Lotus Notes to Outlook 2010

Once my company made Lotus Notes 8.5 available  I ditched Outlook 2007/DAMO and switched to Lotus Notes somewhat reluctantly. For the first few months, I liked using lotus notes, but somewhat still despised using it due to its overall slowness. A couple of weeks ago, I could no longer take it.. So, I switched to Outlook 2010. While there are instructions available if you search diligently,  it took me at least three days to figure everything out. In an effort to save you guys some time, I have listed the tasks involved with relevant links where applicable.

I was using a 64 bit Windows 7, with Microsoft Office 64 bit. The DAMO version I used was DAMO.InterimFix6.2010.

1. To start off, I found that I had to uninstall MS Office 64 bit and install MS Office 32 bit. This is the ONLY way to make DAMO.IF6 work with Outlook 2010. There were handful of recommendations to edit the registry settings. NONE of them worked for me. So don't waste time. Just get MS Office 32 bit installed. 

2. Install DAMO Interim fix 6.. For those of you interested, I can provide the link to the setup file. Just leave a comment with your email address, I will email the link. IMPORTANT: When installing DAMO, install it in a special folder (I used C:\DominoForOutlook) and not the default folder. Also, when creating the MAPI, do not use the default folder (I used C:\DAMOData).

3. Open Outlook 2010. When you open for the first time, outlook should automatically replicate with your Domino and all your mails and calendar entries gets downloaded.

That's it you are done! Now you can not only send and receive mails, you can accept meeting requests. Read and deleted emails are appropriately reflected in your DOMINO server. You may want to open Lotus notes once in a while to make sure that this is happening.

 In older version of DAMO, recurring meeting would come as one per day. I would just hope that nobody sent an invite without an end date. With this new version of DAMO, it is no longer a problem.

I still have the following issues (that I hope to find a solution in the near future):
1. Some attachments (especially Excel/PowerPoint) come in corrupted. Word document seems to be ok.
2. Emails from select users show up with blank body if they reply to the email sent from me. 
3. Calendar invites from other outlook users (not using DAMO) show up with blank body.

I am willing to overlook these issues, just to be able work in Outlook 2010 (which btw, is awesome!)

Good luck!

Update 04/04/2013: The attachment problem above is now resolved. In word and excel, under File, Options, select Trust Center, then Protected View, Uncheck the Box for Outlook attachments and the problem of not bring able to open outlook attachments in Word and Excel, goes away. When you open an attachment, outlook will now ask you to confirm if this came from a trust worthy source. 

Update 09/15/2014: Please send your requests as a dm to my twitter handle @getsaketh since it is becoming increasingly difficult to monitor the comments.

Now Donating Google Wave Invitation

I have 5 google wave invitations to give out.. I will give out more as and when I get more.. If you want one, comment on this blog post. Don't forget to add your gmail address in a no-spam format(abc at gmail dot com). Fair warning, it takes about 4 hrs for you to get the invitation after I send them out. I will reply your comment and let you know if I sent you one. Its first-come-first-served basis.

UPDATE(12/4/2008): I have 8 more invitations to give out..
May you get waved!

Playing youtube videos in iPhone safari

One of the features of iPhone OS 3.0 release is that you can play YouTube videos from iPhone safari. However you for a few weeks since I upgraded to OS 3.0, I was unable to play videos directly from Safari. I found the reason why. If you disable YouTube through the "Restrictions" option in the General settings, YouTube video's wont play from iPhone safari either. With the YouTube restriction on, you will only see a crossed out Play icon in iPhone safari. Hope this helps people facing the same problem.

Google Calendar on Iphone

With the release of Iphone OS 3.0, syncing the main google calendar has become a breeze. Here is how to do it..
1. Go to Mail, Contacts and Calendar in "Settings"
2. Select "Add Account"3. Choose Other
4. Choose "Add CalDav Account"

5. Enter your google account details
Thats it!

This will not work for subcalendars in google. As far as I know, the only decent way to get both your main calendar and subcalendars is to use Nuevasync (you can find information on this from earlier post)

One little bug - Outlook 2007 With Lotus Domino

Its been weeks since I have been using Outlook 2007 with Lotus Domino. I love it. By far all the major functionalities are working without any problem. I did notice (so did my co-workers) that when somebody sends you a recurring meeting, you get the request multiple times. The easiest solution for this is to open Lotus Notes ( I know, I know.. lot of us hate to open it even once) and accept the meeting.

Have a great day!

Lotus Domino to Outlook 2007 - The Answer

Ok, I think I got enough interest to warrant a post.
In order for this solution to work, you HAVE to know the server name of your Lotus Domino and the your name exactly as it is in your Domino address book.

1. Visit this forum and search for rapidshare. The second hit will lead you to DAMO 7.0.2 exe file. Download this. Note: This version of DAMO partially works with Outlook 2007 but it has the "meeting and replication" related problems. Do not install it yet.
2. Google for "C1K37EN.exe". You should find a link that will allow you to download this file. This is DAMO 8.0.2.
Both these files are uploaded and hosted by somebody else. I just found them after a little (re)search.

Now you have two versions of DAMO downloaded.
Here is the trick that lot of people don't know.
3. Install DAMO 7.0.2 first. It is pretty intuitive. Do not open Outlook yet.
4. Install DAMO 8.0.2 next. This should ask for an upgrade of the existing DAMO. If it does, you are on the right track.

You don't have to change any environment variable or adjust your registry. DAMO 8.0.2 handles this for you.
5. Now open outlook 2007. When you open for the first time, outlook should automatically replicate with your Domino and all your mails and calendar entries gets downloaded.

Thats it you are done! Now you can not only send and recieve mails, you can accept meeting requests. Read and deleted emails are appropriately reflected in your DOMINO server. You may want to open Lotus notes once in a while to make sure that this is happening.

This solution worked for me. I use a Windows XP laptop with Domino 7.x version and outlook 2007 SP1. THIS MAY NOT WORK IF YOU HAVE Outlook 2007 SP2.

If this solution does not work and you want to try the install again. You have to uninstall DAMO and then re-install 7.0.2 and 8.0.2 in that order. It won't work otherwise.

Hope this helps! Do comment and let me know if this worked!

Update 04/09/2013: Please refer to my latest post on Lotus Notes to Outlook 2010..

Lotus Domino to Outlook 2007

I have been able to succesfully configure Outlook 2007 to work with Lotus Domino. If you are interested in knowing how to do this, click on the "interested" reaction below this post. It took me a while to figure out. But my outlook 2007 works without any of the issues (meeting, replication etc.,) that people are facing.