When patents published by Microsoft become public, most of them will provide a hint on the future of product releases. In some cases like this, Microsoft tries patent the existing stuff. With this patent, Microsoft is trying to patent conversation based grouping in email. Abstract: Described are embodiments for displaying groups of communications, such as messages, as a conversation. Conversations are groups of communications that can be traced back as related to an original communication. The embodiments allow a user to select a conversation mode for displaying communications, e.g., messages, as conversations. In response to the user’s selection, embodiments provide for displaying a graphical element associated with a conversation. The graphical element can be selected to display the messages associated with the conversation. Additionally, embodiments provide for selecting a conversation and applying actions to the conversation, resulting in the application of the action to the messages that are associated with the conversation. Source: USPTO

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