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Lotus Notes Database Tips

LAST UPDATED: 18 May 2006 06:00:18 +0200

CREATING A DATABASE LINK WILL MY DATABASE EVENTUALLY QUIT GROWING

DELETING FROM FOLDER DELETES FROM VIEW HOW CAN I CHANGE UNREAD DOCUMENTS TO READ

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A VIEW AND A FOLDER

CREATING DATABASE ICONS ON YOUR WORKSPACE

DATABASE IS NOT FULLY INITIALIZED YET (IT DOES NOT CONTAIN ANY VIEWS)

NOTES CERTIFICATE IS EXPIRING--ANOTHER ANNOYING MESSAGE

IVE OPENED ANOTHER DATABASE, BUT MY WORKSPACE DOESNT ADD THE ICON

CASCADING DATABASES ADD IT UP COPYCATS SELECTIVE DELETION CONTEXT IS EVERYTHING

TITLE SEARCH HISTORY LESSON COPYCAT CHANGING HISTORY NO MISTAKEN IDENTITY

PUT A STOP TO IT HIGH PRIORITY HIGH-WIRE ACT TRADING PLACES ONE AT A TIME

REPLICATION INTERRUPTUS WORKING IN MULTIPLES WHATS YOUR ACCESS ALL SYSTEMS GO

CHECK IT OUT DATABASE SIZE SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES GET STARTED WITH A DATABASE

DO IT OUTSIDE NOTES GET THE NAMES CRITICAL FILE OPEN SESAME FIND MORE WITH FULL-TEXT SEARCHES

FORWARD DOCUMENTS FROM ANY DATABASE NEW LOCATION SEEK AND FIND PREFERRED SCANNING

LOCATION, LOCATION PREFERRED CUSTOMER CHOICE LOCATION SEE THE LINK

CREATING A DATABASE LINK

It is often helpful to send a database link to someone you're working with. Lotus provides an easy way to do this. Here are the instructions for Notes 4.5X and 4.6X clients:

Right-click a Notes database icon. Choose Copy As Link. Open your mail file and start a new memo. Go to the body of the memo and paste it in (Edit, Paste).

The recipient of the memo can click the Link icon to open the database the first time. After that, an icon appears in the workspace for future use. You can test this by sending the memo to yourself.

WILL MY DATABASE EVENTUALLY QUIT GROWING?

The default maximum size for a Notes database is 1GB. Although 4GB is allowed, you must choose the size at the time of creating the database. To change the size of an already existing database, do the following:

Open the database. Select File, Replication, New Replica. In the dialog box, click the Size Limit button to choose a maximum size larger than 1GB. Edit the options for Server, Title, and File Name as well as anything else you need to change. Click OK to create the new replica.

Be sure to delete the original replica, especially if it's on the same server. The old one can still only grow to its previously set maximum size. Replicas on other servers or hard drives may need the same treatment to avoid problems.

DELETING FROM FOLDER DELETES FROM VIEW

When you delete a folder, you delete it from the view. Does this surprise or confuse you? Let's use a sent message as an example. When you copy a sent document to a folder, you are merely making another pointer to the same sent document. Its only purpose is to help you organize your messages. If you delete the sent document from the folder or from the sent view, the document will disappear in both places because both items are the SAME document, not copies of the document.

HOW CAN I CHANGE UNREAD DOCUMENTS TO READ?

One way to change unread documents to read is to read them. Another way is to highlight the document, then press the Insert key. If you need to change a number of documents, try the following:

Open the view containing the documents you want to work with and select the documents to change. Select Edit from the main menu. Click Unread Marks. Click Mark Selected Read (or choose another appropriate option).

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A VIEW AND A FOLDER?

Users often lose data because they misunderstand views and folders. One way to think of a view is as a filtered snapshot of some of the data in a database. The person who created the view (usually you or the programmer) determines the selection criteria. Though a folder looks like a view, instead of showing predetermined document types it allows you to drag documents to it and remove them when desired.

The important thing to remember is that views and folders are not directory structures and they don't represent where the data exists. They may resemble Windows Explorer or File Manager or a DOS directory. But when you drag a file from one folder to another in Explorer, you've actually moved or copied the file to a new location. When you drag a document to a folder in Notes, the document doesn't move or copy itself to the new location. Instead, you've created a new pointer to the same document. A document can exist in several views or folders, but it is always the same document. If you delete it in one area of the database, you are deleting it everywhere.

CREATING DATABASE ICONS ON YOUR WORKSPACE

In Notes 4.5X and 4.6X, you can create database icons by doing the following:

Select File, Database, Open. Change to the appropriate server (Local means the database is on your workstation). Find the database you are looking for and highlight it. Click the Add Icon button.

If you choose to open the database instead of adding the icon, an icon to your workspace will open for later reference. Adding an icon instead of opening the database saves time if you have several databases to deal with.

DATABASE IS NOT FULLY INITIALIZED YET (IT DOES NOT CONTAIN ANY VIEWS)

When you get the message above, it usually indicates that you're trying to open a replica you haven't replicated. In other words, you have a replica stub instead of a full replica. If you've recently created a replica of your mail file or another database, try going to the Replicator tab and clicking the Start button. The database will probably appear on this page if you haven't deliberately deleted it. If you have a number of databases on the Replicator page and want to save time, uncheck everything but the one you're interested in, then start the replication. Be sure to recheck everything later.

NOTES CERTIFICATE IS EXPIRING--ANOTHER ANNOYING MESSAGE

If you've been using Notes for two or more years, chances are you've received a warning message concerning expiration of your Notes certificate. By default, Note's ID certificates are valid for two years. If you do not renew the certificate, Notes will lock you out of the mail and database system, so don't ignore it. Read the message carefully for instructions on how to send a request to the Notes administrator, who will send a renewed certificate back to you in an e-mail. That e-mail contains instructions for merging the certificate into your ID file.

If you're accessing Notes from multiple computers, you must sooner or later repeat this process for each computer--or take your renewed ID file with you and copy it to the Notes data directory of the appropriate computer. Remember that passwords are tied to the ID file and move with it when you copy it to other systems.

I'VE OPENED ANOTHER DATABASE, BUT MY WORKSPACE DOESN'T ADD THE ICON

It may be time to compact your workspace. This will recover unused disk space and reduce the sizes of your desktop.dsk and cache.dsk files. To perform this simple process, just right-click the gray area of your workspace or double-click any workspace tab. For Notes 5 users, your workspace normally appears under your favorite bookmarks if you haven't moved or deleted it. Next click the Beanie tab (advanced tab). Click % Used, then click Compact if the percentage is less than 85.

CASCADING DATABASES

Notes allows you to work with several databases open simultaneously. However, you might get confused as to exactly what you have open. To alleviate the confusion, try cascading all the open windows on the Notes workspace. Select Window, Cascade from the main Notes menu. The open windows all line up in neat cascading order.

ADD IT UP

Here's a simple action you can use to add a value to an existing field. To do this, select the database and choose View, Design, then put the form in Design mode. Create a new action, then select Simple Action(s) and Add Action from the Design pane. Select Action, Modify By Field. Choose the field to which you want to add the value, then type the value to add to the existing value. Click Append Value and then click OK. Close the form and save your changes. The field shows the new value.

COPYCATS

Copying and pasting documents between databases is a common way to move things around in Notes. Actually, you can do this with a simple action if you want to move a bunch of selected documents all at once. To do this, select the database and choose View, Design, then put the form in Design mode. Create a new action, then select Simple Action(s) and Add Action from the Design pane. Select Action, Copy To Database. Click Choose Database, select the server and target database where you want to paste the documents, and click Select. Click OK, then close the form and save your changes.

SELECTIVE DELETION

You can use a simple action to delete selected documents from databases, similar to the way you copy and paste. To do this, select the database, choose View, Design, and put the form in Design mode. Create a new action, then select Simple Action(s) and Add Action from the Design pane. Select Action, Delete From Database. Click OK, then close the form and save your changes. This deletes the selected documents from the current database AND from any replica databases on other servers, unless you've selected the option "Do not send deletions made in this replica to other replicas" in the current database's replication settings.

CONTEXT IS EVERYTHING

Some of the status bar indicators are active only when you have a document open in a database. These allow you to change things like font style and type size. Whether you see them depends on your ability to edit the document. If you can edit the document, click one of the status bar text icons to change the text.

TITLE SEARCH

You can also use the Notes Find feature to find documents at the view level. This method searches on words that may be in the document titles. To perform a title search, first open the database and view you want to search, then choose Edit, Find/Replace. This opens the Find dialog box (there's no Find and Replace because you can't replace any of the text in the titles). Enter the word or phrase in the Find field, then click the Find Next button. Notes finds and highlights the first document that contains the word in the title. Notes searches down the view from where you start in the search.

HISTORY LESSON

Notes keeps a record of every database that replicates at least once. This is called the replication history, which includes information like the server name and the time the replication occurred. Notes primarily uses this history internally to determine the course of future replications, but you might find the information interesting or useful (perhaps to make sure replication is going as scheduled). To see the replication history for a particular database, select or open the database, then choose File, Replication, History. This opens the Replication History dialog box. Select Date to see the replication history by date, or select Server Name to see it by server. Click Done when you're finished to close the dialog box.

COPYCAT

Sometimes the replication history is best reviewed in printed form. Select the database then choose File, Replication, History to open the Replication History dialog box. Now just click Copy to copy the entire history to your computer's clipboard. Click Done to close the dialog box. From here you can paste the history into a word processor or spreadsheet for reporting or printing.

CHANGING HISTORY

The last couple of tips showed you how to view the replication history for a database. In most cases, the history doesn't mean much to you, but there are times you might want to tinker with it. Basically, the replication history keeps the database replication in sync with the other replicas. If you think the replica has become compromised or doesn't contain all the documents it should, you can clear the history. In order to do this, you must have at least manager-level access to the database (you should if you created the replica). Select the database and choose File, Replication, History to open the Replication History dialog box. Click Clear to delete the entire replication history. Click Done to close the dialog box.

NO MISTAKEN IDENTITY

Each and every database replica has a unique ID. You sometimes want to know this if you want to keep your replicas straight. To see the replica ID, select the database and choose File, Database, Properties. Click the Information tab (I), then look for the replica ID.

PUT A STOP TO IT

If you don't want a replica database to update its information, you can disable the replication temporarily. To do this, select the database and choose File, Replication, Settings to open the Replication Settings dialog box. Click the Other icon, then check the Temporarily Disable Replication option. Click OK to close the dialog box. When you want to resume replication, go back to the Replication Settings dialog box and uncheck the option.

HIGH PRIORITY

Not all database replicas need to be equal. If you have some that contain more vital information, you can designate them as high priority. Similarly, if a replica is not as important, you can designate it as low priority. Most replicas fall in the middle, so they need only medium-priority status. The latter (medium) is the default setting when you create the replica, and you need to change the status if you want to make it high or low. To do this, select the database, then choose File, Replication, Settings, to open the Replication Settings dialog box. Click the Other icon, then select High or Low from the Scheduled Replication Priority option. Click OK to close the dialog box and save your settings.

HIGH-WIRE ACT

The Replicator page allows you to control many aspects of replication. You can, for example, initiate replication for all your high-priority replicas (rather than waiting for the schedule). An exclamation point indicates high-priority replicas on the replicator page. To initiate high-priority replication, choose Actions, Replicate High Priority Databases. Replication begins immediately for all high-priority replicas.

TRADING PLACES

The Replicator page lists all your replica databases. The databases replicate in the order in which they appear on the page (starting at the top). You can easily change the page order, however. To do this, select the entry you want to move with your mouse (click and hold over it), then drag the entry to a new position on the page.

ONE AT A TIME

Replication usually happens in the background on a schedule, but you can use the replicator page to replicate individual databases quickly and easily. Just click the Replicator page tab, select the database entry of the one you want to replicate, then select Actions, Replicate Selected Database. Replication begins in the background, and you can move on to other things.

REPLICATION INTERRUPTUS

As we said a couple tips ago, databases replicate in the order in which they appear on the Replicator page. Once you start replication, however, you can skip databases. To do this, click Next when the current selection is replicating. The Replicator moves to the next selection.

WORKING IN MULTIPLES

Notes allows you to work in more than one database at the same time from the workspace. First you need to select the databases to open. Press and hold down the Shift key, then single-click each database icon you want to select. Now double-click any of the databases while continuing to hold down the Shift key. The database you double-clicked opens, and all the other selected databases appear as icons in the Navigation pane. You can see the views and folders by clicking the expansion arrow in the database icon.

WHAT'S YOUR ACCESS?

You can check your access level for a particular database through the Database Access icon of the status bar. Select the database icon (you don't have to open it), then click the Database Access icon (it looks like a lock and key at this point). The Groups and Roles dialog box appears, giving you the inside story of the database access.

ALL SYSTEMS GO

Notes displays system messages in the Systems Indicator of the Status Bar. The indicator shows the current message--for example, Looking For Database X--and you can also use it to see previous messages. When you click it, the last messages (up to nine) appear in a dialog box.

CHECK IT OUT

There are a lot of databases on a typical server, and many of them perform similar functions. Make sure you have the right one before you add it to your desktop. Notes allows you to check what a database is all about before you add it.

Choose File, Database, Open, then select the database you want to check out. Click About to display the database's About Database document. This gives you a description of the database. (However, not every database has one.) Click Close when you're finished to return to the Open Database dialog box.

DATABASE SIZE

Database size is another good thing to know about a database. If a database is too big, you might want to consider moving it to another server or archiving some documents to another database. To find the size, open or select the database, then choose File, Database, Properties. Click the Information tab (labeled with an "I") and look at the size. You can also see the number of documents in the database, which can be helpful information.

SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES

Your Notes organization may designate some databases as more important. If so, they appear in a special dialog box that allows you to add them to your workspace more quickly. To add a special database, choose File, Database, Open Special, then select the database you want to add. Click OK, and the database goes on your desktop. Check with your Notes administrator if you want to find out about the special databases or if you want to add some.

GET STARTED WITH A DATABASE

You don't need to start the Notes desktop when you start Notes. In fact, you can designate a particular database, such as your mail database, to open whenever you start Notes.

To set this, choose File, Tools, User Preferences from the main Notes menu, then click the Basics panel. Click Startup Database and select the database you want as your starter. Click OK to close the Startup Database dialog box, then click OK to close the User Preferences dialog box.

DO IT OUTSIDE NOTES

Database files exist on your computer's operating system, which means you can copy or delete them without being in Notes. This can be really useful if you want to copy or delete the databases while Notes is busy with other time-consuming tasks. Just find the databases in your directory (they have the .nsf extension), and perform the tasks according to your operating system's rules.

GET THE NAMES

Sometimes it's useful to display the server names of databases in the database icon. This helps if you have replicas on different servers.

To do so, open the database workspace and choose View, Show Server Names. If the server names already appear and you don't need to see them, deselect this option. Then only the database name appears in the database icon.

CRITICAL FILE

All the information about your Notes desktop is stored in a file on your system called desktop.dsk. This file contains information like the database icons on your workspace, the number of unread documents in each database, and the private views or folders that you have created. This is a critical file because it contains so much information about your Notes setup, so you should get in the habit of backing it up.

OPEN SESAME

If you have a database you want other users to look at or use, put a button in a form that opens it. The button uses a very simple @command formula. To create it, open the form in edit mode and choose Create, Hotspot, Button. Format the button however you want, then select Formula and enter the following formula:

@Command ([FileOpenDatabase]; "ServerName":"GOODSTUFF.NSF"; "View by Category")

Close and save the form. When a user clicks the button, it puts the Goodstuff database on the user's desktop and opens it to the By Category view.

FIND MORE WITH FULL-TEXT SEARCHES

You can search for words and combinations of words by clicking the binoculars icon when you're in a view or folder. However, your search will get more hits if you run a full-text index of your database first. Full-text indexing creates a parallel database that stores a record of every word in every database document. You can even index file attachments and encrypted fields. If your database is on a server, it gets updated every time a new document is created, but if it is on your local hard drive, you have to update it manually.

To create a full text index, open your database and select File, Database, Properties. Select the tab with the magnifying glass icon (or the Full Text tab if you're using version 4.5.x), then click the Create Index button. Choose your options and click OK to save and start the indexing process. The first index may take a while if you have a large database.

FORWARD DOCUMENTS FROM ANY DATABASE

If you are viewing documents in another database, you can often forward this information to others even if you don't readily see the Forward option. With the document highlighted or open, check the Actions menu to see if the Forward action is available. Clicking it causes the document to become part of a memo you can mail to other Notes users. The contents of the memo field are graphical, though, so mailing to Internet addresses will not work. Internet mail servers strip out the graphics and leave only text on the receiving end.

PATH OF LEAST RESISTANCE

The Notes workspace allows you to display the server names along with the database names in the database icon. If you want, however, you can display the full path and file name rather than the server name. This is helpful if you are working with several replicas of the same database and want to keep them straight. To display the path and file name, first right-click the workspace tab (make sure you do not have a database icon selected), then select Show Server Names from the pop-up menu (you must not already have the server names showing). The pop-up menu closes and the server names appear along with the database names. Now right-click the workspace tab again and select Show Server Names from the pop-up menu again. The database icon now shows the full path and file name rather than the server name. However, this only works once in each Notes session.

NEW LOCATION

Use the Location Indicator to change to your current location. When you click it, a list of all the location setup documents you have defined displays. Click the name of another location, and Notes changes to the location setup document for that location.

SEEK AND FIND

Many Notes documents (including mail messages, of course) contain tons of data. If you want to find a specific bit of information within that mass, forget scrolling or trolling--use the Find feature. With the document in Edit or Read mode, choose Edit, Find/Replace from the main Notes menu, which opens the Find and Replace dialog box. Enter the word or phrase you want in the Find box, then click the Find Next button. Notes locates the first instance of the word immediately in the document. If you are in Edit mode, Notes begins the search from where the cursor is positioned. If you want to go on to the next mention of the word, click the Find Next button.

PREFERRED SCANNING

Notes has a very handy feature that tells you how many unread documents you have in each database. Sometimes, however, you're only interested in the unread documents from a few databases, like your mail database, and not every single one on your desktop. No problem--here's a way you can scan a selected set of databases for unread documents every time Notes starts up.

First, open Notes and select File, Tools, User Preferences, which opens the User Preferences dialog box. Choose the option Scan For Unread, then click OK to close the box. A message box appears telling you that some preferences won't take effect until you restart Notes. Click OK. Close Notes, then restart it. Make sure you have no databases selected on your desktop. Select Edit, Unread Marks, Scan Unread, then click Choose Preferred. Click the databases that you want scanned and click OK. Click Done, and your scanning preferences are all set.

LOCATION, LOCATION

If you work with Notes at several locations--like your office, at home, or on the road--you can get Notes to prompt you for your current location each time you start it up. Otherwise, you must select File, Mobile, Choose Current Location every time you start. Here's how to get your location automatically prompted. Open Notes and choose File, Tools, User Preferences, which opens the User Preferences dialog box. Select the option Prompt For Location, then click OK. Click OK again when Notes tells you that some preferences won't take effect until you restart Notes. Now, the Choose Location dialog box automatically appears the next time you start Notes, regardless of your location.

PREFERRED CUSTOMER

Notes has a very handy feature that tells you how many unread documents you have in each database. Sometimes, however, you are only interested in the unread documents from a few databases, like your mail database, and not every single one on your desktop. Here's a way you can scan a selected set of databases for unread documents every time Notes starts up. Open Notes and select File, Tools, User Preferences, which opens the User Preferences dialog box. Choose the option Scan For Unread, then click OK to close the dialog box. A message box appears, telling you some preferences won't take effect until you restart Notes. Click OK here. Close Notes, then restart it. Make sure you have no databases selected on your desktop. Select Edit, Unread Marks, Scan Unread, then click Choose Preferred. Click the databases you want scanned and click OK. Click Done, and your scanning preferences are all set.

CHOICE LOCATION

If you work with Notes at several different locations--like your office, at home, or on the road--you can get Notes to prompt you for your current location each time you start it up. Otherwise, you must select File, Mobile, Choose Current Location every time you start. Here's how to get your location prompted. Open Notes and choose File, Tools, User Preferences, which opens the User Preferences dialog box. Select the option Prompt For Location, then click OK. Click OK again when Notes tells you some preferences won't take effect until you restart Notes. Now, the Choose Location dialog box appears the next time you start Notes, regardless of your location.

SEE THE LINK

Previewing is also a great way to look at the contents of a document link without opening it. To preview a document link, select the link and choose View, Document Link Preview. The linked document appears in the preview pane.

If the original document has several links, you can scroll through them all. When you press the right arrow key, the preview pane displays the next linked document. When you press the left arrow key, the preview pane displays the previous linked document.

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