Finally Outlook and Lotus Notes sync solution

Argo · 03-20-03, 10:00 PM

I searched very hard for that one but finally I got it. For all of those who had sync problem between home and work and especially those with Lotus at work and Outlook at home I found a solution.
Go to http://www.microsoft.com/office/ork/...n/Outxpcon.htm

There youo'll find a connector for Outlook 2002 allows users to access an IBM Lotus Domino R5 server for features such as e-mail messaging, calendaring and scheduling, the address book, and To Do (task) items rom their Outlook program.

This add-in is particularly useful in environments with mixed e-mail infrastructures and in companies where employees would like the option to use Outlook 2002 with Domino mail servers. The add-in can be installed and used on any machine properly licensed for Outlook 2002

I installed it, it is very easy, it works and now I have only one system that I can sync with my axim even if I use Lotus Notes at work and Outlook at home....no more cadenza, intellisync or anythingelse...active sync is enough and the good thing is...no more Lotus Note in my face at work ;-)

Try it it's worth it...let me know if it helped you.

Good Luck!

Argo
:)

Work4crown · 03-20-03, 10:47 PM

Wow, you had me all excited for a minute there. I thought I might be able to finally escape using the worst e-mail user interface ever developed....Lotus Notes. Nothing is worse than Lotus Notes....nothing!!!

I checked out the link you sent me, but unfortunately that will only work with Outlook 2002 - I have Outlook 2000 - from the CD that shipped with my Axim.

I envy the ease of use, standard windows icons, non-existant learning curve, etc etc you must be experiencing using MS Outlook. The company I work for used to have MS Outlook but when we got bought out the new owners switched us to Lotus Notes because that is what they were using. Oh the shame!

Lotus Notes is the pits.

Argo · 03-21-03, 07:38 AM

I believe it worth buying Outlook 2002 if you hate Lotus Note as I do...

Therigwin · 03-21-03, 08:24 AM

I have only a few things to say to you folks.

How are the email viruses?

How is the Spam control?

How is the lack of workflow applications?

And Websphere Everyplace will rock the mobile market this 3rd quarter, when it provides full access to Domino servers on PDAs.

Oh, Outlook 2002 is an excellent client, don't get me wrong there, but in for security of data, it stinks. Give me Lotus Notes any day and Notes Domino 6 Client rocks and the iNotes web access blows away Exchange 2000 web access.

One final note to those that want to use Outlook, but not Outlook 2002, by next year Lotus has promised by ND 7, possibly ND 6.5 (the major new Server release is ND 7, ND 6.5 will be added Clients release - linux, etc) that they will have integrated MS messaging standards so Outlook should work with out any plug-ins.

Ok, I will get off my horse, but it always amazes me how people can hate Lotus Notes. It leads me to believe that they truly don't know how to use the product.

Work4crown · 03-21-03, 08:56 AM

I have heard people say that Outlook is not very good at preventing email viruses - but I have never had one so it is a hard sell. I also have no problems with spam. This is not because of a lack of contacts or emails.

As far as workflow applications go I have no idea what that is. I know that when I am finishing up a document in Word or Excel I used to be able to click "file' 'send' from within word or excel and it would automatically create an email with my file attached. That seems like good workflow to me.

The people in our IT dept have been saying that Lotus Notes is going to be so awesome with all the things it can do but I have yet to see one improvement. Now they have all come around and agree it sucks.

You have a great comment when you say that you are amazed that people could hate Lotus Notes and you suspect they don't know how to use it. That is my point too - even though everyone in the company went through training we still can never get the thing to do what we want and we have had Lotus for 2 years. Sometimes attachments won't open in Lotus Notes but they will open in MS Outlook. It won't allow me to copy and paste text into it 1/2 the time. The windows icons are not standard and that is wicked annoying. You've got to admit the GUI could be made a little more standard - I just don't see why the Lotus people felt the need to re-invent the wheel with those things.

When I wrote my post last night it was mostly to vent my frustrations and I hope no one gets offended as e-mail is not the most important thing in life anyway.

I totally agree that my problem with Lotus is that I don't know how to use it and I don't think extensive training should be required to run a PIM/e-mail program.

Oh well. Sometimes you just have to make due with what you have and be content with it. I appreciate the chance to vent - I feel much better now.

CYA!

Argo · 03-21-03, 09:35 AM

I'm at work right now...working with Outlook 2002 and I am much more efective for several reasons. Drop and drag, can calculate how much time I spend in a day on one customer, phone calls are recorded in the journal,more flexible with other Windows application (Word, excel etc) The journal operate much better than Lotus Note, More détails in Contact management, personnalise template to be send, I can post little notes in client files, I can see my calendar and my to do at the same time....all those and much more are not EFFECTIVE in Lotus Notes.

About the spam....I don't get anymore with Outlook 2002. But hey...one or the other is like driving a car....some like a Volvo (Very secure and solid) but not fun to drive and some prefer a more sporty, more manouverable car...it's all a matter of choice ;-)

Take care!

Argo

Therigwin · 03-21-03, 10:05 AM

The power of Lotus Notes Domino is in it collaboration capibility and ease of programming those things.

Example, say I have an expense report process. Right now I possible fill out a sheet, sign it and send it to my boss. My boss, then signs off on it and sends it to accounting. Account cuts my check. All said and done, it takes 3 or 4 days to get done.

Now, Domino Model. You have a expense report database. You fill out your expense report. Since you are using lotus notes, it signs it with your id so there is no problem telling it came from you. You submit it. It sends an email to your boss. Your boss opens it up and there is your expense report. Hit hits the sign button, next it signs it with his id and sends it off to accounting. They get an email and then cut you your check. Could be done in the matter of minutes.

Now, lets get more complicated, say you have a policy that states it takes your manager's boss to sign off on anything above $500.
Ok, it then sends an email to your manager's boss when your manager is done. Say they reject it, it sends an email back to you.

How long would it take to make such an application in Lotus Notes Domino? The proper person could have it made in a couple of days and it would all run on one server. To do it in the Microsoft world? ummm, at least 2 servers, Exchange for email and SQL for the database, seamless integration, no.

SPAM - is controlled at the server level, not the client level. Exchange 5.5 and 2000 both are spam loving machines. You normally have to go to a third party vendor to prevent spam from happening in your company. Now, R5 and R4.6 are not much better, but ND 6 has incredible SPAM protection.

Viruses - The last company I worked for never had any viruses in their mail system and they used Domino. There daughter company that they bought, used Outlook/Exchange. We recieved on an average, 1 virus a month from the daughter company.
Another example is Kelloggs. I interviewed with them 2 months ago. They are phasing out Domino and going to Exchange. (Which is why I didn't go for the job) I asked about viruses. Since they moved to Exchange 2000 and Outlook, they recieve about 1 virus a month in their email system.

Attachments - Attachments are handled quite well in ND 6. I have never had a problem opening any attachment. I always detach it first as a guideline and then open it. Microsoft added a wonderful feature to Outlook 2002. It will not open certain attachments because it deams them as viruses. Now, the company I work for right now is an Outlook shop. They get data sets from SBC in an exe format. Well, the only way to get it to work is a regestry hack to allow Outlook to open exe files. I don't have that issue in the ND Client.

I think the details are about equal in the contact section, since they are both based on LDAP open standards.

Calendars - I hate how you setup Outlook to share calendars. It stinks. Where I work they wanted quick easy access to everyone's calendar. So when any new person joins the company, you have to go to each computer and add the calendar. With domino, you just add it to one group and it updates everyone's notes so they can view the calendar.

On top of that, you can easily customise views, add forms, etc.

Work4Crown - take a look at the Microsoft Office Library Notes database template (or have your IT help you look at it). This is an excellent workflow application that integrates MS Office products. It tracks revisions, approvals, etc

Lotus Notes is more than a PIM/email program, it is a total collabartion solution. Have them add quickplace or sametime, and wow it is awsome.

I like the analogy of driving a car. Each have its strengths and weakness, but I think Notes is fun to drive.

Therigwin · 03-21-03, 10:14 AM

Oh, and I forget to mention data management. Domino.doc is one of the best solutions for document storage.

And one final thing. My last company had a full helpdesk tracking software that was Notes Domino based.
When I got a trouble ticket, it emailed me. I opened the ticket. Typed what I did and when I saved, it asked how much time I spent on it. When I closed the ticket, it would auto send an email to the client letting them know and the amount of time I spent on it. It would also then randomly send out surveys in Notes to these people and then let use know that a survey was completed for a ticket. And it was all done on Domino, no need for separate servers. This is workflow and Domino power.

If your IT guys are still struggling, they should really check out http://www.lotus.com/ldd this is the site for Domino information for IT people.

jarman · 03-21-03, 12:20 PM

dude, enough about lotus. what are you trying sell the product?

Therigwin · 03-21-03, 12:56 PM

Yes. I am trying to sell the product, because it is a great product.

You have to understand something, in IBM, Lotus was originally a nice big cash cow for them. Now it is Websphere and Trivoli, etc. IBM has a great marketing engine for there other products, we have all seen the commericials with the magic pixie dust, the unversal adapter, etc. But how many people knew that a new version of Lotus Notes Domino came out this past October?

You see, I am a Certified Lotus Professional and looking for work. It is in my best interest that Lotus does well, so I can get a job. I really don't want to feel that I wasted over a $1000 on becoming certified.

So, since IBM will not toot its horn about Lotus Domino, I will.

And this thread is specifically about Lotus Notes and Outlook, so I really don't get why you are complaining. If you don't use Lotus, don't read the thread.

Work4crown · 03-21-03, 04:01 PM

Theregwin, thanks for all the info. I hope you are able to find a job doing what you love.

Therigwin · 03-21-03, 04:11 PM

Your Welcome and if you have any questions about Notes, feel free to ask me. It helps keep my skills sharp while I look.

Today was the deadline that a company gave me concerning a job and they have not contacted me yet, so I think I didn't get it.

Again, your welcome and any other questions, fire away.

Argo · 03-21-03, 04:11 PM

My point was to tell my Aximer friends that the possibility of synchronizing with one software instead of two was possible with Microsoft Connector 2002 when you have Lotus at work and Outlook 2002 at home.

The fact that I hate or love Lotus note is not relevant. What is relevant is the capacity to do both in a more simple way.

Wish you good luck with your job search...and no offense but I still hate Lotus Notes despite the fact that you explained very well the capacity of the program..

Cheers!

Argo:rolling:

Therigwin · 03-21-03, 04:32 PM

There used to be connector software for older versions of outlook as well, but it appears the MS has pulled them.

One problem has been that not all of the features from one or the other product was available.

But in the next year, people will have the choice of what client, either iNotes, Notes Client or Outlook to access their PIM and mail on a domino database, so soon it should all work great.

I guess you could say that I just hate Microsoft, even though I am also a Microsoft Certified Professional. I just don't like there business practices.

Go Linux, all the way! Linux desktop with the iNotes Linux client.

Down with the evil MS beast :p

Oh wait, IBM is just as bad.

Guess you have to choose between two equal evils. :crooked: