AUTOMATIC CONVERSION OF EMAIL THREADS INTO COLLABORATIVE WORKSPACES

Automatic conversion of an email thread (or another form of electronic communication, such as IM chat content) into a collaborative workspace can begin with the detection of the addition of a reply message to an existing email thread by an email conversion handler. The existing email thread can include a main message and one or more reply messages. Satisfaction of user-defined or administrator-defined conversion criteria can then be assessed for the existing email thread. When the conversion criteria are satisfied, the existing email thread can be automatically converted into an artifact of a collaborative workspace contained within a collaborative environment. The collaborative workspace can be specific to the existing email thread. The designated participants of the existing email thread can be members of both the email and collaboration systems, and can be provided access to the collaborative workspace.