Lotus Notes to MS Outlook

[Peter Stahl]

We currently use Lotus Notes for our email at work and we use it on a shared computer with 7 of us sharing the same LN each with our own password. Can Outlook be used like that? In other words would each account be secure? I'm guessing that LN and Outlook are just being the software used to access the server email. Three of the guys would rather get paper mail while the other 3 are some what computer literate. Any tips to setting up and using it would help. Some people are going to say use Thunderbird but I think we are forced to use Outlook.

[Phil Thien]

Outlook is an E-Mail client. To get all the functionality of Outlook, you need to connect to an Exchange server. Exchange is like a glorified E-Mail server that allows groups of users to share contacts, calendars, etc., with one another. So if you want all those features, you will either need to deploy your own Exchange server, or go with a hosted Exchange solution (there are dozens of outfits that provide that service for a monthly fee, per user).

You can also use Outlook with POP/IMAP servers, but then you basically don't have anything Thunderbird can't deliver.

[Paul Cohen]

Outlook can handle multiple users using profiles even without Exchange. Lotus Notes has two parts a server and a client, the server is equivalent to Exchange and the client is equivalent to Outlook. For this conversion to make sense your company must have switch the server from Notes to Exchange.

[Joe Pelonio]

One nice thing about exchange is that you can check your work e-mail & calendar from home or a smartphone. You really have people that prefer paper mail?

[Phil Thien]

Outlook can handle multiple users using profiles even without Exchange. Lotus Notes has two parts a server and a client, the server is equivalent to Exchange and the client is equivalent to Outlook. For this conversion to make sense your company must have switch the server from Notes to Exchange.

You're right. I didn't read the original posting carefully enough. Seven people sharing a single computer. Wow.

[Matt Meiser]

One suggestion since you are making a change anyway is to set the PC up to have each user log in separately. That way everyone has their own desktop, My Documents, etc. And they'll automagically get their own Outlook profiles. I see this done frequently on shared PCs used in plant floor areas of manufacturing facilities.

[Peter Stahl]

One nice thing about exchange is that you can check your work e-mail & calendar from home or a smartphone. You really have people that prefer paper mail?

Yeah Joe, they really hate computers.

[Peter Stahl]

One suggestion since you are making a change anyway is to set the PC up to have each user log in separately. That way everyone has their own desktop, My Documents, etc. And they'll automagically get their own Outlook profiles. I see this done frequently on shared PCs used in plant floor areas of manufacturing facilities.

Matt, That's what I tried to do is get them to use their own accounts but they don't want to be bothered. We have 3 computers that have what our IT calls machine accounts. I think this is the way they are set up with IR's GC's, etc. but we use them like you would use any other PC. It may come down to us having to use our personal accounts but I don't know for sure. We are supposed to get switched over in August and if it's like any other upgrade we get it will probably have to get pushed back another month or two.

[Joe Pelonio]

Yeah Joe, they really hate computers.
I probably get 100 e-mails a day at work, that's a lot of paper! :eek:

[Bill Huber]

One nice thing about exchange is that you can check your work e-mail & calendar from home or a smartphone. You really have people that prefer paper mail?
Only if the system is set up to do it and you can get though the firewall.