Posts Tagged 'lotus notes'



Blocking return receipts in Lotus Notes

Was working with a colleague the other day, both in our Inbox, when all of a sudden there’s that shout: ‘I hate return receipts!‘.

For those not in the Inbox-ing business, I’ll explain, briefly: say you just sent an email and want to make sure people actually see it and not delete it. There’s an option that allows you to track the email, and get an email response when the other side sees it – called ‘return receipt‘. The accepting side, if he know where to look (bottom status bar), sees a quick message saying ‘return receipt submitted’, and has little time of stopping that process in the outbox.

I was poking around the floor, getting the feel of IBMers to that ‘big-brother‘ option, when stumbling upon Alex Varshavsky, Rational Sales Mgr. at present, Lotus developer in the past. Alex told me he had already wrote a code that blocks it. Great!!

From developerWorks:

Return receipts can reassure people that you received their email message. But have you ever wanted to block a return receipt? If so, you’re in luck. You can have the option of blocking a return receipt before it is sent by doing the following:

  1. In Domino Designer, open the ($Inbox) folder of your mail database.
  2. Select the QueryOpenDocument event in the Objects window.
  3. Select Formula in the Programmer’s pane, and then copy and paste the following code into the pane:
    @If(@IsAvailable(ReturnReceipt);
    @If(ReturnReceipt = "1";
    @If(@Prompt([YESNO];"Return Receipt";
    "Delete Return Receipt?");
    @SetField("ReturnReceipt";"0");
    "");
    "");
    "")

Here’s the full article, at developerWorks.

And yes, I know Outlook 2003 has it out of the box. Fine.
But I bet Alex feels super knowing he developed something helpful for the benefit of the community !!

Sent from Lotus Notes 8.0.1 Hebrew Client

Started using the Hebrew client of Lotus Notes 8.0.1 this week, as a personal experiment on one hand and from a business stand-point on the other.
Even thou most organizations in Israel are using an English UI of their messaging client (Outlook or Notes), Hebrew is (and always will be) a preferred language in Israel. IBM has been investing heavily into bidi (Bi-directional) these past years – part of the ‘holy’ work my friend Dina Ben-Elissar was doing, at IBM Globalization Center in Israel.
Developing a client is Hebrew includes two major steps: First, language – Hebrew (and Arabic) are written from right to left; second, UI (user interface) – which means the client needs to be mirrored. As with any software product, there’s no 100% QA – that’s the nature of software, and some things can only be found from daily usage.

I hope my usage of Lotus Notes 8.0.1 will encourage other IBMers to follow my suit – it’s a very cool looking client !! (click here for a larger screen shot)

iPhone 3G – Not for me, thanks

Since yesterday’s announcement at WWDC, it seems the world has stopped: no more hunger, we found a cure for AIDS, our atmosphere is fine, water is more expensive than gas and everyone are happy – the iPhone 3G is here.

Even thou Apple are continuing to I-G-N-O-R-E the Israeli market, consciously (still not clear why), there are plenty of iPhones here, much more than in Jordan or Central Africa Republic. I advise Apple to read the Hebrew chapter from Microsoft’s book. But that’s not the main problem I have with Apple.

No Lotus Notes support. That’s my problem.

I don’t get Steve Jobs, really don’t. What’s the point of brushing off 45% of your potential customers? If iPhone 3G wants to compete with BlackBerry in the corporate market place, why Apple ignores almost half of its consumer base? And don’t start talking about Apple’s SDK for iPhone. Have you read the fine-print? Show me where you see the word ‘mail’ in there. There are other ways of making iPhone-Lotus integration, but they are not acceptable by Apple.

Even if Apple will sport Lotus Notes support, the iPhone still lags behind the cellular standard of 2008 (and even 2007). Yes, it’s sleek, and very cool. You can’t deny that. But when it comes to features and functionality, there are better devices out there: Nokia N95/N96, Blackberry Curve /Bold, Palm Treo, LG Prada, HTC Diamond and others.

So, if anyone at Apple cares, no iPhone 3G for me.
I’m staying with my Nokia N95, definitely buying microSD 8GB HC card now.
The day there’s native Lotus Notes support, I’m ordering one. 16GB, black.

Sharepoint integrator from Mainsoft

Mainsoft announced yesterday of a new solution, Sharepoint Integrator for Lotus Notes (free 30-day trial), that enables Lotus Notes users to access Sharepoint content, via an Eclipse plug-in, at Notes 8 sidebar. You can download the solution sheet (PDF file) or watch a demo (WMV file).

The new integrator was previewed at Lotusphere 2008 in Orlando back in January, and Ed Brill already managed to talk about it, on his way to Turkey, couple of hours before the announcement.

Many companies are using Sharepoint Server as ‘content repository’ to store files, but still want to enjoy the benefits of Lotus Notes as a platform, and not ‘just’ another messaging application. This new Sharepoint Integrator for Lotus Notes provides just that. You can keep your Sharepoint content and work with it, inside your Lotus Notes client. For the Israeli market this announcement is big news, since many customers are using Sharepoint Server to store/share files, but are looking at Lotus Notes as a collaboration platform. [click the image for a larger format]

Excerpt from eWeek:

Mainsoft is essentially cozying up to Notes users by letting Notes and SharePoint content coexist, Mainsoft CEO Yaacov Cohen told eWEEK.

“Customers are sick of all these migrations,” Cohen said. “Customers are saying, ‘Show me how I can leverage what I’ve already purchased.'”

Some features of the SharePoint Integrator, which Cohen demoed for eWEEK May 6, include the ability to drag and drop Word documents, Excel worksheets and PowerPoint presentations from a Notes sidebar into Lotus Notes e-mails, calendar appointments and task lists. This is extremely useful for Notes users who need to make SharePoint files actionable through Notes.

Who is this person ?

I was playing the other day with Lotus Notes Live Text feature, which was heavily discussed in Lotus blogosphere. All you need is some curiosity.. Using a simple built-in Lotus Notes wizard, I created a live text action, that highlights every email address (you@your-domain.com) with a dotted blue line. Double click and a new browser tab opens within my Lotus Notes application, pasting the email in the ‘Search for’ field, changing the ‘Search type’ to ‘Internet address’, and submitting the request.

The final result: a profile page of the person behind the email address. Another simple way how Lotus Notes 8.0.1 can improve collaboration across your business. And it’s not an ‘Enterprise’ solution… Even if your company employs 100 people – do you know every one of them?

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Mobile & Media Consultant. I help startup companies launch products to the consumer market. Reach out: dvir.reznik [at] gmail.com
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This is my personal blog. The postings here do not represent the thoughts, intentions, plans or strategies of my past employers or of my clients. It is solely my opinion.