I suspect this post has a very small audience, although I suspect that goes for the blog as a whole. Anyway, what follows is a step by step instruction for using Outlook 2003 to read your Lotus Notes email.
h3. Assumptions
This has been tested and works for Windows XP, Lotus Notes 6.5.4 (although the MS bridge should work for Release 5 and up), using Outlook 2003.
h3. Download the Microsoft Conntector
It’s “available for free(Microsoft.com – Outlook 2003/2002 Add-in Notes Connector)”:http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=8EBBBA59-5F17-4E52-8980-C4F0DFA92D65&displaylang=en from Microsoft. It states it works for Outlook 2002 and 2003, for use with Notes release 5 or 6.
h3. Uninstall Microsoft hotfixes
It seems that Outlook 2003 security fix “KB892843”:http://www.microsoft.com/Downloads/details.aspx?familyid=1D156043-B041-4305-8442-3C4E3B832788&displaylang=en stops the connector from installing properly. Unless you remove it, you’ll get the error @”Unable to open your default e-mail folders. The server is not available.
Contact your administrator if this condition persists@. This hotfix is also included in some roll-up fixes, so I suggest you remove any and all Outlook related hotfixes. These hotfixes only affect the installation of the connector, so you can re-run Windows Update afterwards.
You can remove hotfixes from the Add/Remove program dialog – just make sure you have the @Show Updates@ checkbox ticked. The Outlook hotfixes will be listed under Microsoft Office.
h3. Install the connector
Shut down both Notes and Outlook. Double click the connector and follow the on screen instructions
h3. Set up Outlook to read your notes email
Start Outlook up. Select @E-Mail Accounts…@ from the @Tools@ menu. Select @Add a new email account@, click @next@, and select @Additional Server Types@ and click @next@ again. Depending on your configuration, you’ll be presented with several server type options. We want @Microsoft Offie Outlook Connector for IBM Lotus Notes Domino@. Click @next@. You’ll now be prompted to exit Outlook before the new account will be active.
Outlook should pick up your notes file automatically.
h3. Re-install the Oulook Hotfixes
As you wouldn’t want to forget that, would you 🙂
Anyway, that should be it. You’ll now have a slightly more usable way of accessing and sending you email, as well as working with calendars and your todo list. Note that you’ll be unable to read all notes email – those sent with high encruption levels (the ones you can’t send to non-notes email accounts and that can’t be forwared) will not show up, but you should get told that they can’t be transfered by the connector.
magpiebrain 
234 Responses to “Using Outlook 2003 to read Lotus Notes Email”
Hello,
I have Outlook 2003 with Connector for Lotus on WInXP
Everything was OK for years…. But yestarday I changed something 🙂 and now i have problem.
Problem is – i cannot channged default delivery location back for personal folder. After changing , and restarting Outlook – it is back “Domino Connector” . 😦
What I change: I’m not sure ;). I enbaled some desabled add-is in Outlook. It was some part of Conector I think (but it works fine without it).
Help.What to do?
I have a good working Outlook 2003 w/Notes Connector. My problem is that it takes forever to load. Does anyone know how to adjust the synchronization settings with my Notes server?
Everytime I open Outlook it takes me about 20 minutes before I can use it. Outlook redownloads all my Tasks, all my Calendar appts, my Sent file headers, my Deleted files headers (usually pretty minimal), all my Inbox and folder headers and then the new full emails. I work from home and have a pretty decent DSL connection but I don’t know why it doesn’t store these locally and just synchornize. My nsf file is stored on my computer and I have the full Notes client installed.
One of the reasons I hate Notes is because when I read an email with an attachment it downloads the file, then if I edit, forward or reply to the message it downloads the file and, finally, I send my email it uploads the file. It takes forever. So Outlook is kind of a compromise. I get all my useless time out of the way during startup and then don’t have these headaches while I’m working.
If anyone is experiencing the same problem and has any solutions, your advice would be greatly appreciated.
Excellent Post!
MilkyMagic – I have the same problem. Using a new profile I can connect to the Domino Server, but the folder list doesn’t populate. I can send email but not view any items.
The strange thing is, if I create a new Windows XP account and use the same notes .id file, same account, it will populate the folder list. I have tried copying the resulting .nst file to my old – that lets me see the messages in it, but not any of the new messages. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know. If I find a solution to the problem I will post it here.
Sorry, meant to say:
The strange thing is, if I create a new Windows XP account and use the same notes .id file (the same Notes account), it will populate the folder list. I have tried copying the resulting .nst file to my old XP account – then I am able to see the messages in the .nst file, but new messages are not delivered from the Notes server.
If anyone has any ideas, please let me know. If I find a solution to the problem I will post it here.
Here is a tough question: If your domino server doesn’t allow you to keep your address book on the server, how do you synch the Outlook Contacts?
What do you do when the remove programs does not show or have a check box to show updates in Windows 2000? I can’t find a way to remove Outlook 2003 security fix KB892843 from my computer.
Will, Are you sure you have it installed in teh first place? If you can see it on the ‘Add/Remove Programs’ window you should be able to select it and try and remove it.
Mind you, you do have Windows 2000 and these instructions are for Windows XP – but a quick google turned this up: http://tinyurl.com/k39zp which implies you should be able to remove them using the Add/Remove programs window.
Are you logged on as an Admin?
Guys,
Well done on the information, I had the problem with the outlook connector but once I removed the Outlook updates it was fine.
Thanks,
David Migdal
Sam, yes it is installed. I know this because I tried to re-install this KB Hot Fix to to ensure it was installed. My computer came be back saying that it was already on my computer.
In the Add/Remove Programs window there is not KB###### for me to uninstall. Any other thoughts?
Killing off the Outlook patches made it work perfectly. Thank you from a group of people about to commit seppukku, faced with the torture of using Notes for email.
Thanks to all of you for provinding the help to get the connector working.
About the Outlook update to remove: I also did not have that particular update listed and could not get it working. as a last resort, I uninstalled all Outlook updates listed in the Add/Remove programs box and even all updates that applied to the complete product (office that is). Just to be absolutely sure everything was gone, I also ran a regclean to get rid of the last references.
Everything is now working fine, except for my “Out of the Office” and my local address book which cannot be found (-;
I had the same problem, no update installed but same error message from outlook.
The solution is very simple (once you address it): Make sure that Notes.ini is in your PATH.
Yes, you know, the environment variable PATH must have “c:Program FilesLotusNotes”…
Hope this helps
Hi all,
is anyone suffering with attachments? I regularly have a problem opening attachments in my outlook – only way to get to them is then use Webversion of Notes??
any idea’s / suggestions?
tnx
Thanks, this was incredibly helpful.
I have similar problem as Ducks9 submitted on 8.24.06 @ 5 AM. everything works but it is VERY slow. it takes almost an hour to send one email while it sits in the outbox thinking what to do with it. any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
As “Ducks 9”, I experience same problem – after rebooting machine, Outlook takes 20-30 minutes while it checks/downloads all Calendar and folder contents. Also keeps mail in outbox intermittently and refuses to send until reboot and relaunch – Any solutions most appreciated!
I have seen many posts about missing notes email folders. The user created mail folders don’t come over/can’t be seen/are missing. Only the default domino folders (inbox, sent, drafts, junk, outbox) are there. Anyone have a fix for this yet? Thanks
Gary – create folders with the same name (and structure) in the Outlook, and it should work. Same problem is in Notes archiving – folders other than deault ones are not archived unless they exist in the archive.
dm
Will- you need an update to Windows Installer to get the ‘Show Updates’ box.
Did anyone ever get Outlook 2003 to work with Notes 7? I had this working with O2K3 & Notes 6.5, got a new laptop with Notes 7, I get the ‘Unable to open default e-mail folders…’ message and this is driving me nuts!
Well, you can definitely add me to the many people that gave you thanks for helping with your timely advice.
Uninstalled the Outlook hotfixes as you suggested and the connector worked!
Thank you for saving me from the notes client!
Take care
Hello Everyone,
I went through the posts but did not come across the dilemma that I am faced with. So plz help me out.
My company had lotus notes and I was using the connector and all things were…..until they took my laptop to replatform and bingo….now there is no Outlook installed….and no Admin rights too.
So now i have this huge .nst file that i think is the old mail file. I have my other laptop that has Outlook. How do I open this .nst file in Outlook on this other laptop???
This is worth 18 monthsof mail and i just cannot see them sitting there wasted. Helpppp……..
I have the same question as Ian had: does it work with Notes 7?
I have installed-reinstalled connector several times in the past two weeks. It works 2-3 days and then it stops working. And sometimes it corrups the notes server mail file/settings, and Lotus notes also cannot receive the mails. I have to call administrator to fix it.
I got it working.. Thanks for the tip.
Only problem is that I am unable to apply any rules on outlook. I want to have a copy of every outgoing message in my Inbox. As soon I click on Rules and Alerts menu the window appears and disappears immediately.
Work around is to manually copy from sent items and paste in Inbox or have your email ID in the CC list but it is tedious.
Any solutions to this? Thanks.
I have been using outlook connector for lotus notes and it was working great until one day I couldn’t use it anymore, I un-install and reinstall office because by Microsoft it was do to office sp2, now after I got it working again I noticed that the folders I had in notes separate from the inbox folder are not synchronizing or not been transfer like it use to be before crashed on me.
Any idea why the folders are not synchronizing anymore?
Thanks
For the guys asking about the folders created that are not the default folders created by the outlook connector I have found out a solution for that problem.
Jut go to control panel, mail and delete the existing profile after that is done create another and set it up…make sure that you rename the outlook file and that the profile is not named like the previews one.
I did this and when I went to outlook I saw them been recreated automatically.
Good luck
Feel free to email me if you any of you need any clarification on this post
becerra_luis@hotmail.com
Thanks a lot for the help. Great stuff.
thanks for the help and the info. i had the problem even tho i uninstalled the hotfix. it seems like that the root of the problem stems from the fact that when it asked me about the type of folder i wanted to use (no encryption, compress and encrypted, highly encrypted… or something to that affect), i had problems when i picked an encrypted option. when i selected no encryption, i had no problems. so, you can always try going back to your control panel, deleting the profile that you’ve set up ,and go through the process again but selecting no encryption. hope this helps.
I can install and setup the Outlook Domino Connector (delete updates, clear profile, etc.). I can login to my Notes account, but I see no messages in my inbox. I know I’m logged in because it will allow me to send email, I just can’t receive it. Any suggestions?
Tim – I sounds like you are looking in Notes for your e-mails. Do you have Outlook installed? If everything is working correctly, your e-mails should be coming into your Outlook. Open up Outlook (not Notes) and look for your received e-mails there.
Sandi – After your response, I realize my initial message was not clear. I can login to the Domino server using Outlook, which confirms my access to the account. I can also send messages using Outlook. But I don’t see any messages or custom folders in the Outlook inbox.
Hi Tim,
The reason you are not seeing your custom folders is because of your outlook profile, if you delete the outlook profile and recreate it with a different name the custom folder will populate.
Read my comments on 10.03.2006 at 10:00 pm
For the guys asking about the folders created that are not the default folders created by the outlook connector I have found out a solution for that problem.
Jut go to control panel, mail and delete the existing profile after that is done create another and set it up…make sure that you rename the outlook file and that the profile is not named like the previews one.
I did this and when I went to outlook I saw them been recreated automatically.
FOLDERS – domino folders not showing up in Outlook
-Thanks Sandi-
exit Outlook
delete or move the files in C:Documents and Settingsyour login profileLocal SettingsApplication DataMicrosoftOutlook
restart outlook
the resync will grab al your domino created folders and populate them in Oultook. (it’ll recreate the .Dat, .Nst, .pst files)
xp sp2, outlook 2003, olconn2, domino 6.?
ooopps, meant to say…
Thanks, Sandi ! from 7-28 above.
Tried again – Removed Domino connector, removed outlook updates, removed profile, reinstalled connector, created new profile. Still can’t see messages from the Outlook inbox, or custom folders. Yet I can login and send email. Very strange. Is there a way to force the resync?
Everytime I start Outlook I have to wait at least 20 mins. while the system downloads every message header, calendar entries, new messages etc. Is there any way of stopping this or setting it to happen in the background?
Is there any way to get the outlook connector to work with Lotus Notes 7?
Hi, I’m trying to access Lotus Notes emails from Outlook 2003, using the Notes Connector.
I’m using the connector wizard to set up my account. When trying to connect to mail server, i get error message that: “Unable to open you default mail folders. The server is not available.” But i can access my mail account thru Lotus Notes.
Kindly help.
ok, i understand that i have to remove the Outlook 2003 security fix KB892843 first and then install the connector. Now my problem is i cannot located in Add/Remove programs this hotfix. So how to uninstall the same?
Jayanta, it is possible that the hotfix was included in a rollup fix – so I’d suggest that you remove all Office-related hotfixes, install the connector then re-install hotfixes.
Also check the rest of the comments for more help…
I am having an interesting issue with the connector. It installs OK, and starts up OK, and even starts synchronizing. But… after about 5 minutes, Outlook just up and dies with no message at all.
I posted about this issue (http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.outlook/browse_frm/thread/4c5a0b14bfcf2394?lnk=igtc) but haven’t had any responses.
Any thoughts from this group?
Thanks in advance!
Chris
Thank you for the article… I didn’t find the update KB892843, but I just removed all the updates that pretend to the outlook and reinstalled the connector. It started to work without any problems at all… Thank you again.
First of all, thank you very much for this information. I was having trouble getting it work since others in the office had it working fine but wouldn’t work for me. I did not have the specific KB you mentioned but I uninstalled the 3 outlook related updates and then it worked perfectly. I then reapplied the updates and am good to go.
However, a minor glitch, anytime I get an attachment it won’t let me save it, why is that? anyone know how to get the darn thing to download EVERYTHING and in full and then allow me to save the attachment without having to open Lotus to do it? Your help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.
hello
I use connector from outlook 2003 to Lotus 5, it works (synchronization okay and folders okay, even calendar and task).
But sometimes, from time to time, some mails are blank (or empty). it seems outlook deletes the mail content (the subject isent deleted) when they reach the income folder. When i check using the notes clients, the mail content is also deleted, which make me think that Outlook detelets the content on both the client (the nst file) and the server.
Any idea that should help me ??? THANKS
Chemin,
I don’t think the content is being deleted by Outlook. I get ‘spam’ emails from time to time that have my address and a subject line but there is nothing in the body of the email. If the email is coming from someone you know, have them resend it with a different subject line and see if works.
Hi out there in Notes-hating-Outlook-loving land. If your Notes administrator ever moves your account, you need to
1. Remove your mail profile
2. Remove the KB913807 hotfix
3. Recreate your mail profile, point to the .id file and it should pick up the new server
4. Open Outlook, it should open the folders ok.
5. If you’re like me, the hotfix will be pushed back to you
I did a bit of mucking around to get this working, so during the process I also cleared the Outlook directories like C:Documents and Settings\Application DataMicrosoftOutlook and C:Documents and Settings\Local SettingsApplication DataMicrosoftOutlook but I’m not sure that this was required.
Outstanding! This was a great post. I was having the server error, but after uninstalling the connector, removing all Outlook (not office) updates, blasting away the cached profiles in the Document & Settings/[User]/Local Settings/Application Data/Microsoft/Outlook, reinstalling the connector… it works like a champ.
Thanks again!
I worked out my problem with the connector. Things I did :- 1. Remove the Lotus Notes mail profile
2. Uninstall the Lotus Notes connector
3. Remove the KB913807 hotfix
4. Remove the Junkmail hotfix
5. Reinstall the Lotus Notes connector
6. When prompted for name and company name – ENSURE you type in the same name you used in your Lotus Notes
7. Run Outlook and create the mail profile
8. Shutdown Outlook and relaunch it and you should see the folder with your name next to it!
Hi,
Outlook Notes Connector is a great software. It ‘s running quite good in my IBM T41.
But installing it on a colleagues T40 it will not work. After removal of all Outlook related Fixes and installation of the connector software I am not able to select the apporpriate connector “driver” when creating a new mailbox for a new outlook profile. Unter “additional server types” the “MS Office Outlook Connector for IBM Lotus Domino” will not show up at my colleagues machine. Only the Lotus Notes Mail “driver” is available.
Anyone has any kind of idea what could be the problem? Anyone ever had this kind of issue?
We already created a new profile, reinstalled the fixes.
Thanks in advance.
Mr. Nandez
Hmm… Office 2007 released this week… I wonder if anyone has heard, or found the new 2007 add-on connector??
I don’t even want to upgrade unless I have it!