LOTUS Notes 8.5 -- help!!!

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#1

Need ideas for a good Lotus 8.5 manual. (or 8 I guess would do too)

The firm where I work junked Outlook and brought in Lotus 8.5. My boss is sort of like the pointy haired boss on Dilbert – save that he has a somewhat better grasp on computers. In any event, the system was brought in with no training and no manuals. We are supposed to use the help feature with Lotus. (We are not allowed to print the help as that would waste paper.)

I relied heavily on outlook tasks to manage my jobs and the work I delegated to others. In Lotus, when a delegate updates the message in the to do’s, it is not updated on my copy (was in Outlook). Sort of makes the whole thing pointless. I have to email them for updates and when the client calls, I have to run off and get the file. (of course this is #1 on my “how the frak do I do this NOW” list of about 800 questions)

Pointy haired boss had a panic moment today when he was worried that something of his might delete by accident. He suggested that he would buy a manual if only there was one out there (he is weakening as before the manuals were “too expensive”). Does anyone know of a manual that I could suggest? I see a few but I am not sure which would fit the bill. It must be fairly detailed, go from noob to advanced, but not get into programmer stuff. Any ideas?

Just on an aside, I HATE lotus. In the transfer, old tasks that were completed were transferred over and keep popping up on odd dates in calendar and to dos. My calandar one day had over 70 entries most of which were old tasks with dates going back to 2002. Today I have 50 entries including tasks a few months into the future. I had over 1000 useless tasks and emails suddenly transfer and I can only delete them one at a time (won’t allow bulk deletes). I have emails in my to do list. I can’t manage to print my tasks and overdue tasks for one day. It’s all or nothing. The views are awful and useless information takes up 1/2 the screen and can’t be bypassed or shrunk in email. Arrrrggggg. The list goes on and on and on…

I think a good manual will help.

#2

A quick scrape through the Borders sales catalog doesn’t show anything good or relevant. You’re using bleeding edge software there. IBM’s attempt at documentation can be found here.

#3

Thanks Alpaca Herder. I think I will spend some time on that site.

It’s a sad day indeed when a complex piece of software like this can go out without a decent manual. Hunting and pecking through HTML based help screens is NOT the way to go.

#4

I have a friend who works with Notes and Notes developement. I’m going to call him tonight and ask him to email me some links to sites that can help you. If anyone knows what’s out there he will. :slight_smile:

#5

Thanks Gryper. I’ll cross my fingers.

#6

Just got off the phone with him. He will write up an email with loads of information for you in the coming days. Once I get it I will send it to you via Private Message here. He also does some Notes advocacy (I don’t know if I spelled that right!) for others so he’s glad to help. The email will include a link to his blog and an email address that he doesn’t put out on the web for you too. :smiley:

#7

Sorry for the delay on info Cymbeline. My friend’s work has him tied up right now, the company he works for was bought by another recently. Here’s his blog site: http://www.dangsite.com/

There are a lot of links listed on there that should be useful to you. And I’ll forward his email as soon as I get it from him.

#8

Thanks Gryper! I’ll check the site out.

I know busy too. This whole thing has set me seriously back – just in time for the finale too. I havn’t had any time to enjoy the boards. Poor me. :frowning:

Hope to be back in the land of the “do something other than work” soon.

#9

Talked to him last night and he’s got a draft done for the email but hasn’t completed it yet. Soon though. :slight_smile:

My work is heading into some “do nothing other than work, eat, sleep, repeat cycle” time I think. :frowning: