With the Lotus Notes 8 client comes a new suite of productivity tools which support the OASIS Open Document Format (ODF). ODF is an international standard that provides support for multiple file formats for word processing, presentations, and spreadsheets. By adopting this format, IBM has allowed Notes users to read and save documents in the Microsoft Office format as well as read from IBM Lotus SmartSuite documents. Both can be saved as ODF documents or as PDF format documents.

The advantage of using the productivity tools with ODF is that you no longer have to purchase an application from a single vendor in order to share and save your documents. Using a non commercial ODF product, will allow you to avoid having to maintain licenses, and also allow you to stop worrying about your software reaching the end of its shelf life. These benefits can lead to a lower TCO for maintaining software for document-based data.

In this article, the authors provide an overview of the three productivity tools that are provided with the client:

• IBM Lotus Documents
    
• IBM Lotus Presentations
    
• IBM Lotus Spreadsheets

These productivity tools are also referred to as document editors, since you use them to create and edit documents in various formats (word processing, presentations, and spreadsheets respectively).

Productivity Tools Integration with Notes 8

The Eclipse architecture of the Notes 8 client supports the integration of other applications. One key example of this is the integration of the productivity tools. The preferences for the tools are in the Preferences interface. When opening the preference options for the productivity tools, you will see the following:

This setting will load a file called soffice.exe. This file corresponds to a stub that remains resident so that the tools will launch more quickly. If you do not want this to occur, choose the setting not to pre-load the productivity tools.

The productivity tools are independent of the Domino 8 server. This means that the tools will function without a Lotus Domino 8 server. They can even be launched when the Notes client is not running. To do this, either double-click on the icon on your desktop, or select the program from the Start menu.

Productivity Tools and Domino Policies

A Domino administrator can control the productivity tools through a Productivity Tools policy setting. This gives the administrator the ability to control who can use the tools (and also control whether or not macros are permitted to run). It will also control what document types will be opened by the productivity tools.

Lotus Notes Domino 8: Upgrader's Guide

 

What's new in the latest Lotus Notes Domino Platform   Upgrade to the latest version of Lotus Notes and Domino Understand the new features and put them to work in your business Appreciate the implications of changes and new features In More Detail

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IBM Lotus Documents

The IBM Lotus Documents productivity tool is a document editor that allows you to create documents containing graphics, charts, and tables. You can save your documents in multiple formats. IBM Lotus Documents has a spell checker, which provides for instant corrections, and many other tools that can be used to enhance documents. No matter what the complexity of the documents that you are creating or editing, this productivity tool can handle the job.

IBM Lotus Presentations

The IBM Lotus Presentations tool will allow you to create professional presentations featuring multimedia, charts, and graphics. The presentations tool comes with templates that you can use to create your slide shows. If you wish, you can create and save your own templates as well. The templates that you create should be saved to the following directory: Notesframeworksharedeclipsepluginscom. ibm.productivity.tools.template.en_3.0.0.20070428-1644layout. (You can save a template in a different directory, but you'll need to navigate to it when creating a new presentation from that template.)

Not only can you apply dynamic effects to the presentations, but you can also publish them in a variety of formats.

IBM Lotus Spreadsheets

As its name indicates, IBM Lotus Spreadsheets is a tool used to create spreadsheets. You can use this tool to calculate, display, and analyze your data. As with other spreadsheet applications, the tool allows you to use functions to create formulas that perform advanced calculations with your data.

One feature gives you the ability to change one factor in a calculation with many factors so that the user can see how it effects the calculation. This is useful when exploring multiple scenarios. IBM Lotus Spreadsheets also has a dynamic function that will automatically update charts when the data changes.

Summary

In this article, we have reviewed the productivity tools provided with the Notes 8 client. These tools include IBM Lotus Documents, IBM Lotus Presentations, and IBM Lotus Spreadsheets. We have briefly examined how these tools are integrated with Notes 8, and how they are controlled by Domino policy documents.

Lotus Notes Domino 8: Upgrader's Guide

 

What's new in the latest Lotus Notes Domino Platform   Upgrade to the latest version of Lotus Notes and Domino Understand the new features and put them to work in your business Appreciate the implications of changes and new features In More Detail

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The Authors

Brad Schauf is an IBM Executive I/T Architect with over 20 years of experience in the computer services and consulting industry. He has experience with enterprise-wide software and messaging and portal deployments, with a concentration on Lotus Notes/Domino messaging infrastructure architecture, application development, and integration as well as WebSphere portal architecture design and deployments. His experience includes API-level application development and lead programmer, enterprise lead for messaging and portal deployments to General Manager including P&L commitments. He was a founder of a successful IBM business partner before joining IBM in 1999.

David Byrd is an IBM Senior Certified Executive IT Architect with IBM Software Services for Lotus from Fayetteville, GA. He has been an IBM/Lotus employee for over 9 years in a number of consulting positions covering various technology areas. David has a deep background in virtually all areas of Lotus products and technologies covering areas ranging from low-level API development and collaborative application architectures, to security architectures and messaging architectures. His current focus is on Lotus Quickr as well as other team collaboration technologies and its deployment within enterprise customers. He has worked with Lotus Notes and Domino for over 15 years.

Tim Speed is an IBM Certified Systems Architect with IBM Software Services for Lotus. In that capacity, he is responsible for designing, implementing, and supporting various engagements with its clients. Mr. Speed lives in Denton, Texas and has been an IBM/Lotus employee for over 12 years in a variety of networking, technical, hardware and software support and consulting positions. He has been working with Notes for over 15 years focusing on administration roles and infrastructure. He also has international experience with working on infrastructure engagements in Spain, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, the UK, and Indonesia.

Joseph Anderson is an IBM Certified Senior Managing Consultant from the IBM Software Services for Lotus team. Joseph has worked with Lotus Notes/Domino, Lotus Sametime, and Lotus QuickPlace since the early 1990s, primarily as a consultant. He is currently working with the Competitive Software team focusing on Domino/Notes administration, migration/upgrade, and security. Prior to working in the consulting industry, Joseph worked in the legal industry as a Director of Operations, where he leveraged his Master of Science in Legal Administration from the University of Denver College of Law.

Dick McCarrick is a freelance writer who has worked extensively with Lotus Notes and Domino over the years. Dick spent over 15 years with the Lotus Notes and Domino team, initially as a documentation writer, then later with developerWorks: Lotus. Since leaving IBM, he continues to be involved with Notes/Domino, co-authoring three previous books on this product.

Stephen Hardison is an IBM Certified I/T Specialist with IBM Software Services for Lotus. He focuses on the design, implementation, and assessment of large-scale collaborative solutions based on Lotus Domino, WebSphere Portal, and Lotus Connections. Mr. Hardison joined IBM in 1999, and has worked in the Information Technology industry for over 20 years. He has worked on several world-wide deployments of Lotus products. Customer engagements have taken him to Argentina, the Bahamas, Brazil, Canada, France, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. He lives near Austin, Texas.

Barry Rosen is currently an Advisory IT Specialist with IBM Software Services for Lotus. During the last two years, Mr. Rosen has worked on several large messaging and migration projects as well as performed Domino upgrades and messaging assessments. Before that he was a Software Engineer in Lotus Support for over five years. While in support Mr. Rosen was on several teams specializing in mail routing, Lotus Notes Client, calendaring and scheduling, and server core. He focused on clustering, Lotus Notes for the Macintosh, and rooms and resources. Currently Mr. Rosen resides in Houston, Tx with his wife Micol, daughter Samantha, and Goldendoodle Stella. Having graduated from the University of Texas at Austin, Mr. Rosen enjoys following Longhorn sports.

Bennie Gibson is an IBM Certified Systems Architect with IBM Software Services for Lotus. In that capacity, he is responsible for managing various engagements with its clients. Mr. Gibson lives in Wake Forest, NC and has been an IBM/Lotus employee for over 24 years in a variety of sales, consulting, and management roles. He has been working with Notes for over 10 years focusing on architecture and infrastructure. He also has international experience with working on infrastructure engagements in Malaysia.