Installing A Workstation > Installing Basic Software > Lotus Notes Client

Lotus Notes

Installing Lotus Notes is simple:

  1. Press the Start button and choose Run…; or, Press Win-R.
  2. In the Open field, type X:\path\Notes####.exe. (#### is the number of the latest available version of Notes.)
  3. Press OK.
  4. Press Enter for each screen.

User Setup

The complicated part is setting up Lotus Notes for the user. The Lotus Notes setup wizard comes up the first time Notes is launched.

Before that, make sure the user has their ID file on their personal network drive (here called Y:). The ID file is named either user.id or the user's Novell name. If the user is moving to a new workstation, make sure to copy their ID file and address book (in names.nsf) out of the C:\Lotus\Data folder in their old workstation into Y:.

  1. At the welcome screen, press Next.
  2. In the server screen, enter server/root, where server is the name of the Domino server and root is the root-level domain.
  3. In the user ID screen, you have the choice of entering the user's name or the path/name of the user's ID file.
  4. Over the user ID screen the Lotus login will appear. Have the user enter their password.
  5. If successful, you will get a congratulatory screen.
  6. On the next two screens press Next to accept the defaults.
  7. On the third screen (Internet proxy), choose No and press Enter.
  8. On the next-to-last screen, press the 'local area network' option and press Enter.
  9. Press Enter on the last screen.

After it finalizes its settings, Lotus Notes will take you to the screen the user sees every time they launch Notes. Press the mail icon on the left-hand side, and close the introductory screen. You should see the user's messages.

Address Book

  1. Press the database icon on the left side of the screen.
  2. Double-click on Browse for a new database….
  3. In the box that appears, press the Browse button.
  4. Navigate until you see Y:\names.nsf. Press OK.
  5. Press Open. Close the introductory screen.
  6. If there are any addresses listed, press Ctrl-A to mark them, then Ctrl-C to copy them.
  7. Press the address book icon. Close the introductory screen.
  8. Press Ctrl-V to paste the user's addresses into the new address book.
  9. Go back to the old address book. In the left-hand bar, press Groups.
  10. Click on the user's groups and press Ctrl-C to copy them.
  11. In the new address book, click on Groups in the left-hand bar.
  12. Press Ctrl-V to paste the user's groups.

Other Settings

Lotus Client, by default, makes a sound when the user gets new mail. You may well hear nothing when a message comes if you don't have speakers.

  1. In the menu bar, press File, Preferences, User ID.
  2. Press Mail and News on the left-hand bar.
  3. Check the Visual Notification box.
  4. Uncheck the Audio Notification if the user does not have speakers.
  5. Press Close.

Notes has its own minimal web browser. You will need to change Notes so that it uses Internet Explorer.

  1. In the menu bar, press File, Preferences, Location ID
  2. Press the Web Browser tab.
  3. If the sole dropdown list under that tab is not set to Internet Explorer, set it thus.
  4. Press Save and Close.

Lotus iNotes

For users who access Domino mail/calendar accounts from the Internet there is Lotus iNotes. Internet Explorer is all you need to use Lotus iNotes. There are, however, two things you should be aware of.

If iNotes is used on a workstation for the first time, a Security Update box will appear, asking whether you want to install the Lotus iNotes Control from IBM. Click Yes.

You need to make sure Internet Explorer is set, so that if more than one user is using a workstation, each can log into their own account without error.

  1. Open Internet Explorer.
  2. In the menu bar, go to Tools, Internet Options…
  3. Under the General tab, in the Temporary Internet Files section, press Settings…
  4. Under the 'Check for newer versions of stored pages' part, choose the Automatically option.
  5. Press OK twice to close the Properties box.
  6. Close and reopen Internet Explorer.

© 2003 by Andy West. Written 29 November 2003.