Introduction I remember a time when it was very hip to have a fax number on one's business card. Then voice mail became very popular and often two phone numbers were printed on business cards; the company main number, and a voice mail number. The use of mobile phones began to grow and our mobile phone numbers were given only to those very special clients who felt very special simply because we gave them our precious mobile phone numbers! Now, we add e-mail addresses to our business cards. With the growth of commercial service providers and corporate LANs and WANs , the growth of the Internet and the World Wide Web, and the use of virtual offices, e-mail addresses on business cards are as common as telephone numbers, fax numbers, and voice mail numbers. It might be time for us all to buy stock in companies who manufacture bifocal lenses! Riding the wave of this growth period is software classified as groupware and, in particular, a program called Lotus Notes. Part of the Lotus Notes groupware product is their e-mail program and it is one of the most robust and advanced e-mail programs available today. It's been my pleasure to depend on Lotus Notes Mail as a productivity tool in my career for the past three years. Lotus Notes is an ever evolving product, constantly improving and answering the needs of those of us who depend as strongly on our e-mail as we do on our telephones. It provides a flexible and dependable e-mail product for large and small businesses with a user interface that's not only easy to learn, but down right good looking! Welcome to the 10 Minute Guide to Lotus Notes Mail Not everyone has the luxury or the budget to attend classes for the purpose of learning Lotus Notes Mail. This book focuses on the basics of Lotus Notes Mail, introduces general e-mail practices, and shows you some advanced features of the program. You can work through the book lesson by lesson, building upon your skills, or you can use the book as a quick reference when you want to perform a new task. Features and concepts are covered in lessons that take 10 minutes or less to complete. If you are new to e-mail, start at the beginning of the book. If you've used e-mail before, you might want to skip the first few lessons (but be certain to read about e-mail etiquette) and work from there. If you've been using Lotus Notes Mail, use the Table of Contents and select the lessons that cover features of the program you haven't yet used. This book can work as a tutorial for you or as a reference for those tasks you seldom perform. If you're traveling with Lotus Notes Mail on your laptop, the compact size of this book is perfect for fitting into your laptop or notebook case. Who Should Use This Book The 10 Minute Guide to Lotus Notes Mail is for anyone who: Has Lotus Notes, Notes Desktop, or Notes Mail installed on their PC. Needs to learn Lotus Notes Mail quickly. Wants to explore some of the advanced features of Mail. Wants a quick way to select, learn and perform tasks in Lotus Notes Mail. About the Installation of Lotus Notes Lotus Notes is not a standalone product. To use Lotus Notes Mail, one must be a registered user in an established private or public Notes domain. Because most people use Notes at work, it is unusual that people like you and I install Notes on our PCs or laptops without help and specific instructions from our Notes System Administrators. The actual installation of the program is easy, and depending upon the version of Notes (Lotus Notes, Notes Desktop, or Notes Mail) you'll feed as many as 14 disks, or use one CD to install. There are four or five questions which you must answer with very specific details about your organization and your Notes home server. That information regarding the server is different for every organization. Notes support personnel typically install Notes on PCs at the office and do not look to end users to do the install. The exception to the rule may be for laptop or remote users. If your organization relies on you to install the program, they must supply you with the proper information to answer those questions. Since the install is easy and the questions vary, we didn't supply specific installation instructions in this guide. We did, however, start with information about your Notes setup once the program is installed on your PC. Conventions Used in This Book With version 4.5 of Lotus Notes, Lotus changed the name of their server software to "Domino," keeping their client software name of "Lotus Notes." Throughout this book, we may universally refer to both the client and server software as "Notes" or "Lotus Notes." Only when it becomes crucially important to differentiate between client and server software do we call the server software "Domino." Throughout this book are icons that identify tips to help you save time and learn important information fast. TimeSaver Tips Look for this icon for shortcuts and ideas that will save you time when working in Lotus Notes Mail. Some tips even apply to other Windows based programs! Panic Button Watch for this icon to give you a heads up on common mistakes or where new users might run into trouble. Plain English This icon will be used to introduce new terms, or Notes-specific terms. You also find these conventions throughout the steps in the lessons: What you type Things you type with the keyboard appear in bold, color type. What you select Any keys that you press or items that you select with your mouse appear in color type. On-screen text Any messages that you see on-screen appear in bold type. Acknowledgments No project is completed by one person, and this project, is no exception. I'd like to thank my Acquisitions Editor, Martha O'Sullivan and my Production Development Specialist, Melanie Palaisa. As a team, their combined talents, coaching, attention to detail, expertise, and humor made every minute of this project enjoyable and challenging. Martha presented this opportunity and Melanie enabled me to grasp it. Thanks to Dorothy Burke whose valuable writing contribution kept us all within our deadlines. I'd also like to thank Denise Prante who questions my every word and keystroke and Patience Rockey for supporting my endeavors outside of the training arena. Finally (though hardly last) I'd like to thank my husband and partner Rob Kirkland-- "Dr. Notes"--who makes work, writing, and life an extraordinary experience. Trademarks All terms mentioned in this book that are known to be trademarks or service marks are listed below. In addition, terms suspected of being trademarks or service marks have been ap-propriately capitalized. Que Corporation cannot attest to the accuracy of trademark information. Use of a term in this book should not be regarded as affecting the validity of any trademark or service mark. After reading this book, if you would like more information on Lotus Notes, I suggest the following from Que: The 10 Minute Guide to Lotus Notes 4.5 by Sue Plumley The 10 Minute Guide to InterNotes Web Navigator by Jane Calabria Using Lotus Notes 4.5 by Cate Richards

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