Storage and management of mail attachments

Abstract

A system according to certain aspects improves the process of sending emails containing attachments. The system can detect a request to send an email containing attachments to one or more recipients, create a copy of the attachments on a network storage device, replace the attachments contained in the email with links to the copies of the attachments, and send the email containing the links to the one or more recipients.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 with one or more computing devices comprising computer hardware:   detecting a request to send a mail object to one or more recipients, the mail object comprising an attachment data file;   detecting, within the mail object, a keyword associated with a retention policy that specifies a first period of time for storing the attachment data file in a file system configured in a cloud storage system, wherein the file system is accessible to the one or more recipients and to a sender of the mail object;   generating a copy of the attachment data file in the file system in the cloud storage system;   tagging the copy, wherein the tagging comprises modifying at least one of: data in the attachment data file and metadata associated with the attachment data file to identify the retention policy;   replacing the attachment data file in the mail object with a link to the tagged copy stored in the cloud storage system;   sending the mail object comprising the link to the tagged copy of the attachment data file to the one or more recipients;   providing a user interface that allows users, including the sender and the one or more recipients, to access the tagged copy of the attachment data file in the file system in the cloud storage system; and   after the first period of time has expired according to the retention policy, deleting the tagged copy of the attachment data file from the file system in the cloud storage system.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein a storage manager comprising computer hardware and further comprising the retention policy, causes the deleting of the tagged copy of the attachment data file from the file system in the cloud storage system. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 detecting a subsequent request to send a subsequent mail object comprising the attachment data file; 
 determining that the tagged copy of the attachment data file is stored in the cloud storage system; 
 replacing the attachment data file in the subsequent mail object with the link to the tagged copy stored in the cloud storage system; 
 sending the subsequent mail object comprising the link to the tagged copy of the attachment data file to one or more subsequent recipients; 
 providing the user interface that allows the one or more subsequent recipients to access the tagged copy of the attachment data file in the file system in the cloud storage system until the period of time expires. 
 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the keyword is in an alias associated with a recipient of the mail object. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the keyword is in content included in the mail object. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the keyword is in the attachment data file. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 receiving a request to access the tagged copy of the attachment data file after the tagged copy has been deleted from the cloud storage system according to the retention policy; and 
 returning an error response indicating that the tagged copy of the attachment data file is no longer available. 
 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the tagged copy of the attachment data file is stored in the file system in the cloud storage system in a native format associated with the attachment data file, and
 wherein a secondary copy of the tagged copy of the attachment data file is stored on one or more secondary storage devices in a backup format different from the native format.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the user interface allows users, including the sender and the one or more recipients, to search for the tagged copy of the attachment data file in the file system in the cloud storage system. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 detecting a subsequent request to send a subsequent mail object comprising the attachment data file; 
 determining that the tagged copy of the attachment data file is stored in the cloud storage system; 
 detecting, within the subsequent mail object, a second keyword associated with a second retention policy different from the retention policy in the tagged copy of the attachment data file stored in the cloud storage system; 
 further tagging the copy, wherein the tagging comprises modifying at least one of data in the tagged copy and metadata associated with the attachment data file to identify the second retention policy, and wherein the tagging further comprises resolving a retention time for the tagged copy based on the first retention policy and the second retention policy; 
 replacing the attachment data file in the subsequent mail object with the link to the tagged copy stored in the cloud storage system; 
 sending the subsequent mail object comprising the link to the tagged copy of the attachment data file to one or more subsequent recipients; and 
 providing the user interface that allows the one or more subsequent recipients to access the tagged copy of the attachment data file in the file system in the cloud storage system. 
 
     
     
         11 . A method comprising:
 with one or more computing devices comprising computer hardware:   detecting a request to send a mail object to one or more recipients, the mail object comprising an attachment data file;   detecting, within the mail object, a keyword associated with a retention policy that specifies a first period of time for storing the attachment data file in a file system configured in a networked storage device in communication with the one or more computing devices, wherein the file system is accessible to the one or more recipients and to a sender of the mail object;   generating a copy of the attachment data file in the file system in the networked storage device;   tagging the copy, wherein the tagging comprises modifying at least one of: data in the attachment data file and metadata associated with the attachment data file to identify the retention policy;   replacing the attachment data file in the mail object with a link to the tagged copy stored in the networked storage device;   sending the mail object comprising the link to the tagged copy of the attachment data file to the one or more recipients;   providing a user interface that allows users, including the sender and the one or more recipients, to access the tagged copy of the attachment data file in the file system in the networked storage device; and   after the first period of time has expired according to the retention policy, deleting the tagged copy of the attachment data file from the file system in the networked storage device.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the networked storage device is configured in a cloud storage system. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the replacing is performed only if one or more replacement rules are satisfied. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein a storage manager comprising computer hardware and further comprising the retention policy, causes the deleting of the tagged copy of the attachment data file from the file system in the networked storage device. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the replacing is performed only if one or more replacement rules are satisfied, and wherein one of the one or more replacement rules is based on a file type of the attachment data file. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the replacing is performed only if one or more replacement rules are satisfied, and wherein one of the one or more replacement rules is based on a file size of the attachment data file. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 11  further comprising:
 detecting a subsequent request to send a subsequent mail object comprising the attachment data file; 
 determining that the tagged copy of the attachment data file is stored in the networked storage device; 
 replacing the attachment data file in the subsequent mail object with the link to the tagged copy stored in the networked storage device; 
 sending the subsequent mail object comprising the link to the tagged copy of the attachment data file to one or more subsequent recipients; 
 providing the user interface that allows the one or more subsequent recipients to access the tagged copy of the attachment data file in the file system in the networked storage device until the period of time expires. 
 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the keyword is in one or more of: an alias associated with a recipient of the mail object, the mail object, and the attachment data file. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the tagged copy of the attachment data file is stored in the file system in the networked storage device in a native format associated with the attachment data file, and
 wherein a secondary copy of the tagged copy of the attachment data file is stored on one or more secondary storage devices in a backup format different from the native format.   
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the user interface allows users, including the sender and the one or more recipients, to search for the tagged copy of the attachment data file in the file system in the networked storage device.