HCL Notes
Overview
Stuff to make HCL Notes (formerly Lotus Notes, then IBM Notes) better. Note that most HR and expense stuff is in the "admin" database.
Vacation
Determining your vacation and comp time totals
In the timesheet database click Actions | Edit Employee Profile
Requesting vacation
Select "Open", sub-item "applications", in the search dialog enter "vacation", then search
Changing the browser
Lotus notes has the ability to change which browser it launches.
The cliff notes version: File / Preferences/ Web Browser.
Deos mail archive
There is a Lotus Notes database containing copies of all DDCI local Deos mail traffic. All mail sent to "deosgroup" or "Deos Archive" goes there.
File, Open, Database, PHX/ddci, mail, Deos Archive
If you send email to "deos", Lotus resolves that to "Deos Archive", so don't be surprised if you don't get any reaction since no one will see it
Disable Recent Contacts
On a related note, by default Notes will capture the email addresses of nearly everything. It then uses that for auto-completion. This can screw you in ways that you can't even imagine. You may want to change the default behavior.
Creating an HTML link to a document
To link a document stored in Lotus Notes from a web page, open the document in Notes. Then click Edit | Copy as Link | Document Link. Paste this into a text editor and it would look something like:
US CAF - 1 CAFs only\All <NDL> <REPLICA 07256439:0066C370> <VIEW OF<1D0E9898:A59F9698-ON07256502:007772C4> <NOTE OF<03403302:97AE6B55-ON072577B9:006519F6> <HINT>CN=PHX2/O=ddci</HINT> <REM>US CAF</REM> </NDL>
The HTML URL is going to be:
http://server/database/view/document
To get the database filename, select File | Database | Properties. To get the view you strip the colons and leading OF at the start and the -ON in the VIEW field of the link. Same thing to get the document id by stripping the same text from the NOTE field.
For the above document the link becomes: http://phx2/ucaf.nsf/1d0e9898a59f969807256502007772c4/0340330297AE6B55072577B9006519F6
Creating Email Rules
Lotus Notes email subsystem allows the creation of email rules. These rules can be configured to execute when certain email events occur, such as the arrival of new mail. One great use for this feature is to filter email sent by CCB.
From Lotus Notes email view (i.e., with an email message opened), choose Actions, More, Mail Rules.
Push the New Rule button and create a rule with the following (see also the picture below):
- Sender is bugzilla-daemon@deos.ddci.com
- AND Body contains CCB
- AND Body contains visited this PCR on
Stop Focus Stealing
Notes steals input focus regularly to notify of new mail. If you happen to be typing a C-X or delete when this happens there is a high probability that some message gets deleted from Notes without even noticing. This message which says the issue was resolved in Notes 8.x. They lie.
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21113895
To turn off focus stealing you must do the following:
File/preferences/ Mail/ sending and receiving / set no sound, no alert, no icon.
Making a local email file
If you suffer from long delays when reading mail, the solution is to replicate your email database to your local machine. The DDC-I convention for this is to construct a Peninsula location in Lotus Notes.
There is a version of this HowTo with pictures in Lotus Notes: Database 'PTC Computer Operations', View 'All Documents', Document 'Working Efficiently from a Remote Location with Notes (Approved: SHH)'
Create Peninsula Location
In Notes:
File, Mobile, Locations
You should see a list of locations including Internet, Home, etc. Select the Office (Network) location, Right click to copy and paste. Double click on the new location. You should now see the Location. Select "Edit Location" or double click on the Location Name:. The setup should be:
Location type: Local Area Network Location Name: Peninsula Internet Mail address: your DDCI email address.
The right hand pane should be unchanged.
Servers tab
Ensure that the "Home/mail server" is PHX/ddci.
Ports Tab
Should have both TCPIP and LAN0 checked.
Mail Tab
Mail file Location: Local Mail file: mail\your ddci user name, e.g., alarson Internet domain...: ddci.com Recipient name type ahead: Local Only ... Mail addressing: Local Only Send outgoing mail: through Domino Server ... Transfer outgoing mail if: 1 message pending
Mail addressing of "local" means you can only use your local address book. "local then server enables lookup in DDC-I's address book. Choose your poison.
Internet Browser tab
As you wish.
Replication tab
Enable replication: checked Replication is enabled for this location.
Create new replicas: Next Replication.
<checked> Replicate when Notes starts,
Don't prompt.
Schedule: checked Replication Interval
Choose your schedule. I chose 7am to 10pm every 5 minutes.
Instant Messaging tab
Ignored.
Advanced
Unchanged.
Administration
Unchanged.
Select Peninsula Location
On the bottom right of the Notes window, select the new location, it was probably "Home" or "Internet" previously.
Setup Replication
On the far left of the notes window select the Databases icon, then select "Workspaces". Now select the:
Your Name on Local
Icon. Right click and select Replication, New Replica. For alarson, the settings were:
Database Aaron Larson Server Local File path mail\alarson.nsf Encrypt, medium encryption Create immediately.
You should now have a little triangle on the upper right of the "Your Name on Local" email icon like thing. Select the triangle and then choose Local (it was previously PHX2/ddci).
Right click on the "Your Name on Local" and select Database, Properties..., on the top bar are several icons of indeterminate meaning. Select the one that looks like a hat with propellers (I think this means "advanced"). In the setting that contains:
Replicate unread marks: _ Never _ Clustered servers only X All servers
make sure "All Servers" is selected (it probably won't be).
