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.

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.

Lotus notes to Iphone (EMail and Calendar) - Answer

My company uses Lotus Notes 7.x version. I own an iPhone and was upto my wits end to figure out a way to synchronize LN email and calendar to my iphone. While there are many solutions out there, none of them seemed to work for me. Here are some solutions:
1. NotesPro - A native Lotus notes app, expensive at $15 in the app store. Not too many satisfactory reviews. I was not about to spend 15$ on something that may not be reliable.
2. iAnywhere - Free app, but requires some server side work. Ruled out for me.
3. iClink - Very expensive. Period

So here is the answer that works for me.. It is free and it is reliable.. Until I find a native iphone app that works, I am going to live with this solution..

For Email:

1. Forward your email to a gmail account using a LN rule.
2. Add your company email address as one of the "accounts" in gmail. Google will send an email out to your company email address to verify.
3. Verify your company email address.
4. Create a new POP email account in iphone. Here is the trick to make your company email address appear in your replies: When you create a pop email account on iphone, use your company email address, but the smtp and pop servers should be smtp.gmail.com and pop.gmail.com respectively.
5. Now your emails starts appearing in your iphone and you can reply without a problem.

For Calendar:

1. Download lntogooglecalsync from http://lngooglecalsync.sourceforge.net. Its in beta 0.2 as of now. I have watched this opensource program develop from release one to what it is now and I like what I see. As far as I know, future releases are coming too..
2. Extract the files from the downloaded file, to a folder in your computer.
3. In your computer go to command prompt and navigate to the folder that has the extracted file. Navigate to the folder called "dist".
4. Type java -jar icalbridge.jar and enter
5. A window opens that will ask the url to your mail file. Easiest way to find the url for your mail file is to open your inotes. Copy the link and paste it.
6. Enter your gmail address and password.
7. Hit the Synchronize button.

Now your calendar has been sync'd with your google calendar. Use Nuevasync (http://www.nuevasync.com/)to sync your google calendar to your iphone calendar over the air. Thats it! You will have your calendar synch'd with your iphone calendar.

The whole process should not take more than 20 mins, for anybody who is used to google mail, calendar and iphone.

Emails comes to you automatically. Anybody who has written command scripts can automate the calendar sync part. I have done it. My calendar sync's first thing in the morning.

This solution is not an elegant solution, but it is free and it works. If you are worried about forwarding your emails to google account, I am sorry you have to live with the current apps in the appstore or wait for cheaper one to come!

Hope this helps!