www.uwindsor.ca/its

Lotus Notes & Domino 8:New Interface, New

Features, New Gadgets

What’s New?

• Notes 8.0 released August 2007

• ITS Notes Team has been regular Notes 8

users ever since

• Decided to wait until 8.0.1 released before

deploying to campus

• 8.0.1 has resolved many of the “bugs” of

the 8.0 release

New Interface

• Re-Designed Interface – fresh look, easier

to use – basic functions are only two clicks

away or less

• IBM solicited feedback from customers

and listened – hundreds of improvements!

• New sidebar feature allows you to dock

calendar, Sametime contacts, and widgets

New Platform

• Notes 8 Standard is built on the Java

Eclipse Platform – allows for composite

applications, widgets, gadgets

• Notes 8 Basic is similar to the 7.0 client

and is not based on Eclipse – no sidebar

or composite applications

Notes 8 System Requirements

Notes 8 Basic

• Pentium IV 1.2Ghz+

• 512MB RAM

• 900MB HD Space

• Windows XP 32-bit

• Windows Vista 32-bit

• (1.5GB RAM

recommended for Vista)

Notes 8 Standard

• Dual-Core CPU

• 2GB RAM

• 900MB HD Space

• Windows XP 32-bit

• Windows Vista 32-bit

Linux/Mac Client

• Notes 8.0.1 Linux client is available, but

not supported by IT Services

• Notes 8.5 Beta client available for Mac OS

10.5 users – not supported by IT

Services, expected to be released by the

end of the year with Notes and Domino 8.5

New Interface

Conversation Threads

Inline Spell Check / Undo

• Notes now offers inline spell check, which

will underline incorrect words with a red

line, similar to Microsoft Word

• Multi-level undo functionality available

Domino Web Access

• Two options – Full, and “Lite”

• DWA 8 has same look and functionality as

Notes mail template

• Lite version is for slow connections, basic

functionality

New Out of Office Functionality

• Out of Office functionality re-written

• Out of Office notifications occur instantly

• Automatically disabled by date

• Can be delegated

• Send multiple OOO messages to same

person

Sidebar

• Easy access to features:

– Sametime Contact List

– Day at a Glance calendar information

– Calendar picker

– RSS Feeds

Widgets

• New look of Bookmark Bar– Bookmark Bar organizes your bookmarks. Each icon on

Bookmark Bar can open a bookmark or a list of

bookmarks.

– Bookmarks let you create links that point to Notes or

Internet elements, such as

databases, views, documents, Web pages, and news

groups. Creating a bookmark is as easy as dragging and

dropping a document link or window tab to the Bookmark

bar.

– Bookmark Bar was introduced in Lotus Notes R5

– Bookmark folders can contain bookmarks or more folders

Lotus Notes 7 Lotus Notes 8

• New look of Bookmark Bar – cont’

• Windows Style Document Selection– Check mark on the left of documents in Lotus Notes 7 or earlier

version

• Windows Style Document Selection – cont’– Highlighted documents as selected documents

• In-line spell checker– The spell checking happens while sending the message or manually

perform the spell checking in Lotus Notes 7 or earlier version.

• In-line spell checker – cont’– The spell checker in Lotus Notes 8 performs real-time checking.– Note: The in-line spell checker is only for rich text field, such as email body or document library, etc.

The plain test field, such as subject line in email, remains the same as in Lotus Notes 7.

• Consolidated Preferences– In Lotus Notes 7 or before, multiple preferences in multiple places.

• User Preferences

• Location Preferences

• Toolbar Preferences

• Status Bar Preferences

• Mail File preferences

• Consolidated Preferences – cont’– In Lotus Notes 8, “all-in-one” preferences

• Blackberry Handheld Software (OS) 4.5• BlackBerry Maps with Points of Interest (H)

• Improved media player with playlist support and automatic playlist

generation (H)

• Voice note recording (H)

• Streaming support for YouTube and Sling Player (H)

• Microsoft Office document editing with DocumentsToGo (H)

• Native format attachment downloading (S)

• HTML e-mails (S)

• Over-the-air device upgrades (S)

• Free/busy calendar lookup (S)

• Searching the server for old e-mail messages (S)

*Some server based feature need BES 4.1.5 to support with.

• Blackberry OS 4.5 - Screenshots

Calendar Improvements

• Visual design was improved.

• A navigator has been added for the

Calendar views, including group calendars

and delegated calendars

• Several new features were added:

– ghosted entries

– “find available time”

– Event Announcement

Ghosted Entries

• You can now see unprocessed meeting

invitations and reschedule notices in your

Calendar.

• You define the colour, gray by default.

• You can process them from the Calendar

view.

Ghosted Entries

• People with access to your Calendar can

see them too.

• Requires version 8 server, client and

template.

Scheduler Improved

• Ability to exclude people from the free time

lookup without removing them from the

invitee’s list.

7.x

8.x

Find Available Time

• Quickly schedule meetings with the sender

of the e-mail message.

• Right-click the name for “available time”.

• Time saver.

New type:

“Event Announcement”• Similar to Meeting Invitation.

• Use when you do not want any responses

from invitees.

• You can send event announcements to a

large group of people and, unlike meeting

invitations, the group is not expanded.

Contacts

• Personal Address Book renamed to

Contacts

• Main form was redesigned: nicer look,

more fields to store personal info

• New view: Business Card

• “Recent Contacts” feature to enhance

type-ahead experience

Thumbnail View

Sending Attachments

• Several improvements around file

attachments, integration with Quickr

(formerly Quick Place).

• The option to upload the file to a shared

space on the server and sending a link to

it in place of the file attachment.

• Requires installation of Quickr connector

on your PC.

Adobe Acrobat Integration

• Adobe Acrobat Professional adds several

icons to Notes tool bar.

• Ability to convert Notes documents (e-

mails, etc.) into PDF files with one click.

• Ability to convert entire mail folder with all

e-mails into a single indexed PDF file.

Known Issues

• New platform = new challenges

• Resource intensive (standard)

• Skipping 8.0, going into 8.0.1

• Shutting down issues on Vista prior to

SP1.

• Lost focus on active window.

• “Recent Contacts” fixed in 8.0.1

Non-supported Features

• Open Office integration – free word

editor, spreadsheet and presentation tool

included (Lotus Symphony).

• Mail Recall – controversial, fate to be

decided.

Availability

• Notes 8 Pilot (IT Services, Campus

Computer Technicians, IT Leaders) in

progress.

• Will be distributed via the Smart Upgrade

gradually thorough 2008.

• Detailed upgrade plan still in works.

• HelpDesk support coming soon...

Beyond Notes 8

• Version 8.5 Scheduled for 2Q of 2008.

• Will include client for Macintosh OSX

(currently in beta).

• More improvements for attachment

handling.

• Revamped user ID management.

• Possible LDAP directory integration.

Thank you for coming!

• http://www.uwindsor.ca/its/faq

• helpdesk@uwindsor.ca, x4440

• Craig Brown, x2743, cbrown@uwindsor.ca

• Dou Wang, x2742, douwang@uwindsor.ca

• Bodek Frak, x 2801, bodek@uwindsor.ca

Q & A