26. A system for searching messages, comprising: one or more servers, each having one or more processors and memory storing one or more programs for execution by the one or more processors, the one or more programs including: instructions for searching a message repository to identify conversations relevant to a search query, wherein each conversation in a subset of the identified conversations includes a plurality of messages, the messages sharing a common set of characteristics that meet predefined criteria independent of the search query, wherein the predefined criteria include a subject of the one or more messages and information other than the subject of the one or more messages; instructions for creating a list of conversations representing at least a subset of the identified conversations, each conversation in the list being represented as a single item in the list of conversations, at least one of the conversations in the list comprising two or more electronic messages from distinct senders; instructions for identifying, for each conversation in the list of conversations, a portion of conversation content relevant to at least one search term of the search query; and instructions for producing, for concurrent display at a client, a search result including at least the list of conversations, and the identified portion of conversation content for each conversation in the list of conversations.
26. A system for searching messages, comprising: one or more servers, each having one or more processors and memory storing one or more programs for execution by the one or more processors, the one or more programs including: instructions for searching a message repository to identify conversations relevant to a search query, wherein each conversation in a subset of the identified conversations includes a plurality of messages, the messages sharing a common set of characteristics that meet predefined criteria independent of the search query, wherein the predefined criteria include a subject of the one or more messages and information other than the subject of the one or more messages; instructions for creating a list of conversations representing at least a subset of the identified conversations, each conversation in the list being represented as a single item in the list of conversations, at least one of the conversations in the list comprising two or more electronic messages from distinct senders; instructions for identifying, for each conversation in the list of conversations, a portion of conversation content relevant to at least one search term of the search query; and instructions for producing, for concurrent display at a client, a search result including at least the list of conversations, and the identified portion of conversation content for each conversation in the list of conversations. 27. The system of claim 26 , wherein the one or more programs further comprise: instructions for identifying within the identified conversation content portion first text relevant to the search query; instructions for identifying within the identified conversation content portion second text which surrounds the first text; and instructions for including the first text and second text in the search result.