IBM Lotus Notes 8.5 User Guide

A practical hands-on user guide with time saving tips and comprehensive instructions for using Lotus Notes effectively and efficiently Understand and master the features of Lotus Notes and put them to work in your business quickly Contains comprehensive coverage of new Lotus Notes 8.5 features Includes easy-to-follow real-world examples with plenty of screenshots to clearly demonstrate how to get the most out of Lotus Notes Packed with expert tips and best practices, for using business e-mail, calendars and other Lotus Notes applications for efficient business communication

This article, by Karen Hooper, author of IBM Lotus Notes 8.5 User Guide, focuses on the advanced features available in mail and how we can best utilize them to assist us in being efficient with mail management.

In this article, we will explore the following topics:

• Senders Colors and Recipient Icons
• Collaboration history
• Finding available time
• Copying into Tool … Memo/Calendar/To Do
• Follow up Feature (flagging)
• Stationery
• Message recall

(For more resources on IBM, see here.)

Senders Colors and Recipient Icons

Often it is important for us to identify particular e-mails in our inbox quickly, specifically if they are sent only to us or we have been Cc'd, or if an e-mail has been received from a certain person. We can specify text and background colors to identify messages from particular senders. For example, we could use one color combination to identify co-workers on an important project, another color combination for our manager, and some other combination for personal messages from friends. We can specify several color combinations. In the following screenshot, background colors of red and blue have been selected for specific individuals:

We can also display icons that identify messages in which we are the only recipient in the To field or our name appears only in the Cc field.

Specifying colors that identify senders

We can follow the instructions given next to enable Sender Colors:

1. If necessary, open your e-mail.
2. Click the More button above the message list, and then click Preferences.
3. Select the Sender Colors tab.
4. In the first Sender names field, enter one or more names of people whose messages we want to display in the first color combination. Separate names by pressing Enter (rather than using a comma as a separator). To select names from a directory, click the down arrow next to the field.

We can enter individual names only; we cannot enter group names.

1. Select a background color and or text color.
2. Click OK.
3. To remove all color combinations, return to the Senders Colors tab in Preferences, click Restore Default Colors, and then click OK.

Displaying icons that identify your recipient level

To Cc a person in a message typically means that the message content is for information and we may not need to respond or action anything. E-mail etiquette dictates that if we want a person to take action on an item we have included in the e-mail, we add their name into the To field. It is therefore handy for us to immediately identify an e-mail where we have been Cc'd or an e-mail where our name is in the To field. The following are the instructions on how to enable this feature:

1. If necessary, open mail.
2. Click the More button above the message list, and then click Preferences.
3. Go to the Recipient Icons tab.
4. Select one or more of the display fields to display solid-circle if Mail sent to me only, half-circle if Mail sent to no more than this number of recipients in the To field and then select the number, or empty-circle icons if Mail sent to me as a cc.
5. To display the selected icons when mail is addressed to us with an alternate e-mail address or group name, specify one or more alternate addresses or group names in the field below, this step is optional.
6. Click OK to save the settings.

Collaboration history

Collaboration history incorporates quite a few features. We can view a history of collaborations or communications that we have had with one of our contacts such as e-mail, Sametime chat transcripts (if you have saved them), or meetings. Collaboration history includes all activity with a selected contact for the previous two weeks.

Viewing collaboration history for a person

Follow the instructions given next to see the options available with collaboration history:

1. From within your mail select a message from a person who you want to view collaboration history.
2. Right-click on the message and we will see the person's name that we have selected at the top of the menu options. This is marked as step 1 in the following screenshot.
3. Select the person's name and then we will see an extended menu. We will see an extended menu.
4. Select Collaboration History. This is step 2 in the following screenshot.
5. A dialog box will appear with a collaboration list; select and double-click to open one of the collaborations.

Finding available time

Often when we receive a message from a person and we realize that we need to organize a meeting with them. The Find Available Time feature is a great shortcut to show us the first available time for ourselves and the sender of the message so that we can create a meeting with them.

1. We can select the context menu by right-clicking on a person's name in our mail; we can then see their name listed at the top of the context menu.
2. When we select their name, an extended context menu appears.
3. Select Find Available Time to open the Calendar Scheduler and see when is the first available time for ourself and the person we have selected. If the person we have selected is an external person to our organization, the scheduler shows greyed out time slots as the information is not available; however, it does show our first available time.
4. From the Calendar Scheduler window, we can create a meeting as shown in the following screenshot: