Lotus Notes

[edgarloxton]

Quite right, I do work for CommonTime. As for the Droid update I know that it is being worked on at the moment but we want to test throughly to make sure it is a great solution for you guys! It will be sooner rather than later but we don't have a date as yet - if you are in contact with our Support Team over email then they will let you know as soon as. We are as keen for people to get using it as anyone. As soon as I know, you will know...that is if Support don't get there first!

Hi Holley. I use the latest version of mNotes wireless to sync with my Palm Pre and with my HTC Hero. Brilliant idea by Commontime to pretend to be an exchange server. Means no client needed on the phone, and theoretically any phone that supports activesync should work with mNotes. My Pre works nicely, except for some emails who come through without their bodies, but am expecting a new version of the PC software today that Alex said should fix it. Having lots of problems with the Hero though. Keep getting server sync key mismatches. My biggest problem is that I cannot send emails from the Hero. The sent email disappears from my outbox but never makes it to the recipient. Alex had a look at my logfiles but couldn't see anything. I suspect it is a problem on the Hero itself. Any ideas? Am currently trying to run Touchdown on the Hero against the mNotes server. Any help on correctly configuring Touchdown for mNotes will be most appreciated. Tx.

 

[edgarloxton]

One of our TouchDown customers has tested out Syncing (with push) with Traveler 8.5.1. But this is a private beta, so you might want to email our support alias for it.

cheers
-g

Hi Nitrodesk guy, I am trying to get Touchdown to work on my HTC Hero running against the Commontime mNotes server. Do you know of anyone that has managed to do this successfully. Any help will be appreciated. Touchdown connects to the server, but I get a Policies: NOT INITIALISED error.

Tx
Edgar

 

[HollyHayley]

Hi Holly - any update on this?

Hi Borderless. Price cut is actually effective from today! CommonTime has cut the price of mNotes Wireless by 50% to $69.95 /

 

[HollyHayley]

OK - one more question...

I am OK with the wireless option, but does this require some sort of integration with the corporate servers? Or is it a client that would run on my PC?

I ask because the phone isn't a company issued phone, and all I have is "local access". This is why I asked about a Desktop Sync option.

EDIT: Ouch - just looked at the pricing. The wireless option is a little out of my price range, so maybe I would be better off with the Desktop option if one ever becomes available. I am still interested in the capabilities of the wireless version - could I use my personal Android phone with it, without any involvement from our IT department?

Thanks again,
Jeff

Hi spiff72 - hope you saw the note about the price of mNotes Wireless coming down. CommonTime has cut 50% off the price pitching the product at under $6 a month and more in line with the desktop pricing Still not free as we would all love our 3rd party software to be, hopefully it will mean it is a more realistic option for you.

 

[HollyHayley]

Hi Holley. I use the latest version of mNotes wireless to sync with my Palm Pre and with my HTC Hero. Brilliant idea by Commontime to pretend to be an exchange server. Means no client needed on the phone, and theoretically any phone that supports activesync should work with mNotes. My Pre works nicely, except for some emails who come through without their bodies, but am expecting a new version of the PC software today that Alex said should fix it. Having lots of problems with the Hero though. Keep getting server sync key mismatches. My biggest problem is that I cannot send emails from the Hero. The sent email disappears from my outbox but never makes it to the recipient. Alex had a look at my logfiles but couldn't see anything. I suspect it is a problem on the Hero itself. Any ideas? Am currently trying to run Touchdown on the Hero against the mNotes server. Any help on correctly configuring Touchdown for mNotes will be most appreciated. Tx.

Hi Edgarloxton - you are obviously in touch with Support here at CommonTime and I would say the questions about Touchdown best directly to them, or Touchdown I guess. I am unsure how they would work together. I am in no way good for answering technical questions I am afraid! Glad you are finding mNotes will work for you on the Pre despite the frustrations with the Hero - always good to get positive feedback and I know people are using the Hero with success for hope you find a resolution soon.

 

[spiff72]

Hi spiff72 - hope you saw the note about the price of mNotes Wireless coming down. CommonTime has cut 50% off the price pitching the product at under $6 a month and more in line with the desktop pricing Still not free as we would all love our 3rd party software to be, hopefully it will mean it is a more realistic option for you.

Thanks Holly - that price is better, but the trial will be the determining factor for me. I am hoping that it handles recurring meetings well (especially when individual occurrences of meetings are cancelled).

What I also need to know is when you expect to support the Android 2.0 operating system on the phone (specifically the Motorola Droid)? I can't run the trial until this support is in place.

Thanks,
Jeff

 

[edgarloxton]

I use CompanionLink on my G1, unfortunately it only syncs the calendar, to-do list, and the address book. There is no email support. Our company also does not run off of Microsoft Exchange servers, so there aren't any other good options thus far... I think Lotus Notes is a horribly inferior email program compared to Outlook and other Enterprise solutions. I feel like IBM is stuck in the past and is quickly watching other, more fluid development companies fly right by.

You can try Seven's beta program. SEVEN ? Proven Push Platform for Mobile Applications. It is free, supports Lotus Notes and Android handsets. At this stage provides only wireless email sync, but hopefully calendar and contact sync is not too far behind. Sign up for the beta program, download the pc connector software for Lotus Notes. The pc connector can push email to 25 Lotus Notes users. I have found Seven's support quite good - provided via the beta forum on their website.

 

[spiff72]

You can try Seven's beta program. SEVEN ? Proven Push Platform for Mobile Applications. It is free, supports Lotus Notes and Android handsets. At this stage provides only wireless email sync, but hopefully calendar and contact sync is not too far behind. Sign up for the beta program, download the pc connector software for Lotus Notes. The pc connector can push email to 25 Lotus Notes users. I have found Seven's support quite good - provided via the beta forum on their website.

Shoot - that is basically the opposite of what I want - I just want the calendar and contacts - and email is not as important (I can just forward to gmail account)...

 

[edgarloxton]

Does anyone know if the Commontime Mnotes Wireless application relies on a completely separate dataset than the built-in contacts, email and calendar databases? I am looking for someting that allows a single view into everything, versus a need to open the work calendar application and then open up the included calendar app to determine if I'm available.... does that make sense?

This would also give me the ability to change my calendar view and exclude my work calendar or email on the weekend, etc.

Anyone?

mNotes use the built-in contacts, email and calendar apps on the Android phone. There is no mNotes app on the device. It uses the built-in exchange activesync for wireless synchronisation.

 

[edgarloxton]

Honnestly, working for IBM I can tell you this is a pure waste of time. IBM is not interested in such sync application market - and anyway, there is already a solution for syncing Lotus Notes with Android : just look for "CompanionLink for Google Android".

Go to Ed Brill and get it straight from the horse's mouth, or in this case straight from the mouth of IBM Lotus director in charge of product management.

I see some people have managed to get their Palm Pre's working with IBM Traveller, using the built-in activesync capability of the Pre, so it is maybe possible to achieve the same with Android. My company is installing IBM Traveller next week. I will try it with my HTC Hero and post an update here.

 

[edgarloxton]

Go to Ed Brill and get it straight from the horse's mouth, or in this case straight from the mouth of IBM Lotus director in charge of product management.

I see some people have managed to get their Palm Pre's working with IBM Traveller, using the built-in activesync capability of the Pre, so it is maybe possible to achieve the same with Android. My company is installing IBM Traveller next week. I will try it with my HTC Hero and post an update here.

Here is a link to a step by step guide configuring Nitrodesk on Android to work with IBM Traveller: Installing Lotus Traveler on Android - Step by Step domino ibm lotus notes traveler blogger email exchange exchange google interface microsoft oracle password server

 

[spiff72]

I got an email from Companionlink claiming that they will have a USB sync solution for Android sync within 90 days.

I emailed them back about the issues that they seem to have with repeating meetings in lotus notes not syncing well with google, and they claim that goolge doesn't support some of the same kinds of recurring custom meetings that Notes does.

My biggest problem is with meetings from a recurring set that are individually canceled or rescheduled. THese never disappear off my google calendar.

In the past, mNotes desktop has always handled these like a champ. That's why I am mostly interested in the wireless mNotes (even though a USB/local sync would be perfectly fine with me). I really want to do the trial to see if it works around our firewalls and such - but I am still waiting for them to support Android 2.0 (and the Droid, specifically)...

 

[edgarloxton]

I got an email from Companionlink claiming that they will have a USB sync solution for Android sync within 90 days.

I emailed them back about the issues that they seem to have with repeating meetings in lotus notes not syncing well with google, and they claim that goolge doesn't support some of the same kinds of recurring custom meetings that Notes does.

My biggest problem is with meetings from a recurring set that are individually canceled or rescheduled. THese never disappear off my google calendar.

In the past, mNotes desktop has always handled these like a champ. That's why I am mostly interested in the wireless mNotes (even though a USB/local sync would be perfectly fine with me). I really want to do the trial to see if it works around our firewalls and such - but I am still waiting for them to support Android 2.0 (and the Droid, specifically)...

mNotes wireless has not worked well with my HTC Hero. Numerous issues including that not all the calendar entries propagate from Lotus Notes to the phone. Also have been unable to send any emails from the device via mNotes. The email disappears from the phone, so looks as if it got sent, but it never makes it to its recipient. I think the problem may lie not so much with mNotes but rather with different Android implementations and apps. On the Hero for example it makes use of HTC's email app. As mNotes does not install a clientside app on the handheld it is more exposed to the vagaries of the Android variant and apps on the handheld. Ed Brill made the same point in his blog. Using a combination of Nitrodesk on the phone and IBM Traveller/mNotes at the back-end may be a more stable arrangement. I haven't been able to get Nitrodesk to work with mNotes yet though.

 

[borderless]

Here is a link to a step by step guide configuring Nitrodesk on Android to work with IBM Traveller: Installing Lotus Traveler on Android - Step by Step domino ibm lotus notes traveler blogger email exchange exchange google interface microsoft oracle password server

This works. I've been doing this since I got my Droid. We have Lotus Travler running but many people on this thread don't have that so this won't be an option.

it's also worth noting that the Touchdown/Traveler solution is passable but is far from perfect. For example, the Group Addressbook Lookup (GAL) does NOT work. Also, most HTML emails are not properly parsed and you end up with just a pure text email. Finally, tasks don't appear to be coming over either.

 

[borderless]

I got an email from Companionlink claiming that they will have a USB sync solution for Android sync within 90 days.

I emailed them back about the issues that they seem to have with repeating meetings in lotus notes not syncing well with google, and they claim that goolge doesn't support some of the same kinds of recurring custom meetings that Notes does.

My biggest problem is with meetings from a recurring set that are individually canceled or rescheduled. THese never disappear off my google calendar.

In the past, mNotes desktop has always handled these like a champ. That's why I am mostly interested in the wireless mNotes (even though a USB/local sync would be perfectly fine with me). I really want to do the trial to see if it works around our firewalls and such - but I am still waiting for them to support Android 2.0 (and the Droid, specifically)...

This is consistent with my experience. Prior to having Lotus Traveler installed, I tried using CompanionLink on my iPhone. It was a complete mess. It took me weeks to clean my calendar back up. Repeating meetings didn't show up properly. The invitees to the meeting were pasted into the body of the calendar entry. I hate to bad mouth a product but I would be EXTREMELY careful in using CompanionLink.

 

[cs89]

I apologize if I'm not posting this in the right place, but would really appreciate some help. I'm wondering if there is a way for me to access Domino Web (work email) from my Samsung Moment. I have no problem accessing my work email from a computer, but when I try to access it with my phone a message comes back saying the server is not available (ie. it won't let me in from my mobile phone). I don't know if this is a firewall security thing with Lotus Notes or if my phone's browser can't handle it. Is there a certain android browser I should be using or is there an app that I can download that will allow me to access by webmail?

 

[Alphadroid]

Hi CS89,
MyLink for Android from the company Wave Global will be able to do this. It should be released soon.

I think you can request a demo here:
Wave Global Services UK Limited

 

[cs89]

Thanks Alphadroid. Is MyLink a server based solution? If so, there's no way I'll get my company to do that quickly. I work for a large company. It's not even a big deal to me if I can't sync my email and calendar. I just want to be able to view my email through the web from my phone.

 

[SOPNAV]

I work as an admin for a big company and I asked Wave Global directly. You have 2 options. You can use the MyLink Advanced version to sync your data via USB or you can wait for MyLink Enterprise (their server based solution for businesses) to be adapted to individual users where you can use your own laptop as a server and don't need admin intervention. Hope this helps.

 

[HollyHayley]

Thanks Holly - that price is better, but the trial will be the determining factor for me. I am hoping that it handles recurring meetings well (especially when individual occurrences of meetings are cancelled).

What I also need to know is when you expect to support the Android 2.0 operating system on the phone (specifically the Motorola Droid)? I can't run the trial until this support is in place.

Thanks,
Jeff

Hi Jeff

This support for Motorola Droid has been a long time coming, but I am told that it will definately be shipped next week (if not tomorrow possibly). You can sign up for another trial no problem if your first one has now lapsed, but just make sure you are downloading the latest mNotes Wireless - it will be v5.11 in the members download area of www.commontime.com

 

[spiff72]

I got an email today announcing version 5.11, but it won't be available until next week - sounds like they are confident that it is nearly ready!

I am anxious to see how well it works (and how well it handles those pesky recurring meetings in Lotus Notes that no one else seems to be able to deal with)...

 

[HollyHayley]

I got an email today announcing version 5.11, but it won't be available until next week - sounds like they are confident that it is nearly ready!

I am anxious to see how well it works (and how well it handles those pesky recurring meetings in Lotus Notes that no one else seems to be able to deal with)...

HI spiff72 - certainly confident that 5.11 would ship - and it has - but perhaps should not have been so confident that Droid support would be guaranteed in that release. Unfortunately it failed a couple of items on the final pre-release QA testing so we couldn't release it officially. It will be another couple of weeks it looks like. Seems a couple of things are quite unstable and we can't guarantee support for something that doesn't work 100% of the time. Can sign up here for updates for mSuite (and mNotes really!), or of course I will post (although I am not able to everyday so...!)

CommonTime : mSuite for Motorola Droid

 

[spiff72]

HI spiff72 - certainly confident that 5.11 would ship - and it has - but perhaps should not have been so confident that Droid support would be guaranteed in that release. Unfortunately it failed a couple of items on the final pre-release QA testing so we couldn't release it officially. It will be another couple of weeks it looks like. Seems a couple of things are quite unstable and we can't guarantee support for something that doesn't work 100% of the time. Can sign up here for updates for mSuite (and mNotes really!), or of course I will post (although I am not able to everyday so...!)

CommonTime : mSuite for Motorola Droid

Thanks - I have been in frequent contact with support regarding the release, and they told me about the Droid problem...disappointing for certain, but I will manage. Will 5.11 work for calendar and contacts by chance? That is all I really want. If the issue is with email, I can probably manage...

Thanks,
Jeff

 

[KlaymenDK]

Unfortunately companienlink will not work for me, since it replicates notes to gmail. We use Lotus Notes at work and ot would be a serious security offense to replicate via an email account on the internet.

This is what i stumbled upon but also requires the calender to be sync with google ...which poses a corporate security concern
AweSync | Lotus <-> Google Calendar Synchronization Tool

Hang on a moment. Do I understand you correctly, that you want to have you Lotus Notes calendar be part of your Android calendar without being part of your GMail calendar? I'd think that anything that's on your phone is automatically also in GMail. Or am I wrong?

I ask because I too would be very glad to have my Notes calendar on my phone. Emails and Contacts are no biggie for me --in fact, I'd rather not have them-- and the security aspect is also a concern in my company.

 

[KlaymenDK]

Yes I am successfully using HTC Sync to Synchronise my Lotus Notes calendar with my HTC Hero. I am running Lotus Notes 8 client against a mail8 database design. HTC Hero will also synchronise contacts but i don't use that functionality. It will not do email and I can not remember it having an option to do To-Do list or personal journal.

Hey, that would be just fine for my needs. But do tell, can you then see the entries that come from your Notes calendar in your GMail calendar? If so, what is your employer's stance on this (my coworkers frequently include pin numbers in teleconference invites and such)?

And yes I simply connect the Hero to the computer by USB and either select Synchronise Now on HTC Sync on the computer and select the option on the phone to Synchronise. There are options to get it to automatically synchronise whenever the phone is connected via USB. Would be nice if I could do this over bluetooth but only appears to work via USB.

So there's some software to install on your pc as well. This comes from an installation cd that came with the phone, I suppose? Is any registration (with HTC) required, or may any Android/Notes user make use of this software?

I guess it will only synchronise with a HTC because there is some software also running on the phone and this software is pre-installed and not available to load on another phone.

I would like to know if application managers (such as Astro) would be able to make a backup of that software?

I ask of course because I don't have an HTC phone...