Abstract: Persistent public calendar searching is described. A library of public calendars is automatically searched to identify public calendars that may be of interest to a particular user. Public calendars that are identified as being of potential interest to the user are then recommended to the user. If the user selects a recommended public calendar, then the public calendar is integrated with the user's personal calendar so that both the user's personal calendar data and the public calendar data can be presented to the user through the user's personal calendar.

Abstract: While You Were Away (WYWA) functionality is described for alerting a user to events which have transpired between a time that the user ceases interaction with an electronic environment and a time that the user resumes interaction with the electronic environment. The detected events may include news stories, Email messages, offline instant messenger (IM) messages, and so forth. The WYWA functionality can order the events based on at least one ordering criterion, as well as group the events into multiple categories. The WYWA functionality displays the events in a user interface panel that is presented to the user upon the resumption of their use of the electronic environment.

Abstract: Strategies are described for propagating and responding to announcements within an environment having pre-established social groups, such as pre-established instant messenger social groups. More specifically, a member within a group can create an announcement, whereupon the announcement becomes associated with the member's identity. The member can then propagate that announcement out as part of their identity to members within the member's immediate social order group. If the member so authorizes, the announcement can also be propagated out to other social groups linked to the member's immediate social group. A member within the immediate social group or one of the linked social groups can responds to the announcement. The use of pre-established social groups to transact announcement-related exchanges provides a level of trust not offered by conventional network-based messaging and merchandising services.

Abstract: Attachment browser is described. In an embodiment, an attachment browser displays a selection of communications received from multiple sources where each of the communications has an attachment. A representative image of each attachment is organized for display according to an attribute of the respective attachment, and a portion of each communication is displayed proximate an associated representative image to maintain the association of a communication and a respective attachment.