17. A computer readable medium, not including a signal, containing computer executable instructions which when executed by a computer perform a method of automatically summarizing an electronic conversation thread, comprising: receiving a conversation thread comprised of electronic communications in response to searching a storage of electronic communications according to a first search criteria; processing the electronic communications of the received conversation thread to identify text components comprising the electronic communications, the text components including phrases in the electronic communications; receiving a selection of the electronic communications; discarding selected electronic communications being duplicates of other selected electronic communications, wherein the discarded selected electronic communications are consecutive to another selected electronic communication having the same terminology; ranking the selected electronic communications based on one or more ranking criteria including importance, weight or relevance of various features, and properties associated with each of the selected electronic communications; processing the text components to identify key words relevant to the conversation thread based on the ranking of the selected electronic communications; generating a conversation thread summary comprising a portion of the key words and the text components, wherein the key words and text components are selected to comprise the portion are based on the ranking of the selected electronic communications; and displaying the generated conversation thread summary in a user interface component for review by a user of the conversation thread.
17. A computer readable medium, not including a signal, containing computer executable instructions which when executed by a computer perform a method of automatically summarizing an electronic conversation thread, comprising: receiving a conversation thread comprised of electronic communications in response to searching a storage of electronic communications according to a first search criteria; processing the electronic communications of the received conversation thread to identify text components comprising the electronic communications, the text components including phrases in the electronic communications; receiving a selection of the electronic communications; discarding selected electronic communications being duplicates of other selected electronic communications, wherein the discarded selected electronic communications are consecutive to another selected electronic communication having the same terminology; ranking the selected electronic communications based on one or more ranking criteria including importance, weight or relevance of various features, and properties associated with each of the selected electronic communications; processing the text components to identify key words relevant to the conversation thread based on the ranking of the selected electronic communications; generating a conversation thread summary comprising a portion of the key words and the text components, wherein the key words and text components are selected to comprise the portion are based on the ranking of the selected electronic communications; and displaying the generated conversation thread summary in a user interface component for review by a user of the conversation thread. 18. The computer readable medium of claim 17 , wherein upon receiving a second conversation thread comprised of different electronic communications, generating a second conversation thread summary for the different electronic communications; and displaying the generated second conversation thread summary in the user interface component for review by the user of the conversation thread.