Abstract: Calendar objects on a data processing system include an item, a due date and a priority value. The objects are reprioritized according to their due dates and priority values. For each object, a difference between the respective due date and a selected date is determined. The selected date is typically the current date. An importance value is determined by combining the difference with the priority value of each object. The objects are sorted and ranked according to their importance values. The sorted objects are then displayed to a user. If the due date is passed the selected date, then a past due notification is provided to the user for that object.

Abstract: An action contained within an electronic mail object is communicated from a data processing system to another data processing system via an audio device. The action is executable on a data processing system. At the sending data processing system, the action is converted to a predetermined audio pattern. The electronic mail object may contain text in addition to an action. The text is also converted to an audio pattern. The audio patterns are then communicated to the audio device over telephone lines or other communication medium. At the receiving end, the audio device records the object. A user can provide the recorded object to a data processing system, which then executes the action and converts the text audio patterns back to text. In addition, the action can be converted to text and displayed on the data processing system.