Monday, August 11, 2008

What is Lotus Notes

© Moreniche

What is Lotus Notes

Lotus Notes is powerful, multi-faceted software that helps people work together effectively.

With Notes, people can work together regardless of technical, organizational, language, or geographical boundaries.

Lotus Notes is designed to perform tasks that normally require many applications to complete.

Servers and Notes Clients

Notes consist of a Domino server and the Notes client.

The Domino server provides services to Notes client users and other Domino servers including storage of shared databases and Notes mail routing.

The Notes client communicates with Domino servers so you can use, among other things, shared databases, read and send mail and browse the Web.

Notes Workspace

The Notes workspace, user interface for Notes, displays pages containing database icons.

To find the Workspace click the databases folder on the Bookmark bar, then select Workspace:


Elements of Notes



Message types are indicated by icons to the left of the message subject lines.

View icons in mailNotes Preferences

You can customize Notes so that it runs and displays just the way you want it to.

Most of the Notes preferences can be accessed from File - Preferences - User Preferences.

Notes also include a little application called Notes Minder that notifies you when you have mail, even when Notes is not running.

Passwords

Passwords prevent others from using your User ID to access databases.

For security reasons, when you enter your password in the text box, it appears as a series of Xs.

Note: Passwords are case-sensitive.

For example, Notes interprets "MickeyMouse" and "mickeymouse" as different passwords


To set or change your password

Choose File - Security - User Security.

Enter your password and click OK.

In Security Basics click "Change Password" under "Your Login and Password Settings."

Enter your password again and click OK.

In the "Change Password" dialog box, enter a new password in the "Enter new password" field, and then enter it again in the "Re-enter new password" field.

Click OK.

DELIVERY OPTIONS

Importance

· On the Basic tab, select Normal, High, or Low in the Importance field and click OK. If you select High, Notes displays an exclamation point next to the message when the recipient receives it.

· On the Basic tab, select one of the following in the "Delivery report" field and click OK.

· Only on failure - Notes sends you a delivery report only if it cannot deliver the message

· Confirm delivery - Notes sends you a delivery report informing you whether your message was delivered or not.

· Trace entire path - Notes sends you a report from each server through which it routes the message and a final report indicating whether it delivered the message or not.

· None - Notes does not send you a delivery report.

Priority

· On the Basic tab, select one of the following in the "Delivery priority" field and click OK.

· High – Notes routes the message immediately.

· Normal – Notes routes the message the next time your mail server is scheduled to send mail.

· Low - Notes waits until off-peak hours to route the message.


Others

· On the Basic tab, select "Return receipt" and click OK to confirm when a recipient opens a message you sent.

· On the Basic tab, Select "Prevent copying" and click OK to prevent recipients from copying a message that you send.

· On the Basic tab, select Auto spell-check to have Notes automatically spell checks your message before delivery.

· On the Basic tab, select a type in the "Mood stamp" box and click OK.

FOLDERS

Folders let you store and manage related documents.

Folders are also convenient because you can drag documents to them and double click them to see their contents.

You can keep a folder personal, or share it with other users of a database.

When you create a personal folder, Notes stores it in the database.

To Create a Folder

Select or open the database where you want to create the folder.

Choose Create - Folder.

Enter a name for the folder in the "Folder name" box and click OK.

To put a document into a folder

Select the document you want to store.

Choose Actions - Move to Folder.

To Rename a Folder

In the Inbox, select the folder.

Choose Actions - Folder Options - Rename.

Enter a name, and then click OK.

To Move a Folder

In the Inbox, Select the folder you want to move

Choose Actions - Folder Options - Move.

In the "Choose a folder" list, click the folder into which you want to move the selected folder.

To Delete a Folder

In the Inbox, Select the folder you want to move

Choose Actions - Folder Options - Delete.

To Add a contact

Open your address book and click "Add Contact."

Specify the person's name under Names.

Type the person's mail address in the "E-mail address" field. Click the button to the left of the field to select the type of mail the person uses.

(Optional) Specify any other information about the person you want to save on the Basics, Details, and Comments pages.

(Optional) Click Advanced and specify advanced contact options.

Click "Save and Close."

To Edit a contact

Open your address book and open the contact.

Make your changes and click "Save and Close."

To Delete a contact

Open your address book and select the contact.

Click "Delete."


Calendar and Scheduling

Use the Calendar to keep track of meetings, appointments, anniversaries, reminders, and events (collectively referred to as Calendar entries).

Calendar view

Opening and viewing Calendar

To open Calendar, do one of the following:

Click the Calendar bookmark

Calendar Icon

From your mail database, click the down arrow next to the Mail or To Do header and choose "Switch to Calendar" from the menu.

Switch to Calendar


Change the format of the Calendar view

From the menu, choose View - Change Format

Click the Calendar's Day, Week, Month, or Meetings tab:

Day, Week, Month, Meetings lists

Double-click a date in any Calendar view to open that day in the One Day format.

Creating calendar entries

· Create an appointment to Schedule a period of time for yourself

· Create a meeting invitation to Invite others to meet with you for a period of time

· Create an anniversary to Schedule a specific, annual date (such as a birthday) for yourself

· Create a reminder to Remind yourself of something at a specific time

· Create an all-day event to Schedule a day or period of days for yourself

See a summary of entries in the current view

Choose View - Show - Summary. Repeat to return to the main Calendar view.

Summarize button

See an entry's information

· Hold your pointer over an entry to see a pop-up window with basic information.

Move to a particular date

· Choose View - Go To Date, then enter a date or select a date using the date box. Click OK.

· Move to the current day -Choose View - Go To Today.


To create a Calendar entry

1. Open the Calendar.

2. Click the New action button in the action bar at the top of the Calendar view and select

3. Appointment, Anniversary, Reminder, or All Day Event.

4. Enter subject information in the Subject field of the Calendar entry form.

5. Select a date, time and time zone in the Starts field(s). If necessary, make date, time, and time zone selections for the Ends field(s).

6. (Optional) Select Repeats to make the entry a repeating one. Then specify repeat options in the repeat Option dialog box.

7. (Optional) Enter a location in the Location field. For example, Massachusetts.

8. (Optional) Select a category in the Categorize field.

9. (Optional) Select Mark Private to prevent people who can read your Calendar from reading the entry. People who can manage your Calendar can see the date and time, but not the contents of the entries.

10. (Optional) Select Pencil In to keep the time of the entry free in your free time schedule.

11. (Optional) Select "Notify me" next to the Alarm icon on the right side of the Calendar entry and specify options in the Alarm notification option dialog box if you want to be reminded of the entry.

12. (Optional) Add text or items such as file attachments or graphics to the Description /Agenda field.

13. Click Save and Close. Notes add the entry to the Calendar.

Editing a Calendar entry

1. Open the Calendar.

2. Double-click the entry to open it.

3. Make changes.

4. Click Save and Close. (If the entry is a repeating one, select which instances should change in the dialog box that pops up.)

Deleting a Calendar

1. Open the Calendar.

2. Select the entry you want to delete.

3. From the menu, choose Edit - Delete.

To set an alarm on an entry

1. Create a new Calendar entry, or open an existing one.

2. Select "Notify me" next to the Alarm icon on the right side of the Calendar entry.

3. In the "Alarm Notification Options" dialog box, enter a value in the field next to "Alarm will go off" to represent the number of minutes, hours, or days to offset the alarm from the Calendar entry's actual start time or date.

4. Select Before if you want the alarm to go off before the entry's start time or date, or After if you want it to go off after the entry's start time or date.

5. (Optional) Use any of the following options:

6. Play a sound when the alarm triggers.

7. Send e-mail with the subject from the Calendar entry when the alarm triggers.

8. Click OK and Save the entry.

To set your free time schedule

1. Open Calendar.

2. From the menu, choose Actions - Tools - Preferences.

3. Click the Calendar & To Do then the Scheduling tab.

4. Under "Your Availability" select the appropriate time zone from the Time Zone list. The default is Local, which is your default time zone.

5. Select the days of the week you are available under "Day of Week," then specify the hours you are available for each day.

6. (Optional) If you want Notes to check for conflicts when accepting or scheduling a meeting, under "When Adding an Entry to Your Calendar," select "When adding appointments, accepting meetings, scheduling a new meeting" under "Check for conflicts with other entries."

7. (Optional) If you select "When adding appointments, accepting meetings, scheduling a new meeting," you can also select "Note a conflict if entry occurs outside available hours described above" to show a conflict if someone attempts to schedule a meeting for a time that is not available according to your preferences.

8. Click OK.

To schedule a meeting

1. Open the Calendar.

2. Click the "Schedule a Meeting" action button on the action bar.

3. Enter text in the Subject field in the meeting form.

4. Enter both Start and End dates, times and time zones (optional) for the meeting.

5. (Optional) Select Repeats to make the entry a repeating one. Then specify repeat options in the repeat option dialog box.

6. Enter names in the Invitees fields (click the address book icon to enter names using the Select Addresses dialog box).

7. (Optional) To check schedule of invitees, click the Scheduler icon next to "Click to see Invitee, Room and Resource availability" to check invitee availability.

8. Enter text in the Location field to describe the general location of the meeting (for example, the name of the city where the meeting will take place).

9. In the Room field, enter the name of the room you want to reserve for the meeting. To add a room from an address book, click the icon to open the Rooms dialog box.

10. In the Resource field, enter the name of the resource you want to reserve for the meeting. To add a resource from an address book, click the icon to open the Resources dialog box.

11. (Optional) Select Pencil In to keep the time of the entry free in your free time schedule.

12. (Optional) Select a category in the Categorize field.

13. Enter detailed meeting information (including text, document links, file attachments, objects, and pictures) in the Description field at the bottom of the meeting form.

14. Choose Actions - Delivery Options to change Delivery Option for the notice that Notes delivers to invitees.

15. Click the "Save and Send Invitations" action button on the action bar.


Organizing Your Tasks with the To Do list

The To Do list, like Calendar, is a special view in your mail database. It provides a convenient way for you to create, display, and organizes tasks.

To Do view

Opening and viewing the To Do list

To open the To Do list, do one of the following:

Click the To Do bookmark.

To Do Icon

From your mail database, click the down arrow next to the Mail or Calendar header and choose "Switch to To Do" from the menu.

To Do switcher

To create a personal To Do

1. Open the To Do list.

2. From the menu, choose Actions - New To Do Item.

3. In the To Do Item form, enter text in the Subject field.

4. Select Myself next to "Assign To."

5. (Optional) Select a priority for the item in the Priority field.

6. (Optional) In the Category field, select or enter a category for the entry.

7. (Optional) Enter dates in the "Due by" and "Start by" fields.

8. (Optional) Select Repeats to make the entry a repeating one.

9. (Optional) Add text, document links, file attachments, objects, and pictures to the Description field.

10. (Optional) Select "Mark Private" in the upper right corner to prevent people who have access to your Calendar from viewing details of the To Do. They can only see the date and time of the To Do.

11. (Optional) Select "Notify me" to set Alarm notification option for the item in the "Alarm Notification Options" dialog box.

12. Click Save and Close.

To edit an existing To Do

1. Open the To Do list.

2. Open the To Do you want to edit.

3. Make your changes.

4. Click Save and Close, or Save and Send Assignment (if the item is a Group To Do).

Deleting a To Do from the To Do list

1. Open the To Do list.

2. Select the To Do(s) you want to delete.

3. From the menu, choose Edit - Delete. The To Do is permanently deleted.


Marking a To Do complete

1. Once you have completed a To Do, you can mark it complete. After you do so, Notes displays a green check mark next to the item in the To Do list.

2. To mark a To Do complete

3. Open the To Do list.

4. Select the To Do(s) you want to mark complete.

5. Click the "Mark Complete" action button in the action bar

Archiving databases and documents

1. Notes lets you archive databases automatically on a regular basis, or manually.

2. You can have Notes automatically archive documents in a database depending on settings you specify.

3. You can also select a document or documents at any time and archive them immediately.

4. Before you can archive a database or a document, you must first establish some archive settings.

To set archive settings

1. Open the database.

2. Choose File - Database - Properties.

3. Click Archive Settings.

4. Click Basics and Advanced to see all settings.

To archive a database

1. Open the database.

2. Choose File - Database - Archive.

3. If there are no archive settings for the database, you are asked if you want to create some.

4. Click "Yes" to the dialog box that asks if you want to archive documents from this database.

5. To archive selected documents in mail

6. Select one or more documents.

7. Choose Actions - Archive - Selected Documents, or drag the documents over to the archiving icon.

ARCHIVE OPTIONS

· Archive Now - Archives documents immediately according to your archive settings. Creates an archive database if one does not exist.

· Open Log - Opens the Log database specified in your settings. (You need to have created a log by archiving at least once.)

· Selected Documents - Immediately archives documents you have selected

· Settings - Opens the Archive Settings dialog.

· Open the database you want to archive, choose File - Database - Properties and click "Archive Settings." Click Settings, add or edit a set of criteria, and click "Select Documents."

· Select an activity option.

· If you selected either "Not accessed" or "Not modified," specify a "for" number (for example, 365) and interval (for example, days), and click OK.

· (Optional) If you want to use these activity settings only on documents in specified folders or views, complete the next procedure.

· Specifying a schedule archiving

· Choose File - Database - Properties.

· Click the "Archive Settings" button and click Advanced.

· Select "Scheduled archiving will occur locally" and click the Schedule button.

· Select a time from the drop-down list by dragging to the time you want and clicking the check mark.

· Select all the days on which you want archiving to run.

· (Optional) Leave "Any location" selected, or click "Specific location:" and select the locations in which you want archiving to run.

· (Optional) To remove your customizations, click "Reset to default."

· Click OK twice.

RULES

· You can use mail rules to have Notes act automatically on new messages you receive that meet certain conditions. For example, you could create a rule that checks for messages from a certain sender or that contain a certain subject and have Notes automatically move the messages to a certain folder.

· Notes stores the mail rules you create in the Rules folder in your mail database. You can go there to add new rules as well as work on the ones you've created


TO CREATE A RULE

1. Open your mail database and click the Rules folder

2. Click "New Rule."

3. Under "Specify Conditions," select a part of messages to check (such as "sender" or "subject"), select a state (such as "contains" or "is"), and type the criteria to check for (such as the name of a certain person or a certain word).

4. For example, you could select "sender," select "contains," and type Alice to filter all messages sent to you by Alice French, Alice Stearns, and anyone else named Alice. Or you could select "Size (in bytes)," select "is greater than," and type 2000 to filter all messages sent to you that are greater than 2000 bytes.

5. Do any of the following:

· Add more conditions - Select Condition, select "AND" or "OR," and repeat Steps 3 and 4 for each new condition.

· Add an exception - Select Exception and repeat Steps 3 and 4.

· Add more exceptions - Select Exception, select "AND" or "OR," and repeat Steps 3 and 4 for each new exception.

· Remove a condition or exception - Click it in the "When mail messages arrive" box and click

· Remove.

· Remove all conditions and exceptions - Click "Remove All."

6. Under "Specify Actions," select "move to folder," "copy to folder," "change importance to," or "delete. “

7. If you selected "move to folder" or "copy to folder," click "Choose Folder" and select a folder. If you selected "change importance to," select an importance level.

8. Click "Add Action. “

9. Do any of the following:

  • Add more actions - Repeat Steps 6 through 8 for each new action.

  • Remove an action - Click it in the "Perform the following actions" box and click Remove.

  • Remove all actions - Click Remove All.

10. Click OK.


TO MANAGE RULES

· Enable or disable a rule - Open the Rules folder and highlight one or more rules, Click "Enable Rule" or "Disable Rule" in the Action bar.

· Edit a rule - Open the Rules folder and click the rule, Click "Edit Rule", Make your changes and click OK.

· Move a rule - Open the Rules folder and click the rule, Click "Move Up" or "Move Down" until the rule is where you want it.

SETTING UP OUT-OF-OFFICE MAIL

You can have Notes automatically reply to mail that you receive while you're out of the office. Notes runs an agent on your mail server that sends messages to the people who send you mail, telling them you're out and when you're returning.

Open your mail, click Tools, and choose "Out of Office."

Specify the dates on which you are leaving and returning.

Optional you can do any of the following:

  • Change the message or subject of the message that Notes sends

  • Send a different message to certain people

  • Cancel replies to people who send you Internet mail

  • Cancel replies to certain people or groups

  • Cancel replies to messages sent to groups that you're part of

  • Cancel replies to messages whose subject contains certain text

TO DISABLE OUT-OF-OFFICE MAIL

Open your mail, click Tools, and choose "Out of Office."

Click Disable and then click Yes.

Managing junk mail

· You can set up your mail file to control junk mail, such as bulk mail messages and spam mail.

· Simple unwanted mail comes from individuals you know, companies you recognize, and sources that do not want to be identified.

· The Junk Mail folder allows you to view messages labeled junk and retrieve those that you want to keep.

· The Junk Mail folder also provides tools for managing blocked addresses, as well as the option for restoring blocked addresses.

· You have two options for managing junk mail in Notes: Block Mail from Sender and QuickRules.

Block Mail from Sender

This feature allows you to filter incoming messages and move those from specific senders directly to the Junk Mail view.

To block mail from a specific sender

1. In your mail file, open a message from the sender whose messages you want to block. You can also block messages from several senders at once by selecting a message from each sender to be blocked.

2. From the menu, choose Actions - Tools - Block Mail from Sender. The Block Mail from Sender dialog appears, confirming the address to be blocked.

  • Choose "Block mail from this sender (sender@domain.com)," where sender@domain.com is the sender of the message, to block mail from that specific sender.

  • Choose "Block mail from any address that ends with (domain.com)," where @domain.com is the message's originating domain. Choosing this option blocks all mail from this domain, regardless of sender.

3. Click OK. All future incoming messages from this sender, as well as the selected document, will be added to the Junk Mail folder. If you have selected multiple messages, the confirmation dialog will be presented multiple times.

To unblock mail

In your Junk Mail folder, select the message(s) from the senders whose messages you no longer want to block.

On the tool bar, click Actions - Tools - UnBlock. A dialog box appears, confirming that you want to remove the email address from the Blocked Senders list. Click Yes.

To create a QuickRule

In your mail file, select the message that will be used as the model for the QuickRule.

Choose Actions - Tools - Create QuickRule. Note that the Conditions fields are completed with the appropriate values from the selected message


Flagging messages for follow-up

You can flag a mail message with an icon to indicate whether the message requires urgent, normal, or low-priority action. Flagging a message also places it in the Follow Up view and miniview, which show only messages requiring follow-up. If you move the flagged message from your Inbox to a folder, the flag stays with the message.

1. From a mail view, select one or more messages you want to follow up on, and choose Actions - Follow Up - Add or Edit Flag.

2. Indicate the importance of the follow-up action by selecting priority levels.

3. (Optional) Specify the action you need to take.

4. (Optional) Enter a date and time for the action.

5. (Optional) To set an alarm, do the following:

6. Click OK.

1 comment:

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