Connect 2013 Tips #5 Mail Rules, Get to Know Them

Sorry this got posted earlier than Friday. Oh well. Enjoy.

You probably are like me and get more email than you wish. The problem is some of it is just useless, like backup reports from the tape drives. Yes I want to know about them, but no, I do not want to see them, unless there is a problem.

I bet you feel the same about many of them.We see often enough that mail rules are not used by everyone. Which is a shame because it is one of the best ways to help you get to the semi-mythical inbox zero. GTD, Getting Things Done people will and rightly argue there is a better way but for the average person, mail rules can mean a big difference.

I want to provide another example, aside from the backup notices above.

If you are part of ANY internal distribution list, raise your hand. As I suspected, almost everyone.
And hoiw often do those really involve you or have any meaning? If never is your answer, GET OFF THE LIST! Like Linkedin groups that sends you updates you never read and then you get a nice email saying they have changed you to digest or weekly, if you never read them, why do you get them. Otherwise keep reading.

You can create a quick rule, but I prefer the full details. Let me show you why. Sorry forgot to tell you how to find the mail rules. One way is to click on the More drop down menu option and click on Quick Rules or Mail Rules. The other way is to click on Tools form your Left column and then Rules.

You can pick any sender, domain or subject, fine by me for step 1. Pick either choice in step 2. But it is step 3 which leaves me wanting more. yes, one can change importance or not accept the message (i.e. delete it) or move to a folder. Now the problem with moving it to a folder is, you guessed it, you will not have seen the message! Not what one wants usually, unless it is the tape backup saying success, in that case, this works.


Now if you are NOT a manager, this next part can be skipped. But I know you will read it anyway.

As a manager of multiple international projects I am on a few distribution lists which although MOST of the emails serve no purpose for me, I get them anyway. BUT the few that are for my teams, I need to see and do something with them. Here is where the full mail rules kick in.

Once at the Mail Rules window, click New Rule and you will see this screen. you can see orm the snapshot I entered support in the blank field and changed the default sender to to or cc contains. This normally would be the group address name of your distribution list. Then the drop down for Specify Actions has copy to folder and I created one called supportmails and then click Add Action and click OK.

NOTE: If you leave the default as Sender you will only get copies of anything with support as the TO field.

That's it. Now I have a copy of the support emails, should anyone ask if I got one and if I mistakenly delete one from my inbox via my phone and do not realize before my soft delete limit is hit, I am good. I do not always have the reply

See you Sunday at Connect 2013! No more tips after this, just one more post about where I will be and how to find me.

Connect2013 Tip #2 Sametime Goodies

Everyone who uses Sametime loves it. It just works and does some great things too, when properly configured.

There are some things few people ever know about so I want to highlight some and end with a few links to nice ST tools.

1) Why does every Community use the same icon?

Because you never changed it. Really. You go into the Manage Sametime Community from File-Preferences-Sametime-Server Communities-CommunityName and the Icon tab and you have a prebuilt set of 5 choices or you could add a 16x16 icon same size as a favicon.

While this normally would not occur or be needed by the average user, if you also logged into

A) IBM Greenhouse for instance, or

B) LotusLive IBM SmartCloud for Social Business
you see where this could be helpful. I made those icons for you for each Community, enjoy.

2) Did you know you can check someone's calendar availability for a meeting from their sametime icon?
Right click on the person and select Check Availability. How awesome is that!

2a) While there, right click and look at all the options you have, Instant meeting! Collaboration History! Wait, you never tried these? Go do it now. I'll wait. Remember to thank the Sametime team and Product managers when you see them at Connect.

2b) If you used SUT or SUTLite you would have even more options and benefits like calling the person directly.

3) Did you know Sametime has a screen capture tool built-in as well?
Where you see the More drop down menu, you have a screen capture tool. It says Capture Part of Your Screen

4) If you use IBM Connections and Sametime you must get the IBM Connections Plugin for Sametime
No administrator needed to make it work, but your mileage may vary based on the installed version of Connections. You get a nice quick integration to hop to your Connections applications.

5) Got Skype? Pentos says they have a plugin for Skype usage with Sametime. Looks interesting and they provide a 10 day trial, just enough for those coming to Connect.

6) Many clients exist for android, iPhone, Macs, Linux in addition to the IBM provided client so ask around check it out. when I am doing testing I use QuipIM on my Android phone in addition to the IBM client.

Lots of Sametime sessions at Connect 2013, see you there!

A Week of Connect2013 User Tips #1 Company Logo on Letterhead

Connect2013 starts next week and I wanted to provide a daily tip for you the person using Lotus IBM Notes and Domino and naturally the administrator managing it as well. This is done using Notes 9 and works in previous editions as well. This is not a new option in Notes 9, but it never hurts to remind everyone.

Customizing your Notes client is not so difficult and can provide some healthy warm and friendly feelings when accomplished. Remember to always store all changes in a separate named database file with a different Notes ID otherwise your changes will be overwritten on upgrading. And document the procedure and reference points so anyone can repeat it later.

So for tip #1, I want to review how to put your Company Logo on every message you send.

You will need a Designer client, download it for FREE from IBM, which usually means the administrator is the one who will do this. However, you, the end user can have some fun on your own. You will need to change the mail template that all users mail files use as their template. I know, editing the mail template is not always approved, but if you already customize it in any way, this is really a simple update and your CEO, well your CMO at least, should love it.

There is a technote, #1094814 that outlines what to do but is a bit out dated, but here are some more details for those who are not so familiar with this topic.

Instructions to Edit the Letterhead:
Part 1: Adding a Logo Graphic
1) I will presume you have a file in GIF, JPG, PNG or Bitmap and is 88 pixels high and 70 pixels wide (although a size as large as 90 x 85 should fit in most cases) you can adjust the size in your graphics program.
2) Open Domino Designer
3)  Select File-Application-Open from the top menu bar
4) Find your Server or select Local if you are testing or doing this for yourself

5) Locate the Mail 85.ntf or in my picture maill9.ntf
6) Highlight the file and click on Open
7) Find the Images directory and double click on it to open up a new tab and you will see all your images
8) Click on Import Image Resource and the pop up window asks where to find the file

9) Select the image to add
10) The image will now be listed and you need to edit the name so there is no extension and is named ltr-somename with an Alias of StdNotesLtr51 ( It is also suggested that you start numbering your custom letterheads at a value of 50, so as not to interfere with the letterhead numbers that ship with the Mail template per above technote)

Not done yet, you need to add the new letterhead logo into the drop down box so any user can find it.

Part 2: Editing the Drop Down List of Letterheads
1) With the mail template still open in Designer
2) Double Click on Forms to open a new tab with all the forms and find (Calendar Profile)
3) Double Click to open it
4) Find the Letterhead Tab and click on it
5) Click on DefaultLogo
6) You should see this line in the window below and to the right:
@If(logo = ""; "StdNotesLtr25"; Logo) or something similar which is the default

7) You can change this to your new logo default, I am using 19 as it was free at the time, but you should use above 50 to be safe.
8) Now double click on the DefaulLogo text/box
9) You will see a new pop up window open, go to the Control tab (The old style key)

10) In the Choices box create a new line and add the Graphic name with a pipe the | and StdNotesLtr51 as shown in the picture.

11) Once you added the graphic here, click on the Check Arrow that appears to save it
12) Press CTRL-S or close the Form tab and it will prompt to save it
13) Don't forget to sign the template with your Application ID so the ECL warnings do not pop up for users asking if they trust you.

Test your Work:

While in your inbox, click on More, then Preferences, then Mail tab then the Letterhead tab

Find your new Graphic by name and say ok.

If all went well, it will be there and will now be sent to anyone inside your organization. This will not be sent outside your organization.

You can now let the Design task update everyone's mail template and if you set the default to this number it will be there for everyone.

Similarly you can put any graphic you want in there, subsidiaries, holidays, divisions, awards, as long as it fits.

See you at Connect 2013!

PS - In case you wondered, this is a list i made of what is in my client:
No Letterhead|StdNotesLtr0
Bouncy Earth|StdNotesLtr1
Buck Rogers Mail|StdNotesLtr2
Computer Chip|StdNotesLtr3
Decco|StdNotesLtr4
Golf|StdNotesLtr5
Frank Lloyd|StdNotesLtr7
Clouds|StdNotesLtr8
Gateway|StdNotesLtrGateway
Geometry |StdNotesLtr9
Gray Gradient with Lines|StdNotesLtr13
Surfboard|StdNotesLtr14
Maple Leaf|StdNotesLtr6
Marquee|StdNotesLtr34
Metal Plate|StdNotesLtr15
Architect|StdNotesLtr16
Plain Text and Web Only|StdNotesLtr0
Pony Express|StdNotesLtr17
Post Mark|StdNotesLtr33
Primitive|StdNotesLtr20
Purple Geometry|StdNotesLtr18
Slashed Lines with Globe|StdNotesLtr21
Squiggle with Backdrop|StdNotesLtr22
Fishing|StdNotesLtr23
Tacks|StdNotesLtr24
Mail Envelope|StdNotesLtr25
Teal and Yellow Lines|StdNotesLtr26
Three Dimensional Relief|StdNotesLtr27
Adirondack Chair|StdNotesLtr28
Triangle with Dots|StdNotesLtr30
Triangles|StdNotesLtr29
Wild Confetti|StdNotesLtr32