Getting started with Lotus Notes

Getting started with Lotus Notes

Document number: 16237

Please read this document in its entirety as it contains information to help you familiarize yourself with Lotus Notes and how to set up your workspace.

Your Internet mail address is one of the following formats:

Full-time employees: firstname_lastname@peoplesoft.com (Example: trudy_test@peoplesoft.com).
Contractors: firstname_lastname.consultant@peoplesoft.com (Example: trudy_test.consultant@peoplesoft.com).
Be sure to inform anyone who will be sending you external messages, that they must include the .consultant in your e-mail address. Otherwise, they will receive a delivery failure when trying to send you messages.

Note: If your name is the same as another PeopleSoft employee, your Internet address may be modified from the firstname_lastname@peoplesoft.com or firstname_lastname.consultant@peoplesoft.com standards.

For information on how to verify your Internet address, click here.

The following links contain information to help you familiarize yourself with Lotus Notes, set up your workspace and learn the basic features:

Getting acquainted with Lotus Notes

Customizing the Lotus Notes workspace

Lotus Notes basic features

For issues that need troubleshooting assistance, log a NorthStar ticket or contact Technical Support Operations.

If your name is the same as another PeopleSoft employee, your Internet address may be modified from the firstname_lastname@peoplesoft.com standard.

To verify your Internet address:

Open the PeopleSoft Directory in Lotus Notes by clicking here.
Press the {Esc} key to close the About the PeopleSoft Directory document if it opens.
Click the People view in the left hand navigation window.
Type your last name and press the {Enter} key.
Double click on the entry with your name to open your "Person" document.

If your name is the same as another user, it will be appended with something unique such as your location or department.

Example: If there are two employees named Trudy Test and one is in Denver and the other is in Sydney, the one located in Denver would have the name Trudy Test-DEN and the one located in Sydney would have the name Trudy Test-SYD.
Click the Mail tab.
Your Internet address can be found in the Internet address: field.

To close your "Person" document, press the {Esc} key.

Click here to return to the beginning of this document.

The following are links to Eureka! documents that will help you to familiarize yourself with Lotus Notes:

Lotus Notes Seminar on Demand: To download and view the seminar: Begin at Step 1 by right clicking on the Lotus Notes link in the list of recommended courses and complete all steps before launching the course.
Lotus Notes Quick Reference Guide
10070 — How to change the Lotus Notes password
List of Eureka! documents referencing Lotus Notes "how to" instructions and troubleshooting information: Click one of the links to display the documents that fall under a category or search by keyword by selecting Edit -> Find (on This Page...) in Internet Explorer.

Click here to return to the beginning of this document.

The following are links to Eureka! documents that will help you to set up your Lotus Notes workspace:

Shortcuts/SmartIcons: Many of you are used to using shortcuts to help manage your mail file or compose messages. These shortcuts are called SmartIcons in Lotus Notes. You can see the available icons change depending on the task you are doing in Notes.

If the default set of SmartIcons currently is not displayed, follow the instructions in Eureka! document 13005 — How to use context sensitive SmartIcons in Lotus Notes to display them.
User Preferences: Some User Preferences such as having your icons in color or automatically locking your Notes ID may not automatically be configured when the Lotus Notes client is installed.

To change your user preferences, see Eureka! document 16235 — How to set User Preferences in Lotus Notes.
Execution Security Alert message: You may receive an Execution Security Alert when trying to perform some tasks in Lotus Notes mail. The Execution Security Alert occurs when a form, design property, button or other does not fit the security profile of your Lotus Notes ID. When design changes are made, the item is signed by the person who made the update. Since that person has not been put into your security profile, the message is received. Click the Trust Signer button whenever you receive the message. This will put the designer's name into your security profile so that the message will no longer appear.

Eureka! document 16139 — The Execution Security Alert message in Lotus Notes

Click here to return to the beginning of this document.

The following is a list of various basic features of Lotus Notes to help you learn the functionality of Lotus Notes. Take some time to review the Eureka! documents describing each feature and then try do that task as well:

Welcome page: The Welcome page gives you instant access to your Inbox, Calendar and Planet PeopleSoft.
See Eureka! document 12054 — The Welcome page in Lotus Notes.
E-mail: See the "sending mail" section of the Lotus Notes Quick Reference Guide — http://eureka.peoplesoft.com/lotusnotesQR.htm#Sending. Try attaching a file and using Delivery Options when sending, replying to or forwarding a message.

Note: If a mail file is over the 150MB quota, sent mail cannot be saved. For additional information, see Eureka! document 12073 — Mail retention and quota policy for Lotus Notes.
SPAM: E-mail identified as SPAM is automatically filtered to your Quarantine view at the Postini message center. To check your Quarantine view, click the Quarantine folder on the left side of your Inbox. For additional information, see Eureka! document 16269 — How to access the Postini SPAM/Junk Email message center.
See Eureka! document 16271 — Postini SPAM/Junk Email filter FAQ or the Eureka! list of Postini SPAM/Junk Email filter documents.
Setting up the free time schedule: When setting your calendar preferences, you can specify your free time schedule. The free time schedule is a list of your available hours during the work week (and weekends if you choose).
See Eureka! document 16052 — How to set the free time schedule in Lotus Notes describing how to set free time.
Calendar: The calendar is a view in the mail file that allows you to schedule appointments, meetings, reminders, events and anniversaries.
The following Eureka! documents describe how to create calendar entries and meeting invitations:

Eureka! document 16171 — How to create calendar entries in Lotus Notes
Eureka! document 16033 — How to create a meeting invitation in Lotus Notes
Eureka! document 12085 — How to prevent calendar entries from appearing in the All Documents view in Lotus Notes
Group calendar: A group calendar is a collection of the free time schedules of people you select.
See Eureka! document 16125 — How to create a group calendar in Lotus Notes that describes how to create a group calendar.
Delegate calendar access: You can allow others to access your Calendar and To Do views without giving them access to your mail messages.
The following Eureka! documents describe how to delegate calendar access:

Eureka! document 16054 — How to give Read access to the calendar in Lotus Notes
Eureka! document 16055 — How to specify who can edit or create entries in the Lotus Notes calendar
Bookmarks: You can create a bookmark, just like you would in a browser, but this bookmark would point to Notes databases or views.
See Eureka! document 12039 — How to create a bookmark in Lotus Notes on how to create a bookmark.
Folders: See Eureka! document 16017 — How to create, add to and delete folders in the Lotus Notes mail file
Mail rules (filters): New mail received in Lotus Notes may be filtered by creating rules to act automatically based on criteria specified for all new messages.
See Eureka! document 12037 — Mail rules in Lotus Notes that describes how to create mail rules.
Mail file archive: A mail file archive should be created to retain important business-related messages that will need to be referred to in the future.
See Eureka! document 12044 — How to archive mail in Lotus Notes for information on the mail file archive.

Warning: Never attempt to archive by dragging documents from the active mail file and dropping them into the archive. Documents do not successfully drop into the archive. They will be permanently lost and cannot be recovered.
Replication: Replication is the process of synchronizing a server based database with one you have created locally on your hard drive. Creating a local replica of the mail file allows you to work offline. The local mail file replica is also the only means of data recovery in the case of lost e-mail.

See Eureka! document 10082 — How to create a database replica and replicate in Lotus Notes.
Out of Office notification: See Eureka! document 16169 — How to enable, edit and delete the Out of Office agent in Lotus Notes.
Lotus Notes database access: Review the following Eureka! documents on database access:

Eureka! document 10059 — How to find a Lotus Notes database
Eureka! document 10065 — How to determine which server a database is located on in Lotus Notes

When a database is first opened, a bookmark will automatically be created in the "Databases" bookmark folder (with the blue book) located on the left hand bookmark bar.

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