Filip Norrgård’s blog @ filips.net
Filip’s blog about mobile technology, tech itself and other stuff

Dump Lotus Notes And Use Microsoft Outlook Instead!
3 July 2006 in How-To & Rant | Comments enabled

Man, anyone with a sense of good taste knows that Lotus Notes should be killed, enclosed in lead and sent to the earth’s core to melt. Why this radical distaste of Lotus Notes? Well, the major one is the hideous, out-dated, over-complicated, farce of a so-called user interface. (On second thought, maybe it isn’t such a good idea to send Notes to melt in the Earth’s core, since Notes might end up causing problems there… :D )

Anyways, here is my guide to getting Microsoft Outlook to get your mail, calendars and tasks in a Notes-Domino-hell environment:

Thanks

Thanks goes to the Magpiebrain’s guide Using Outlook 2003 to read Lotus Notes email. It helped me get started on installing the Notes Connector, when I was having problems with it.

Also thanks to Microsoft for releasing the Notes Connector. Without it, I probably would have gone mad from using Notes too much and letting it fragment the RAM into trillions of pieces.

Requirements

You will need the following before proceeding:

• Outlook 2003/2002 Add-in: Notes Connector
• Microsoft Outlook 2003 (2002 might also work, but I haven’t tried it)
• Lotus Notes installed (yes, sadly it needs to be installed and it can’t be uninstalled)
• A great deal of patience…

What will work and what will not in Microsoft Outlook

Using the Notes Connector and Microsoft Outlook you will be able to:

• read and send email
• have real, good quality and integrated SPAM filtering
• view, send and create calendar appointments
• view, send and create tasks (called To-dos in Notes)
• view other’s emails, calendars and tasks (depending on your access rights)

You will not be able to use the Lotus Notes Databases, but you probably can use them via Lotus Notes client when/if you really have to or alternatively use them via the Notes webclient (if your administrator has that enabled).

Before installing the Notes Connector

Before installing the Notes Connector, check that you do not have any installed hot fixes or service packs for Office 2003 installed. You can do this by checking the Add/Remove Programs (in the Control Panel) and checking the box for Show updates (if it is present in your A/RP) If update KB892843 is installed, remove it. If any service pack is installed, you need to remove the whole Office installation and reinstall it.

It seems like the update KB892843 doesn’t allow the Notes Connector to install properly for some reason and if you do uninstall the updates, you will see the following error message:

“Unable to open your default e-mail folders. The server is not available. Contact your administrator if this condition persists”

Oh, and if you do not have Lotus Notes installed from before, you really need to install it before installing the Notes Connector.

Installation Steps

1. Close Microsoft Outlook and Lotus Notes if they are running.
2. Install the Notes Connector (follow the on-screen instructions)
3. Start Outlook up.
4. Most likely the Email accounts wizard will start. Select “Add a new email account” and click Next



5. Select “Additional Server Types” and click Next.



6. Depending on your computer set-up, you might be presented with several server types. You want to click “Microsoft Office Outlook Connector for IBM Lotus Notes Domino” and then click Next



7. You will now have to restart Microsoft Outlook for this account to start working.
8. Upon starting Outlook, you will see this window (see below). If everything is filled in for you, then you are green to go and click OK. If one or all of the fields are emtpy, you really need to ask help from the administrator or help desk.



9. You will now have to create a storage file for the account. If you have nothing against the settings here (you probably don’t have), click OK. Otherwise, change what you must and then click OK.



10. Outlook will now ask you for your Lotus Notes password, enter it and click OK. And, while you are here, consider checking the “Remember password” checkbox which the silly donkeys behind Lotus Notes forgot.



11. Ta-da! You should now be greeted with the sound of angles playing harps and the beautiful sights of Microsoft Outlook. You should also see an unusual toolbar at the bottom of your Outlook window where the Domino Mailbox status is listed. This will tell you if that Domino server again fell like dominoes or is still working (pun intended).

When Outlook has downloaded most of the email, calendar and tasks from the server, you should probably reinstall all updates and service packs to stay on the save side. Some of the updates will also make Outlook a bit faster to use, but by any means Outlook still beats the performance lights out of Notes.

Finally

Enjoy the website Lotus Notes sucks [Warning for lots of pop-ups!] and have a good laugh!