Notes 8.5x – Windows 7 Notes info and tips

Rob HutchinsonDesktop Support Specialist
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This article covers general Notes 8.5 troubleshooting information including recreating the Notes\Data folder.

Windows 7 General tips and info for Notes 8.5:

(Check out my Notes 8.5 Archiving tips doc listed on Experts Exchange too!)
 

Transferring Notes 8.5 from a Windows 7 computer to another Windows 7 computer:

The easiest thing to do when transferring Notes email data from an old computer or hard drive to a new computer or hard drive is to grab the C:\Users\UserProfileName\AppData\Local\Lotus\Data folder -- pretty much that’s all that has to be copied!

If you copy just this one \Data folder from under the Notes folder, you will transfer the user’s Notes email config completely. This simplicity of transferring user’s email data via the Notes Data folder is the opposite of the not so simple next phase, troubleshooting Notes 8.5:
 

Troubleshooting Notes 8.5

Re-creating the Notes Data folder may not be the first choice when first troubleshooting Notes, but it solves most local Notes problems when other solutions do not work. Of course, there are a variety of errors that Notes 8.5 users can get -- which can be resolved using simpler methods, i.e., just recreating the local Notes mail replica file…see this further into this document for steps on how to do this and other troubleshooting steps.
 

Recreating the Notes Data Folder:

Recreating the Notes Data folder under this folder:
C:\Users\UserProfileName\AppData\Local\Lotus\Notes

First, rename the old Data folder to something like:
C:\Users\UserProfileName\AppData\Local\Lotus\Notes\oldData
DO NOT just delete the old folder, big “no-no” here.
(Sure you can get Notes up and running by just deleting the old Data folder, but you will usually have a very unhappy user afterwards as he will lose locally saved contacts, his workspace icons, and Sametime emoticons in addition to some other settings.)

After renaming the Data folder, just click on the Notes program icon on the desktop or under All Programs > Lotus Applications. Notes will do is act like a first time setup (which it is):
NotesTS-01.JPGNow, input the user’s name and server name, etc; and click next until you get to the first Notes intro screens:
 
Depending on your server configuration, your Notes program may download the user’s Notes ID file automatically from the Notes server, or you may be prompted with a pop-up windows like this one:
NotesTS-02.JPGIf asked for the Notes ID file seeing the above box, copy the old Notes ID file from the old renamed Notes folder into the New Notes Data folder:

Copy the ID file from this folder:
C:\Users\UserProfileName\AppData\Local\Lotus\Notes\oldData
into this new folder:
C:\Users\UserProfileName\AppData\Local\Lotus\Notes\Data


Now, using the “Browse…” button viewable in the above screenshot, browse to the copied Notes ID file in this new folder:
C:\Users\UserProfileName\AppData\Local\Lotus\Notes\Data

Now, type in the user’s Notes password and log into Notes going through the opening screens, etc.

After entering Notes, click on the mail replica icon, and wait until you see the main Notes user mail file start to replicate…then ‘exit’ Notes.
NotesTS-03.JPG 

To add or not to add that is the question…

There are several files/folders listed below that you may (or may not) want to copy from the ‘old’ Notes\oldData folder into the newly created Notes\Data folder. (Tip for copying the files over: sometimes it’s best to rename the newly created Notes files listed below rather than over-writing them when copying over the old files; this way, if the old file is not working, you can put the newly created files back.)

bookmark.nsf
This file has the user’s …drum roll…”Bookmarks! Copy this bookmarks.nsf over to get the user’s old bookmarks which are usually on the left side of the Notes program:
NotesTS-04.JPG
desktop8.ndk
This file has the important (for some people) Workspace tab. Other users do not use the Workspace tab, but some users store every bookmark imaginable in this Workspace.

If the Notes Workspace tab bookmarks are important to the user, copy the desktop8.ndk file from the old Notes\Data folder to the new Notes\Data folder.
 
names.nsf
Now this file is an important file for two reasons:
1) It stores the user’s Notes contacts — important for the obvious reasons.
2) It also stores the connection info, Home, Offline, Online, etc.:
the connection info is sometimes customized from the default so you might need to copy this connection info settings manually from the old to the new unless you have a saved connection config file.

For example, some Notes users use something called Notes pass-through which allows them to use the Notes client without resorting to webmail...I might upload how to create a Notes pass-through file if enough people want to see this.

NotesTS-05.JPG
Important Info:
Sometimes, the names.nsf becomes corrupted so that ‘you do not’ want to restore names.nsf into the new Notes\Data folder.

if you have to use the new names.nsf file; just rename the old names.nsf file to savenames.nsf. This way you can copy the old contacts/recent contacts/groups/birthdays from within Notes via the savenames.nsf file accessible via the workspace.

To do this, open up the renamed savenames.nsf file via the Notes workspace just long enough to copy the sections( My Contacts, Recent Contacts[] cached email addresses] Groups, and birthdays[] if used]) You will copy each section one section at a time:

To do this, go open the savenames.nsf file via the workspace, click the section titled My Contacts,  and press CTRL "A" to select all, then CTRL "C" to copy them, then go into the current new Notes Contacts accessible via the bookmark on the left side of Notes, click on the section titled My Contacts( which should be empty) and press CTRL "V" to paste them into the new Notes Contacts location. Rinse and Repeat for Recent Contacts and Groups pasting the old contacts/groups into the matching section on the new Notes Contacts sections. ( Recommend removing the savenames.nsf bookmark from the workspace when done importing)


Other misc tips:


Sametime Emoticons!


The actual Sametime emoticons are stored here:
C:\Users\UserProfileName\AppData\Local\
Lotus\Notes\Data\workspace\.metadata\.plugins\com.ibm.collaboration.realtime.palettes\palettes\Smileys


Unless you renamed the emoticon image files when you saved them, you’ll be looking at a bunch of files using random numbers for the file name. Restoring these image files can be difficult since you will have the tedious job of renaming each file, but there is an easier way.

Easier Way!
Preventive medicine… periodically export all your emoticons via Sametime
NotesTS-07.JPGJust export the emoticons periodically -- then you can re-import them whenever you need to.

Alternate method of emoticon file restore:
If for some reason, you did not make a backup of these emoticons, the file names may resemble something like:
IMAGE$6F49E676BC1E9BA4
with no file extension.

To get these file types back into a viewable file type, you can rename all these files at once using a command prompt:
( If the original file type was not a .gif, and the file will not open after renaming, rename these files again manually (for the few that you cannot open) to .jpg--then try opening them.)

This is the command you will want to type in from the folder where these image files are located.
ren IMAGE$*.* *.gif
(that’s "ren<space>IMAGE$*.*<space>*.gif")

To rename all these files at the same time, first go to a command prompt window, and start in the below folder:
C:\Users\UserProfileName>

Then go to the folder where all these are image files are stored:
 type in the below text from the above folder:( see alternate method from typing all this text)
cd \Users\UserProfileName\AppData\Local\
Lotus\Notes\Data\workspace\.metadata\.plugins\com.ibm.collaboration.realtime.palettes\palettes\Smileys


Alternate method from typing all this text:
Open Window’s Explorer, and copy the path from the title bar
NotesTS-08.JPGthen, since it's a command prompt window, you have to use the command prompt menu option Edit > Paste in the open command prompt window
 

Steps to take before recreating the Notes\Data folder:


Notes Locks Up when you try to open Notes, What now?

When Notes locks up opening Notes, the culprit is usually a corrupt Notes mail replica located under the Notes\Data folder. The exact local folder location mirrors the folder location on the server. For example, if the user’s folder is stored under \mail\u\JoeUser then the actual mail replica should be located in:
C:\Users\UserProfileName\AppData\Local\Lotus\Notes\Data\mail\u\

Since the local .nsf file is just a copy of what is on the server, you can rename the file extension -- do not just rename the file leaving the .NSF extension as Notes will sometimes still link to the old file defeating the whole purpose of renaming this mail replica file.

If renaming this local Notes replica file does not let you back into Notes, follow the previous steps to just rename the Notes\Data folder.

Alternative Method for when Notes locks up when you try and open Notes:
I’ve heard also that you can rename the workspace folder to get rid of Notes locking up on startup. The workspace folder is located here:
 C:\Users\UserProfileName\AppData\Local\Lotus\Notes\Data\workspace
 

Misc Notes Tips:


To just compact a working Notes local mail replica, right-click on the Workspace bookmark, and choose Application > Properties
NotesTS-09.JPG
On the second tab from the popup menu, chose the “i” tab and click the Compact button
NotesTS-10.JPG
From this popup, you can also Refresh or Replace the mail design.
NotesTS-11.JPG
Another thing from this same popup, If you want to email a link of a workspace bookmark location (assuming that the bookmark points to a server copy of the mail file that is going to be shared, choose the “Copy as Link” menu option where you can paste the little bookmark icon into an email that the co-worker then just needs to click on to open up -- easier than manually typing in a path when trying to tell someone which path the server database is located in.
NotesTS-12.JPG
If you suspect that the Notes mail replica is corrupted, but you can still get into Notes:
Try opening the mail file directly from the server. This is also a good method of troubleshooting other problems in Notes where a corrupted Notes mail replica is responsible. In the example below, click the MyCorp/Servers/MC/MyCorpCorp instead of “Local
NotesTS-13.JPGIf the server copy opens fine, and the problems disappear, then the problem is likely just the Notes local mail replica file.

To be continued…check back later for more tips added to this document!
 
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Rob HutchinsonDesktop Support Specialist
CERTIFIED EXPERT
Current strengths are Office 365 and Dell laptops: 7450, 7470, 7490, 5410/5420
https://www.linkedin.com/in/getlinkedwithrobhutchinson/

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