3/10/2015

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What'snewinIBMLotusNotes8.5

Technicaltopics

Lotus

Technicallibrary

What'snewinIBMLotusNotes8.5
ThisarticlecoverswhatsnewintheIBMLotusNotes8.5release.LotusNotes8.5marksamajormilestoneinthe
LotusNoteshistoryandisasignificantreleaseintermsofnewfeatures,appearance,programmability,and
functionality.

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AndyHigginshasbeenaTechnicalSalesSpecialistforIBMLotussoftwaresince2004.HeisbasedinAustin,TX.Hehasworkedwithemail
systemsfor22yearsandhasconcentratedforthelast10yearsmoreoninstantmessagingandcollaborationsystems.YoucanreachAndy
atandy_higgins@us.ibm.com.

29June2009(Firstpublished13January2009)
AlsoavailableinChineseRussian

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IBMLotusNotesandDominowiki

Introduction
LotusNotes8isamajorupgradetoLotusNoteswithanewuserlookandfeel.Theclientisnowbuilton
anopenstandards,Eclipsebasedarchitecturethatallowsforgreaterflexibilityforcustomization,thereby
fittingbetterintotheserviceorientedarchitecturethatIBMproposesandsupports.
Version8wasthe".0"releasethatearlyadopterstendtouse.Itbroughtinallthefeaturesbutdidrequire
someimprovements,includedinthe8.0.1and8.0.2releases.Boththesemodificationlevelsmade
dramaticimprovementsonthememoryfootprintsandtheuserinterface.
Version8.5,whichshippedJanuary6,wasdevelopedatthesametimeasversion8.0.2.Themain
differencein8.5isthatitincludesahostofnewfeaturesinadditiontotheimprovementsprovidedin
8.0.2.ClientshaveaskedmetohelpthemdeterminewhichversiontousewhenupgradingtotheNotes8
client.ThisiswhatItellthem:IfyouwanttoupgradefromanearlierversionofLotusNotestothenew
version8interfacewithminimumuserdisruptionduetonewfeatures,thenchooseversion8.0.2.Ifyou
want(orcantlivewithout)allthenewfeatures,thenchooseversion8.5.Thechoiceissimple:An
upgradetoverson8.0.2iseasiertosupportintheorganization,andanupgradetoversion8.5offers
manynewfunctionsthatmightprovedifficulttomanageif,forexample,theupgradeisfromLotusNotes
R5.
ThenewfunctionalityinLotusNotes8.5coversthefollowingareas:
Generalanduserinterfaceenhancements
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Mail
Calendar
Contacts
Other:thingsthatdontfitintoanyoftheprecedingcategories
DownloadatrialversionofLotusNotes,LotusDominoDesigner,andLotusDominoAdministrator8.5.

Generalfunctionality
Newfeaturesofgeneralfunctionalityincludethefollowing:
Contextmenus,whichdisplaywhenusersrightclicktheitem,arestreamlinedformail,contacts,andto
doviews.
Figure1.Contextmenuforamailmessage

Thecontextmenuinfigure1showsthewindowthatdisplaysforamailmessage(fromGalleySaraiin
thiscase).
Themenushowninfigure2displaysforacalendarentry.
Figure2.Contextmenuforacalendarentry

Contextmenuschangebasedontheitemtheyareassociatedwithandarenowmoremeaningful.
UserscannavigateLotusNotespreferencefieldsandcanmovethroughthepreferenceswindowsby
usingtheTabkey.
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LotusNotesnowcanautomaticallycompresstheimagespastedintodocuments.
Notethatbitmap(BMP)imagesthatareimportedintoaLotusNotesdocumentarecompressed
bitmapimagesthatarepastedintoaLotusNotesdocumentareconvertedtoGIForJPGformat.
Tocompressimagespastedintodocuments,selectFilePreferencesBasicNotesClient
Configuration,andthenselecttheappropriatesettingunderAdditionaloptions.Thesettingshownin
figure3,Compressimagespastedintodocuments,isselectedbydefault.
Figure3.Automaticcompressionofimagesindocuments

Draganddrophasbeenenhanced.YoucandragbetweenrichtextfieldsinLotusNotesdocuments
(MicrosoftWindowsonly),youcandragIBMLotusSametimecontactsnamesorgroupstoLotus
Notesnamefieldsandrichtextfields,andyoucandragnamesfromexternalapplicationstoNotes
namefields.
AroaminguserfortheLotusNotesstandardconfigurationisintroducedinthisrelease.
Anewroamingpolicysettingsdocumentisincludedtosupportthisfunctionality,asaretwonew
roamingspecificdatabases,aFeedssubscriptiondatabaseandanEclipseplugindataand
preferencesdatabase.
UserfilesconfiguredforroamingnowdisplayinasingleRoamingApplicationsfolderontheLotus
Notesreplicatorpage.
AnewRoamingpreferencepanelisavailableforLotusNotesuserswhoareconfiguredforfileserver
basedroaming.
Thelivetextfunctionandcontextmenuareimproved.WhenyouhoveroverLiveTextandthedisplayof
thecursorchanges,youcanleftclicktheLiveTextinstancetostartanaction.Ifadefaultactionhas
beenassigned,theactionruns.Ifnoactionhasbeendefinedasdefault,awindowofoptionsopens.
TherightclicklivetextactionavailableinLotusNotes8.0.1hasbeenreplacedwithalivetextcontext
menuthatyoucanaccessbyclickingonthehovericonthatdisplayswhenyouhoveroveranylivetext
instance.WidgetsandlivetextsupportontheLinuxandMacOSoperatingsystemsareintroduced
withthisrelease.
LotusNotes8.5addssupportforinstallationanduseonMacOS.
LotusNotes8.5addssupportforinstallationandusewithCitrixsoftware.
Supportfor64bitoperatingsystems(forCitrix)isincluded.
TheLotusNotesbasicconfigurationAllclientinstallationkitisnolongeravailablehowever,theLotus
Notesonlybasicconfigurationinstallationkitremainsavailable.
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CustomerslookingtoinstallorupgradetotheIBMLotusDominoDesigner8.5orIBMLotusDomino
Administrator8.5clientsmustusetheLotusNotesstandardconfigurationAllclientinstallationkit.This
kitisapplicableontheMicrosoftWindowsoperatingsystemonlyasthereisnoLotusNotesbasic
configurationinstallationkitfortheMacOSorLinuxoperatingsystems.
LotusNotesstartupsequencehasbeenreorderedaspartofaperformanceenhancementinthis
release.
Theorderofthestartupsequenceisnow:
Splash

Logindialog(unlesssharedlogin)

Progresswindow

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Mailfunctionality
Improvementstomailincludemultipleemailaddressesandnewinboxicons.
Multipleemailaddresseshavebeenadded.Thetypeaheadfunctionincludesallemailaddresses
storedinauser'scontacts.Morefrequentlyusedaddressesdisplayatthetopofthelist.Seefigure4.
Figure4.Multipleemailaddresses

Inboxiconsareimproved.AnewFoldercolumninthemailAllDocumentsviewdisplaysanymail
foldersthatadocumentisin.Seefigure5foracomparisonoftheinboxiconsusedinLotusNotes8.0
and8.5.
Figure5.Inboxicons

Calendarfunctionality
Newfeaturesofthecalendarincludefederationandahorizontalscrollbar.
Federationhasbeenadded.AnewcalendarwindowallowsuserstoaddcalendarsfromGoogle
Calendarentries,anotherLotusNotesuser'scalendar,oraniCalfeed.Seefigure6.Federationof
calendarsallowsmultipledifferentcalendarstobeoverlayedtogetheronyourowncalendardisplay.
Youcanselectcheckboxestoremoveandaddspecificcalendars.
Figure6.Thenewcalendarwindow

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Figure7showstheAddaCalendarwindow,inwhichyoucanselectthetypeofcalendartoadd,as
showninfigure7.
Figure7.AddaCalendarwindow

Thiswindowupdatesitsentrieseachtimetheviewisopened.
Youcanselectthe"Viewthiscalendarwhenofflineoronamobiledevice"optiontotakeyourLotus
Notescalendaroffline.WhenLotusNotessynchronizesyourcalendarwithamobiledevice,suchasa
BlackBerry,itincludes45daysbeforeand45daysafterthecurrentdate.
AhorizontalscrollbarforCalendarviewshasbeenadded.Whenalltheheaderinformationforcalendar
entriescannotbedisplayedcompletelyforadayinacalendarview,thedaydisplaysahorizontalscroll
bar.
Youcanuseamouseorthekeyboardleftandrightarrowkeystoscrollwiththebar,andyoucan
displaytherestoftheheaderinformationforcalendarentries.

Contactsfunctionality
SeveralnewfunctionshavebeenaddedtotheContactsfeature.

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ToimportexternalcontactstoyourLotusNotesContacts,fromContacts,selectFileImportContacts.
Thewindowshowninfigure8displays.Iffieldremappingisrequired,itcanbedonefirstordonein
Contactsaftertheimport.
Figure8.TheImportContactswindow

Toexportyourcontactsandtofilterwhichcontactsandfieldstoexport,fromContacts,selectFile
Exportcontacts.Thewindowshowninfigure9displays.
Figure9.TheExportContactswindow

YoucanalsoforwardcontactsasavCardfromContacts.Selectthecontactsthatyouwanttoforward
asavCardandselecttheForwardvCardoption.Seefigure10.
Youcanaddinternationalsetsofalphabettabs.Selectthemenuiconatthebottomofthetabscolumn,
andthenselectfromGreek,Hebrew,Arabic,Thai,Vietnamese,Japanese,orCyrillic.Seefigure10.
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Figure10.TheForwardvCardandalphabetoptions

Otherfunctionality
Othernewfunctionsincludeanotebook,moreseamlessfailoverinthemailclientandcomposite
applications,offlineintegrationwithactivities,replicationandsynchronization,andnewfunctionsfor
LotusSametimeandIBMLotusSymphony.

Personaljournal
AnewNotebooktemplate(formerlythePersonalJournaltemplate)isincluded.
Figure11.TheNotebookfeature

ThePersonalJournaltemplatehasanewnameandanewlookasshowninfigure11.Whenyouinstall
orupgradetoLotusNotes8.5,anynewNotebookthatyoucreateusesthenewtemplate
(Notebook8.ntf).Inaddition,anyexistingjournaltemplateisupdatedautomaticallyifoneofthefollowing
conditionsismet:
Itisnamedjournal.nsf.
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Itwascreatedfromthedefaulthomepage.
ItwascreatedmanuallybyselectingFileApplicationNewandwassubsequentlylinkedtoyour
defaulthomepagebyselectingtheSetJournaloption.Journalscreatedthiswaybutnotlinkedtoyour
defaulthomepagearenotupdatedautomatically.SelectFileApplicationReplaceDesigntoupdate
existingjournaltemplatesmanually.

Seamlessapplicationfailover
Moreseamlessfailoverinmailclientandcompositeapplicationsisnowincluded.Sinceversion8.0,the
LotusNotesclientisitselfanexampleofacompositeapplicationinvolvingbothJavaandnonJava
components.IntheLotusNotesclientforthisrelease,regardlessofwhichpart(component)ofyourmail
clientyouarein,initiatinganactionwhenyourmailserverisdowncausesthatcomponenttofailoverto
anotherserverinthecluster.
Forexample,ifyouareworkingintheFollowUporCalendarminiview,whichisanNSFcomponentof
yourmailapplication,andyourmailservergoesdown,theminiviewfailsover.Moreover,thefailoverof
onecomponenttriggersallrelatedcomponentstofailoverinthepreviousexample,thefailoverbythe
miniviewtriggerstheInboxtofailoveraswell.

Offlineintegrationwithactivities
Table1detailstheofflineintegrationofLotusNoteswithactivities.Activitiesaredesignedtohandle
shortterm,adhoccollaboration.Youcanincludeemail,documents,chats,Weblinks,andmoreinan
activityandthengiveaccesstootherpeopletoallowthemtoseethecurrentstatusoftheactivity.
Table1.LotusNotesandactivities
LotusNotes Activities
Whatgoes
Whatgoesoffline?
offline?
Allcurrentactivities
Entire
Prioritizedactivities
applicationor Selectedcertainactivities
database
Manychoices
forparts
Storedin
StoredinaDerby(formerlyCloudscape)database,intheLotusNotesdirectory
NSFfile
Onbydefault Offbydefaultsetapropertyinplugin.properties
Administrator
canmake
Editthisfile:
mailavailable <Notes>\framework\shared\eclipse\plugins\com.ibm.openactivities.client.common.service_3.0.1.2008MMDD
offline(local HHMM\plugin.properties
replica)
througha
Changethefinalsettingtothisvalue:
policy
#Enableofflinemodeactivities.enable.offline=yes

Replicationandsynchronization
LotusNotesuserreplication(asbefore)andnowactivitiesandIBMLotusQuickrusesynchronization
todothefollowing:
Canmanuallysynchronizeactivities'datausingamenuitem
Setscheduleforactivitiesseparatelyfromthereplicationschedule
Cannotstopsynchronizationafteritisstarted(unlikereplication)

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LotusSametime
DragmessagestoaddnamestoyourSametimecontactslist.YoucandragaMailmessagetoany
personalgroupinyourSametimecontactslistandaddallthemembersofthegrouptoyourlistatone
time.Thisactioncanalsobedonewithcalendarandtodoentriesthathaverecipients(suchasmeetings
orgrouptodoassignments),andwithcontactsentries.

IBMLotusSymphony
LotusSymphony1.2,thelatestversionofthesoftware,isbuiltintoLotusNotes8.5.Ithasnewfeatures
includingthefollowing:
PerformanceenhancementsincludingODPandPPTfileformatsave,applicationstartup,newdocument
creation,spellcheckinginODPandODS,Presentationpagepainting,andanoptimizedsidebarrefresh.
Interoperabilitywithotherfileformats
Improvedsupportforchartrendering,numbering,andbulletingwithMicrosoftOfficedocuments
SupportforopeningandplayingtheMicrosoftPowerPointPPSfileformat
SupportfordisplayingthepresentationtableinOpenOffice.org
ImprovedsupportforgraphicsandlayoutsinIBMLotusSmartSuitedocuments
Functionenhancementsinthreeeditors
Supportforthepagesliderfunctioninpresentationmode
Supportforthevaliditylistfunctioninspreadsheetmode
Improvedsupportforthetableofcontentsfunctionindocumentmode
Improvedsupportforspellcheckinginpresentationtemplatefiles
Improvedsupportforconfigurabledefaultfiletypeswhencreatingnewdocuments

Conclusion
Aswecanseefromtheprecedingfeatures,thenewestversionofLotusNotesisrichwithadditional
functionalitywhileatthesametimepresentingitselfinamodernandeffectiveinterface.

Resources
Learn
ReadtheIBMannouncementletterforIBMLotusNotesandDomino8.5.

DigdeeperintoIBM
collaborationandsocial
softwareondeveloperWorks
Overview

Readthewhitepaper,"IBMLotusNotesandDomino8.5Reviewer'sGuide."

NewtoLotus

RefertotheIBMLotusDominoandNotesinformationcenter

Technicallibrary(tutorialsandmore)

RefertotheLotusNotesandDominowiki
ReadthedeveloperWorksLotusarticle,"IBMLotusDominogoinggreen:
ThenewLotusDominoattachmentandobjectservice"
RefertotheIBMLotusNotesandDominoproductpage
Getproductsandtechnologies
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/lotus/library/notes85new/

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DownloadatrialversionofLotusNotes,LotusDominoDesigner,andLotus
DominoAdministrator8.5.
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