A user of an instant messaging application may interact with instant messaging contacts in other collaboration applications (e.g., e-mail, calendar applications, etc.). IM conversations may relate to information in the collaboration applications. For example, an employee may send an e-mail containing marketing data to his manager and wishes to discuss the data further. The employee sends an IM to the manager referencing the data. The manager should read the e-mail before responding, but the manager may not know that she received the e-mail. Information from a plurality of collaboration applications can be integrated into an instant messaging application. A collaboration integration unit can collect and associate information from the collaboration applications with instant messaging contacts and provide suggestions based on the information. In the previous example, the manager's instant messaging application collects information from an e-mail application and indicates that she has an unread e-mail from the employee.