Importance

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Abstract

Information stored at a resource remotely located across a network is automatically imported according to pre-defined selection criteria, formatted in a form usable by a local processing resource, stored in the formatted form, and provided to the local processing resource for use by it. In one embodiment, a mailing list manager has an import module coupled to a browser. The import module receives a set of user-defined information selection criteria. The import module commands the browser to establish a network connection to a remote network resource containing desired information. When the connection is established, the browser requests information from the remote network resource according to the selection criteria. Information received from the network resource is stripped of unnecessary information, formatted for use by the mailing list manager and stored in a database maintained by the mailing list manager. In a preferred embodiment, the network resource is a Web server with a search page that is coupled to a searchable database of addresses, and the addresses are usable in a mailing list.

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First Claim