includes the identifiers of the sender and the recipients if the user himself is in the recipient list the conversation assistant utilizes a unique character string or icon as his identifier at step 610 which is similar to the user 39 s identifier in the sender list for example the pronoun u201c me u201d in english can be used to represent the user in the concise message header at step 612 if the message is the first one to identify a particular recipient i e in the primary or secondary recipient fields of the message header in this conversation the conversation assistant will highlight the recipient 39 s identifier in the concise message header at step 614 next the conversation assistant decides how to display the sub form at step 616 if the message associated with the sub form has not been viewed or marked as read by the user the sub form is displayed in an expanded mode i e both the concise message header and the complete message body are displayed at step 618 if the message has been viewed or marked as read the sub form by default is displayed in a compacted mode containing only the concise message header and a portion of the message body e g the first few lines of the message at step 620 the user can subsequently expand the compacted sub form by clicking on it similarly the sub form does not show the detailed message header but does include an option for the user to choose if he wants to see the detailed message header at step 622 finally the conversation assistant at step 624 creates a set of reply options.