Lotus Notes email save reply in same folder as original
In Microsoft Outlook you can choose a setting that will save email replies in the same folder as the original email. I need to do the same thing in Lotus Notes. I thought I had my Lotus Notes client set that way, but maybe I was dreaming, because I cannot find the setting. I have tried setting up an agent but I cannot figure out how to do that for sent messages, as opposed to received messages.
Summary: I want my Lotus Notes client to save replies in the same folder as the original email. I am hoping that there is a simple setting for this similar to the one in Microsoft Outlook.
Thanks in advance for any help in this matter. :)
Summary: I want my Lotus Notes client to save replies in the same folder as the original email. I am hoping that there is a simple setting for this similar to the one in Microsoft Outlook.
Thanks in advance for any help in this matter. :)
ASKER
Yes I am finding that what I think would be simple is apparently not so simple in Lotus Notes. As you say, the Sent mail usually only appears in the Sent mail folder (which I have recently learned is just a view). However, I can drag emails from the Sent folder to the normal Inbox folder and see in the Inbox folder both the incoming emails as well as the Sent ones. The same applies for other folders that I have created.
The behavior I am looking for is as follows:
1) I receive an email.
2) I move that email to a folder.
3) I reply to that email.
4) The reply is saved in the same folder as the original. That is, if I moved the original email to the "Important Stuff" folder, then my reply to that email would automatically be saved in the "Important Stuff" folder, as opposed to the normal Sent folder.
This is a setting that Outlook users are probably familiar with and I am trying to recreate that behavior in Lotus Notes. The reason for this is that I like to be able to click on a folder and see the emails and their replies at a glance. I know that there is a Mail Threads view in Lotus Notes, but the ability to automatically store replies in the same folder as the originals is very useful to me.
I am finding Lotus Notes very professional, flexible, and useful. I would just like to have this one feature if possible.
The behavior I am looking for is as follows:
1) I receive an email.
2) I move that email to a folder.
3) I reply to that email.
4) The reply is saved in the same folder as the original. That is, if I moved the original email to the "Important Stuff" folder, then my reply to that email would automatically be saved in the "Important Stuff" folder, as opposed to the normal Sent folder.
This is a setting that Outlook users are probably familiar with and I am trying to recreate that behavior in Lotus Notes. The reason for this is that I like to be able to click on a folder and see the emails and their replies at a glance. I know that there is a Mail Threads view in Lotus Notes, but the ability to automatically store replies in the same folder as the originals is very useful to me.
I am finding Lotus Notes very professional, flexible, and useful. I would just like to have this one feature if possible.
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Gee, I should have known you were going to test it, I mean if it is possible to place any document in any folder. :-) And as you found out, it is. But, what you have yet to discover, that it is not easy at all to find out in what folder a document is stored. Because a document can appear in many folders. Astonished?
I'll explain the view and folders. They are much alike, they share a lot of functionality. For example, when a document is updated, all the views it appears in are updated. But there are also differences. A view is the real thing: it really contains documents, and values of documents in its columns. Folders on the contrary (one could say) don't exist, meaning that they're just names. You could say that each document has a list of folders it belongs to. If you want a document to appear in a view, the document should be selected by the selection formula in that view. If you want the document in a folder, just add it there. If you want the document in multiple folders, add it there as well. Beware: it is still one and only one document.
Now, as of R5 or R6, it is possible to get the names of the folders each document appears in. So all the basic functions are there.
The following seems therefore possible:
- receive mail
- store in folder
- reply to the mail
--- get the folders that mail is in
- send and save the reply
--- add the reply to the same folders as the mail
I checked the default R7 mail template, but your functionality isn't there, as far as I can tell.
Do you have the necessary tools to create it yourself? The Domino Designer is a must.
There's one possibility: check out the Mail experience template from OpenNTF. It could have been implemented since the last time I looked...
I'll explain the view and folders. They are much alike, they share a lot of functionality. For example, when a document is updated, all the views it appears in are updated. But there are also differences. A view is the real thing: it really contains documents, and values of documents in its columns. Folders on the contrary (one could say) don't exist, meaning that they're just names. You could say that each document has a list of folders it belongs to. If you want a document to appear in a view, the document should be selected by the selection formula in that view. If you want the document in a folder, just add it there. If you want the document in multiple folders, add it there as well. Beware: it is still one and only one document.
Now, as of R5 or R6, it is possible to get the names of the folders each document appears in. So all the basic functions are there.
The following seems therefore possible:
- receive mail
- store in folder
- reply to the mail
--- get the folders that mail is in
- send and save the reply
--- add the reply to the same folders as the mail
I checked the default R7 mail template, but your functionality isn't there, as far as I can tell.
Do you have the necessary tools to create it yourself? The Domino Designer is a must.
There's one possibility: check out the Mail experience template from OpenNTF. It could have been implemented since the last time I looked...
ASKER
I was afraid of this. I wonder how the average user handles stuff in Lotus? Anyway, your answer confirms my suspicions, namely, that Lotus Notes is very flexible but requires work to get some basic results. I will get started on the method you described. Thanks!
ASKER
sjef_bosman,
Sorry! I just accepted brwwiggins solution, which basically states the same thing. If I had seen yours I would have divided the points. Based on information I found in Experts Exchange prior to asking the question, I had already investigated the idea of templates and so forth and was not satisfied that it was the only way. Alas, it seems that it is. As a veteran developer I will take the direction from this question and start down the road of becoming a Lotus Notes expert. :)
Sigh.....
Sorry! I just accepted brwwiggins solution, which basically states the same thing. If I had seen yours I would have divided the points. Based on information I found in Experts Exchange prior to asking the question, I had already investigated the idea of templates and so forth and was not satisfied that it was the only way. Alas, it seems that it is. As a veteran developer I will take the direction from this question and start down the road of becoming a Lotus Notes expert. :)
Sigh.....
yea, lotus likes to give you shells of applications to start out with and then let's you enhance it from there.
Good thing though is at least you can get in and modify it...not so easy with outlook
Good luck with the coding!! I believe you can post a comment in the EE Support section if you wish to split the points
Good thing though is at least you can get in and modify it...not so easy with outlook
Good luck with the coding!! I believe you can post a comment in the EE Support section if you wish to split the points
No need to split, brw's answer came in first :-) The action he mentions (Send and File) I never even considered, but seems a very valid alternative to me. I expect to be first next time!
Sjef :-P
Sjef :-P
ASKER
Thank you both for your help. I'll leave things the way they are but I will make it clear that sjef_bosman has first crack at the solution next time. ;)
This is a great forum and worth the money. :)
This is a great forum and worth the money. :)
AFAIK, normally, sent mail doesn't appear in folders at all. I'm probably wrong... Anyway, I've never seen the setting you mention. It might have been a button especially developed for your organisation. Not a trivial question, this is.