Abstract: Mechanisms and techniques provide the system that allows the server computer system to capture the complete state of the browser process performing on a client computer system in a remote manner. The capture of such state information by a server computer system is useful, for example, to allow participants to a shared collaborative communications session to join such a session prior to initiation of such a session, or at any point in time during the lifetime of the collaboration session. In operation, the system of the invention can be initiated by browser process performing to the client computer system which obtains the capture process, for instance, as an applet. The capture process can extract from the browser process state information associated with the browser containing document contained within the browser.