Lotus Notes - Not Quite MS Outlook (Lotus Notes)

Member Name: theweerouss

Product:	Lotus Notes
Date:	05/10/09 (15 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Gets the job done

Disadvantages: Hidden features, poor inbox settings

Lotus Notes is not my favorite office email and diary system, but it does get the job done. My company uses Lotus as its primary service for daily office activity, and once you learn the tricks, it's a tolerable software system! For instance, pressing the "insert" key on your keyboard will read or unread a selected message. And utilizing the hidden check mark fields in the far left hand column of your inbox will allow you to move more than one item into a folder at a time. Of course, it would be easiest if the check mark fields were visible, or even titled with a check, and if the read/unread option was included somewhere in the menu items, but they are not. These things are something that need to be learned from other coworkers or users of Lotus if you are not familiar with the system.

Another thing that takes some getting used to is that Lotus doesn't always automatically refresh your inbox. I've often run into the problem where I think I don't have any new emails, and then I manually refresh the page and all of a sudden I have a ton that haven't showed up since my last manual refresh. It is very frustrating in a busy office environment, and takes some getting used to to remember that manual refreshes are sometimes necessary.

To be honest, I think Lotus is second to Microsoft Outlook, which has been growing in popularity in recent years. I would recommend MS Office over Lotus if the option is there, as it is more user friendly, but if that isn't a possibility for you, then I would suggest reading up on tips and tricks for using Lotus, or chatting with people who are familiar with the system already.

Overall, Lotus Notes is still a good product, just not the best that is currently available on the market.

Summary: Not the best system available, but useable.

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