for selection, wherein one or more of a graphical, a textual, a coloring, a shading, and a visual effect scheme is employed to distinguish between local and cloud-based files presented within the list, along with file types, file sources, and reasons for listing a file.   
     
     
         19 . The server of  claim 17 , wherein the local and cloud-based files include one or more of locally stored files at a computing device associated with the sender, files stored at a network drive associated with the sender, files from a social network, files from a professional network, files from a collaboration service to which the sender subscribes, and cloud-based files of other people. 
     
     
         20 . The server of  claim 17 , wherein cross-device support is implemented to determine the list of local and cloud-based files of interest to the sender based on files stored on multiple different computing devices associated with the sender.