10 Minute Guide to Lotus Notes Mail 4.5 - 5 - Using Lotus Notes Help In this lesson, you learn how to use Lotus Notes Help. You also learn how to perform searches within the Help database. Understanding Lotus Notes Help Help, like all information stored in Lotus Notes, is a database. That fact may not be obvious to you since you can access Help in so many ways. In other Lotus Notes databases, the only way to access the information contained in the database is to open the database. With Help, you don't have to double-click the database icon because you can also access it from the Help menu. Lotus Notes has two versions of Help: Notes Help and Notes Help Lite. Notes Help is a larger database complete with navigators and is usually stored on the Domino server. Help is accessible to users who are constantly connected to the server. Notes Help Lite is the database used for desktops or laptops that have minimal disk space available and whose operator might need to access Help when not connected to the Domino server. In Help Lite, you'll find the most frequently used Help topics. If you're using the Help Lite database, you'll have less information available. You'll also have fewer views available. For instance, you won't have the option for the "Visual Index" view, discussed later in this lesson. If you aren't sure which version you have, Help or Help Lite, look for the Help database icon on your workspace (see Figure 5.1). The database title indicates which version you have. If the database icon says Help, you have the larger Help database. If the database icon says Help Lite, you have the smaller of the Help databases installed. Figure 5.1 The Notes Help and Notes Help Lite database icons. If you don't see a Help database icon on your workspace, you can add it by opening the File menu and selecting Database, Open. Select Notes Help or Notes Help Lite from the database list on the server. Panic Button: No Help icon? Be aware that if you're connected to a Notes server, you don't really need the Help database icon. Help is still available to you through the Help menu. After you add the database icon to your workspace, you can access the Help database by double-clicking its icon or by opening the Help menu. Opening the Help menu is the method used for most Windows-based software. You move around and find information in the Help database the same way you move around and find information in other Lotus Notes databases, through views and searches. But as previously said, you can get to the information in the database in one of several ways: You can use the menu (Help, Help Topics), and you'll see the Help database table of contents. You can press the F1 key, and you'll see a list of hypertext options that help you answer the question "What do you want to do?" You can use the Guide Me option for accessing context-sensitive Help. Using the Help Menu Take a look at how to use the menu to access Help. From your workspace, open the Help menu and select Help Topics. You'll see the main view of the Help database called the Index view. The Index view is the default view; this view displays the contents of the entire database (see Figure 5.2). Figure 5.2 The Help database Index view. This view takes advantage of collapsed (see Figure 5.3) and expanded (see Figure 5.4) views. Notice the little triangles that appear in front of some of the view topics? If the triangle is pointing to the right, this means that the line of text you see is a category. A category is not an actual document; it is a categorization of the documents listed beneath it. To see the documents beneath a category, click the triangle. The triangle will now point down and the documents appear beneath the category (see Figure 5.4). Figure 5.3 A Help Topic category (collapsed view). Figure 5.4 A Help Topic category (expanded view). To read a Help topic, simply double-click the document you want to read. Press Esc to return to the Index view. When the triangle points down, this is an expanded view. One way of expanding and collapsing views is to click the triangle. If the category is collapsed, clicking will expand it. If the cate- gory is expanded, clicking will collapse it. You can also use the SmartIcons located on the toolbar to expand and collapse views. Expands the category you currently have highlighted. Collapses the category you currently have highlighted. Expands all categories in the database. Collapses all categories in the database. In the left panel of the Index view are navigators to other available views (see Figure 5.5). Figure 5.5 The Help database Index view navigators. Here's a quick summary of what these Help views provide: How do I . . . ? Contains a list of task-oriented functions such as Ways to address mail. Tell me about . . . Provides shortcuts, notes, database design, and management concepts. Web Navigator Contains Help information on the Navigator. Scripts and Formulas Contains information on LotusScript and formulas. What's new? Contains information about Lotus Notes Release 4 for users of previous versions. Troubleshooting Lists and answers common questions and meanings of error messages. Index Displays a list of categorized Help topics. This is the default view for the database. Search Lists topics alphabetically, without categories. Printed Books Contains Notes documentation in book form, such as the Programmers Guide and User Guide. As you select a view navigator on the left of your screen, the contents will change on the right of your screen. Each time you change views, you can navigate to another view or press the Esc key to return to your workspace. Take a minute and try some of the navigators. You can disable the navigator by clicking the Navigator button on the Action bar. This will take you to the Folders view. Using the Visual Index The Visual Index view displays the contents of the database with navigators, as shown in Figure 5.6. You will have this view available only if you are using the Help version available on the Notes server. To see the Visual Index view: 1. Click the Visual Index navigator. The Visual Index view displays navigators on the left pane of your screen, representing topics (see Figure 5.6). Investigate the Workspace Management navigator. Figure 5.6 The Lotus Notes Help database Visual Index view. 2. Click the Workspace Management navigator. 3. A picture of the workspace appears. Tiny yellow bubbles act as hotspots to lead you to help on a given topic (see Figure 5.7). Figure 5.7 Tiny yellow bubbles act as hotspots for getting help. 4. Click on the tiny yellow bubble that points to the My Work tab in the picture of the workspace. The Entering a name on a Workspace tab Help topic appears (see Figure 5.8). 5. Click the Go Back button in the action bar to return to the Workspace navigator. Then click again to return to the Visual Index view and once again to return to the Index view. Figure 5.8 Click a bubble for help on that topic. Performing Searches There are two ways to search for information in the Help database: Quick Search and Guide Me. Quick Search searches through the titles of the Lotus Notes Help documents but not through the contents of the documents. Quick Search works only if your view is expanded. Instead of scrolling or using the Page Down key, you can use Quick Search to move quickly through the database screens. For example, if you want to find information on printing from the Index view, you need only to press the letter P on your keyboard. The Quick Search dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 5.9. Figure 5.9 Quick Search dialog box. After the dialog box appears, you can type the first letter of a word, the first part of a word, or the entire word you want to search for. If you type only the letter P and click OK, the first document title that starts with the letter P displays highlighted. If you type the entire word Print, the search will find the first document title that starts with the word Print. Another way to search a database is to search the database document contents for words not included in the title of the document. The Help database has a Search view for that purpose. You can use this view to search for a specific word or phrase. You can access the Search view by clicking the Search navigator located in the Main, or Index view. To use the Search view and search for a word or phrase in the Help database: 1. Click the Search navigator. 2. Click the Show Search Bar button on the Action bar. The Search bar is under the toolbar, as shown in Figure 5.10. Figure 5.10 The Lotus Notes Search bar. Plain English: Search Bar A set of tools that help you find information in Lotus Notes databases. You can use the Search bar in most of your databases in Lotus Notes. You should have your views expanded to search all documents in the database. 3. Click the text box of the Search bar. 4. Type the word or phrase you want to search for; type mail. 5. Click the Search button. 6. The search results will appear in the right pane of the Help window. To access any of the search results documents, simply double-click the document in the right pane of your screen. 7. Notice that the number of documents found that meet your search criteria is indicated on the status bar. 8. To return to the Index view of Help, click the Index navigator. 9. To refresh your screen, click the Reset button located on the Action bar. The word mail will remain in your Search bar text box. You can replace this the next time you do a search for another topic or phrase. 10. To exit the Help database, press the Esc key. Working with Guide Me Another way to access Help is to use the context-sensitive Guide Me feature of Lotus Notes. To activate Guide Me, press the F1 key. When you use this key, instead of showing you the views just discussed, Lotus Notes displays a list of topics asking you What do you want to do? followed by topics that you can double-click to search out how to perform tasks. You can use this at any time from any place while working in Lotus Notes. 1. Click the Inbox navigator of your Lotus Notes Mail database. 2. Press the key for help. 3. A screen appears asking What do you want to do?. Double-click Print. A list of print topics appears. 4. Double-click Print one document?. 5. Now you can read the instructions for printing a document. To exit this screen and the Mail database, press the Esc key until you return to your workspace. Getting Additional Help for Mobile Users If you're a mobile user or responsible for helping mobile users, you may want to access the Notes Mobile Survival Kit. This database contains troubleshooting tips and general information on modems, remote Notes, and wireless issues. The Notes Mobile Survival Kit has the latest modem command files, pager files, and script files. It also contains presupport call questions that you should check out before you call for technical support. The Notes Mobile Survival Kit (Mod_Surv.Nsf) may be stored on your Lotus Notes server. Check with your Notes administrator to get help in accessing or replicating this database. In this lesson, you learned how to access and use Lotus Notes Help and how to search for information in the Help database. In the next lesson, you'll learn how to create mail messages.

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