Notes 7.x feature requests

May 11 2005

Here are some of the Lotus Notes 7.x feature requests posted originally in this thread on edbrill.com.  I have made a few comments like this.  --Ed

  • Can we have a really top UI for the next release. This thought was picked up by SearchDomino... definitely a goal of the 7.5 release.  Some of the UI work done to integrate Lotus Notes 7.0 into the IBM Workplace client technology shows progress in this direction.
  • a 1st class, richly configurable Welcome Pane that more resembles a web portal
  • Allowing the end user to have more ability to customize their own mail file. ... UI improvements such as more user selectable columns in folders/views, having preferences all in one place, or rules that can act on documents already in the mail file could go a long way in helping the average end user be more productive and have a better opinion of Notes.
  • I'd like to see more context-sensitivity for right-click options, such as right-clicking a message to "mark unread". There are more right-click menu options in 7.0, don't happen to see this one.
  • point and click adjustable tables ( like word); Ability to set table widths by pixels, as well as inches.
  • Printing of tables from the client. Before I would ask for something like repeating row printing for each page that a table breaks across, I would just like to have the rows break cleanly and to know that all the information is getting printed.  Printing more than 1 line for a header. Printing something other than a 1" margin for a header.
  • My No. 1 feature: View Anchor Link
  • I vote for multi-level undo and multi-level redo.
  • Automatic Sametime reconnect.. (laptops resumed from standby will automatically replicate/login for Notes, why doesnt instant messaging integration do the same?)
  • What about the ability to share contacts??
  • Proper client-side spam filtering, like in Thunderbird.
  • clicking on unconnected dates in the date picker and seeing them appear on the calendar side-by-side.
  • viewing one person's calendar side-by-side with another
  • A real solution to Implement personal NAB contacts in mailfile. This one gets debated every few months -- I'm still not sure I personally see the value in combining the different data types in the mailbox.
  • Attaching of documents done in the background.
  • Ability to save an embedded picture (not attachment) to my harddrive.
  • An address book that doesn't look like its from a product developed 10 years ago. The address book in Notes is by FAR the worst of any PIM management out there. From annoyances like not formating numbers to not being able to e-mail multiple addresses. It is awful.
  • Underline option for "Accountants double underline". of course I have been asking for that for years!:-)
  • How about autocorrect in the Richtext fields? Sure seems like a little thing.
  • give us the option (maybe in their person doc) to not require use of a user id file  This is a request often discussed by development and product management.  Could be an option in 7.x, too soon to know for sure.  Notes's security model has been in the product for so long, and has contributed so much to the secure reputation of the product, it seems like anything less than where it is at today is risky.
  • Ok, this might not be very popular but I'd love to see centralised passwords for the Lotus Notes client, this would certainly help in quickly doing password resets. The password recovery process can sometimes take too long, trying to get the users current ID file and then reading back the password recovery code to the user.
  • No more:" Only text can be pasted into this field" messages.
  • Heck, while we are at it, give us the ability to create categorized calendar views! :-) There was some subsequent discussion that this might actually be possible.
  • I would go along with resorting/quickfind within categories. I understand what's going on; users don't.
  • Also, (cheating like everyone else) how about some native support for OpenOffice.org as a viewer and in-NotesDocument editor (using Java classes please, not COM/OLE....)? I like the idea of the Microsoft Office Document libraries, but just without the Microsoft.   Something that has been discussed at an abstract level as part of the "Notes 8" plan to use the embedded editors from the Workplace client technology.
  • proper rendering of html emails - no, the improvements in 6.5.4 are not good enough. Hmmm...hope you are opening support incidents on these.
  • native support for wireless PDA, ala ActiveSync for Exchange.
  • I'd like a REAL incremental installer. Smart Upgrades are not it. I'm talking small package, patch like stuff.
  • What I would really love, would be to have all of the standard (non-user specific, ie: templates, w32 directory etc.) files located in the notes\data directory to be built into the client. This would prevent user tampering, reduce the size of the notes\data directory (it would obviously make the client bigger, but who, running ND6, doesn't have a corporate workstation with a 20gb hdd for the OS & apps?) and give pro MS people less things to complain about when it comes to the client and the manageability of it vs outlook. The smart-upgrade feature could be used to push out customisations of any 'standard' files (ie customised templates) to the clients.
  • What I want is the ability for any user, looking at any note or view entry in any database to be able to right click and select "Annotate" from the context menu. That will bring up a smallish dialog box containing a form with a date-time field, a checkbox labeled "Share this annotation" (default is un-checked), a checkbox labeled "Set alarm" (default is un-checked), a checkbox labeled "Show in views" (default is checked if the form was brought up from the view level, otherwise unchecked), a checkbox labeled "Show in document" (default is checked), a text field for the subject, and a rich text field.
  • Automatic date/time interpretation for the command "Copy into New Calendar Entry". How many times do you get a message (not an invitation) that says 'lets meet at 10 AM on Tuesday'. Why can't Notes determine that and pre-populate the date/time of the event? This is a great idea.
  • Ability to print all entries of an embedded view. Currently, you embed a view on a form and then print the form, but only the displayed 2 inches, or whatever will print. If there are a page worth of entries, I'd like to have the view space grow/shrink based on the number of entries.
  • Mac support for keyboard shortcuts such as Alt-1 in Windows.
  • No doubt, tooltips for the actions!
  • The ability to forward a document to someone and have the recipient retrieve it as discrete document (and not remain as part of the body).
  • Make the right click shortcut menu configurable so I can add my own actions to it.
  • Convert www.something.something-else to a hotspot, even if the prefix "http" was omitted.  Good idea.
  • The ability to have alternative browsers Integrate with notes, like the IE and Netscape could in a browser, in such a way the icon is listed above, and can be used from the designer as well, as in preview in [Enter preferred browser].
  • We have views as lists, views as calendars, how about views as charts?
  • My users would probably want message-recall. I am tired of people asking for that. I'm not an advocate for this... I believe that too many people "live" in their e-mail these days for the feature to be effective.  The Outlook implementation doesn't work in the real world, so it's really only Groupwise that comes close to offering this natively today.  Fetch and Demailer are both available as add-ons for Notes.
  • create better html (xhtml), therefor replace rtf editor with modern wysiwyg html editor and store rich text as mime
  • Bi-directional password sync with Active Directory for both Notes client and HTTP passwords. Every other client we use (browser, Oracle, Outlook, etc.) can use AD authentication, but not a Notes client.  What about ADSync and the provider for the Notes client single sign-on?
  • I would like to see better multithreading in the client. For instance, if I'm searching a database or if I'm sending off an email with a large attachment, I should be able to switch to other tabs and continue working instead of waiting on the Notes client to finish.
  • ability to shift-click on a certain position in a view to extend the selection checkmarks from the last checked one to this document without the need to mark all the documents in between manually. This is on my list...
  • The ability of the ToDo list to be able to support sub-tasks and be able to assign these sub-tasks to others.
  • drag and drop text in the editor
  • Instead of re-designing the Mail Template UI, I suggest that the development team update and enhance the template code (new features of course ;^ ), and design into the new template the ability to use themes. Then have the Development come up with 3 or 4 good themes (Classic, Thunderbird, Outlook etc.) that could appeal to any number of people. This way you could have third party UI developers write new themes that are easily applied to the template.
  • My one feature is to have multiple signatures for the client work easily. The current mode is a real pain in the @
  • better group-calendar-interface and function like Lotus-Organizer :(
  • Native RSS Reader
  • Mail Merge: The ability to create a RTF and embed fields from any database via a view or dynamic selection criteria. I am tired of getting kicked by the Outlook people from companies we acquire that Outlook can do it in "three clicks" and Lotus can't do it at all.
  • To make the property box a property window
  • Throw up a warning if the user tries to send a mail containg the word "attached" (or variations of this) if the user has not actually attached a file.
  • How about Gant-Chart style views.
  • Just one more, what about private accessible folders. So while delegating your mail file, mails in some folders are not accessible by other people (including through the All Documents view)?
  • Add a flag "No Attachment" for CC & BCC fields to tell the router to send the attachment only to TO-people and remove it for all others. Interesting idea.

Ed Brill | Highland Park, IL USA Category: Add/View Comments [21]

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  1. 1  Hynek Kobelka www.pylonware.com | 5/12/2005 3:36:11 AM

    Late as always :-)) but thats a chance I simply can't miss.

    Here are my favourites: (Yes it's not ONE request, but the second is actually not mine so it might count :-))))

    - As a developer i would appreciate to have a UI function "RefreshRichTextFields" that would immediately display any changes in them without saving and reopening the whole document.

    - For users I would want that deleted/cancelled meetings in the calendar would not be removed, but instead they should be displayed with "strike-through" text.

  1. 2  Ben Rose http://www.jaffacake.net | 5/12/2005 6:11:09 AM

    No chance that the unread marks are going to work properly then :~(

  1. 3  Chris Whisonant http://cwhisonant.blogspot.com | 5/12/2005 6:24:46 AM

    @ A real solution to Implement personal NAB contacts in mailfile. This one gets debated every few months -- I'm still not sure I personally see the value in combining the different data types in the mailbox.

    Ed - remember that the data type is already IN the mailbox. There's a ($Contacts) view with the synchronized Names/DWA Address book. There are also the Calendar, To-do, Journal/DWA Notebook (also synchronized) data types.

    By the way - thanks for asking the community about this!

  1. 4  Ed Brill www.edbrill.com | 5/12/2005 6:45:42 AM

    @2 it's a bug not a feature... I'm still not sure that the issues are as severe as you indicated on yer blog and during the first go.

  1. 5  Keith Nolen http://www.yellerdog.net | 5/12/2005 8:05:58 AM

    Bi-directional password sync with Active Directory for both Notes client and HTTP passwords. Every other client we use (browser, Oracle, Outlook, etc.) can use AD authentication, but not a Notes client.

    What about ADSync and the provider for the Notes client single sign-on?

    That's not enough for us. Notes is a minority client in our environment, and is not trusted (thanks to previous poor training and administration). When I suggest that Notes users change their AD passwords via the Notes client, our LAN team gets very wary. Also, we can't depend on our users to remember to do this properly. If an AD password change could push down to the Notes client it would make Notes a much more popular client.

  1. 6  Simon Barratt  | 5/12/2005 8:33:03 AM

    Re this feature:

    "Automatic date/time interpretation for the command "Copy into New Calendar Entry". How many times do you get a message (not an invitation) that says 'lets meet at 10 AM on Tuesday'. Why can't Notes determine that and pre-populate the date/time of the event? This is a great idea. "

    I actually saw this demonstrated in the Research labs at LS2004, it looked like it was working pretty well. Wonder why it has not made it into the product yet?

  1. 7  Simon Barratt  | 5/12/2005 8:35:35 AM

    @5 with Notes 6.x, client initiated AD p/w changes are pushed to the Notes ID and then in turn to Internet pw, via AdminP.

    Yes Ed, I have opened a ticket re the HTML rendering piece!

  1. 8  Chad Schelfhout www.chadsmiley.com | 5/12/2005 8:53:17 AM

    Great list. I was a little disappointed that controlling which database to debug did not make the list. { Link }

  1. 9  Douglas G. Robinson  | 5/12/2005 9:03:52 AM

    Here's an expanded export feature that my users are always asking for:

    Add a standard choice in exports to export user selected fields from chosen documents. This could be in the form of a set of checkboxes (listing field names) that users could select in a final dialog box.

  1. 10  Ed Brill www.edbrill.com | 5/12/2005 9:06:58 AM

    @8 - As indicated, this list is NOTES only -- NOTES CLIENT, not Designer.

  1. 11  Chris Whisonant http://cwhisonant.blogspot.com | 5/12/2005 9:14:41 AM

    @8/@10 - Ahh, but there's the rub. Most debugging is actually done from the Notes CLIENT from within an application. So that could go either way. But is is actually a Designer tool that is used in the Notes Client.

    Any chance on compiling a Designer and/or Administrator Client list like this one in the future?

  1. 12  Adrian Clark  | 5/12/2005 1:23:01 PM

    1) "The following items cannot be sent/saved in MIME..."

    Horizontal Rule.

    Have they never heard of the <hr> tag??

    2) As for the AdSync "feature" this is a one time "Sync" it only works from the client. Everyone in IBM should set their password to expire every week and live with the ineffectiveness of password recovery. You can't read a recovery string to a user over the phone (even if they could type it right if it's written down then your security is lost). You can't reset centrally and easily talk the user to get the ID file back into the hidden Documents & Settings...data folder. We're not launcing nuclear missles (although some Notes users may be :) the security of the Windows desktop is suffficient.

    3) When will Notes users ever be able to easily report spam? We need the mime headers INTACT and an easy way to Forward the memo as an attachment like every other mail client. The "short way" in Notes to report spam to an appliance or your ASP, abuse or local admin:

    "View | Show | Page Source", "File | Export "c:\spam1.txt", [Export], [Replace], <Alt>W, 999 <Enter>, <Ctrl>M, File | Attach "c:\spam1.txt" [Create]".

    4) People change companies/jobs. A simple way to export folders of messages to move to other users and to be able to delegate the chair of a meeting would go a long way to making the product more usable in an Enterprise.

  1. 13  Richard van Geilswyk  | 5/12/2005 3:38:32 PM

    My feature request would be nicer, non-mail, templates all around. A wonderful job was done on the 6.5 mail template but now about a slicker Personal Address Book.

    The other two items that come to mind are not feature request per say, but I'd love to see the packaging of the Notes client improved. I have two examples on this front:

    1. Include the registering of file extensions in Windows (e.g. .id, .nsf and perhaps .ndk).

    Why? Try running the Windows XP 'File and Settings Transfer Wizard' (Click 'Start' then 'Run' and type 'migwiz.exe). It uses registered file extensions when it migrates data and right now users have to be trained to do this so it's a Notes vs. Outlook TCO issue.

    At one Canadian Federal Agency, it's the users who are responsible for backing up data before handing their laptops into the help desk for re-imaging. People using Outlook are never reduced to tears when they import and Notes users can be.

    2. It would be nice to be offered the option of creating a link on the Quick Launch bar. Very easy to do with corporate deployments but this would make one off installs easier.

  1. 14  Richard van Geilswyk  | 5/12/2005 3:45:15 PM

    Ed - I accidentally posted before finishing to edit. Ignore the feature request, it's clearly covered in you post on several different bullets. Sorry about that.

  1. 15  Samuel deHuszar Allen  | 5/12/2005 5:22:11 PM

    I am also a bit disappointed that full CSS1/2(and why not! /3) compliance didn't make it in the list. I realize that this is a bit tricky because the use of CSS in the database UI would be coded in the Designer Client, the Notes client HAS to be able to properly render the CSS settings. I think this has a bit to do with some of the mangled HTML rendering.

    The idea for themes mentioned in the list could be done with such ease, were there an appropriate CSS implementation. csszengarden.com is a fine example of how themes can be implemented by changing only the CSS, leaving the (x)html untouched.

    Sam

  1. 16  Richard Hogan  | 5/13/2005 4:57:03 AM

    Hi Ed, thinking of things I would like as a developer I nearly overlooked one aspect of the Notes client I think could do with improvement.

    This is to do with replicating multiple POP3 mailboxes into one's mail file. Currently this requires setting up Accounts and Connection docs, and can get very confusing (and requires a hack if you've more than one mailbox on the same server - eg. me@isp.com & meSpam@isp.com).

    I would suggest that all info required for one mailbox be put into one doc. There could be a wizard (I don't like them) but I'd also like to see/change all settings in one place. I think the current system must be very difficult for most end-users.

    Richard

  1. 17  Les Zatony  | 5/13/2005 5:24:19 AM

    Ed:

    Thany you very much for taking the time to ask us this question. As developers and administrators we are aware that not every enhancement request is doable (or should be done), but it sure was nice to be asked. The toughest thing was limiting to just one idea.

    I sure wish I had a place to park the 20 other ideas that I believe would allow us to build world-class applications. And that I could be confident that the idea would at least be considered. And while I told myself that I wouldn't throw anything else on your list. I can't resist one more... It sure would be nice if we could have embedded views that could grow (to a defineable max) or shrink to content vertically.

  1. 18  Ben Rose http://www.jaffacake.net | 5/13/2005 6:48:43 AM

    @4 - Ed, please feel free to come work our helpdesk during the next server move.

    Unread marks work fine in a local replica or in a single server environment. Move into a scalable clustered environment, the area where Domino is supposed to beat Exchange, and the unread marks all get screwed up. Ask my user base!

    I'm aware it's a bug fix, not a feature request, but I wasn't the only one to point out we'd rather have the current features working properly than anything new.

  1. 19  Alan Lepofsky http://www.alanlepofsky.net | 5/13/2005 8:09:54 AM

    @17 "I sure wish I had a place to park the 20 other ideas"... you should talk to your IBM account team about them. There is an internal feature request database that they can enter them into. Product Management and Development look at this database as well as a ton of other sources, councils, forums, etc.

  1. 20  Alan Bell http://www.dominux.co.uk | 5/13/2005 9:17:40 AM

    @1

    try this as an agent you can call.

    Sub Initialize

    'this does a hard refresh of the current UI document

    Dim ws As New notesuiworkspace

    Dim bedoc As NotesDocument

    Dim cmode As Integer' the current edit mode

    Dim tempdoc As NotesDocument

    Dim ses As New notessession

    Dim db As NotesDatabase

    Set db=ses.CurrentDatabase

    Set tempdoc=New notesdocument(db)'user needs create documents in ACL

    cmode=ws.CurrentDocument.EditMode

    If cmode Then

    ws.CurrentDocument.Reload

    End If

    Set bedoc=ws.CurrentDocument.Document

    Dim noteid As String

    noteid=bedoc.NoteID'store the note ID of the on disk document

    Call bedoc.CopyAllItems(tempdoc)

    Stop

    bedoc.saveoptions="0"

    If cmode Then

    ws.currentdocument.reload

    End If

    Call ws.currentdocument.Close(True)

    Dim newbedoc As NotesDocument

    If isnew Then

    Set newbedoc=New NotesDocument(db)

    Else

    Set newbedoc=db.GetDocumentByID(noteid)

    End If

    Call tempdoc.CopyAllItems(newbedoc,True)

    Call ws.EditDocument(cmode,newbedoc)

    'note that I am not saving any documents at all!

    End Sub

  1. 21  David Bell  | 5/13/2005 7:56:18 PM

    @12 - entry number 3.....

    You said: "View | Show | Page Source", "File | Export "c:\spam1.txt", [Export], [Replace], <Alt>W, 999 <Enter>, <Ctrl>M, File | Attach "c:\spam1.txt" [Create]".

    I said: "View | Show | Page Source", "Actions | Forward" et voila.