I've been speaking with many users on Twitter who have restrictive policies imposed on their Lotus Notes clients.
Here are a few policies you can push out by default to improve your Lotus Notes users experiences from the get go. I usually just set the initial value, so users can modify these settings after the fact. For instance, the majority of our users want previewed mail to be marked as read, which Notes doesn't do by default. I turn this on with a policy and educate users they can change it if need be. Users need to be aware what options they have. If they don't like a feature, they need to know they are able to change it.
All of these are in my Desktop Settings/Dynamic Desktop policy.
Basics Tab Enable "Syncrhonize Contacts" on the Replicator = Yes Set to ensure Notes users have their updated address book in iNotes.
Widgets Tab Enable Live Text Show the My Widgets panel in the sidebar Live Text and Widgets are awesome so let users know what they are and that they have access to them. But before you do this, you should really build and publish a widget catalog! Train users to email each other widgets, show them how to download and add Google Gadgets to their sidebar panels. For a head start, check the Widget Library on OpenNTF and please check out the Lotus Learning Widget.
Mail Tab Allow refresh of Mail Quota on hovering over indicator = Enable Have you ever adjusted a quota and told a user to "just wait a bit" for the quota indicator to change? Just tell them to mouse over it for an instant update.
Enable silent failover when a server goes down = Enable Why tell users your primary mail server is down and make them choose if they want to fail over to another replica? Allow seamless transition to the secondary server.
Enable upgrade of all local NSFs to latest ODS version = Enable Users can benefit from the latest ODS on local applications only if they actually have the latest ODS on local applications. This makes it easy to do.
Preferences Tab > Miscellaneous Sub Tab Mark documents read when opened in preview pane = Enable Make Internet URLs into Hotspots = Enable Drag and Drop save as eml file = Enable This is great if a user wants to pull an email out of their mail file. Show them it's there!
Preferences Tab > Window Management Sub Tab Display Sidebar = Yes Hide "Sametime Contacts" Panel = No We want our users logged into Sametime and have the panel visible every time they launch Notes. This is one of the few policies I don't let users adjust.
Custom Settings Tab > Notes.ini Sub Tab AttachmentActionDefault=1 OR 2 This will ensure a user doesn't have the pesky pop-up asking them if they want to open, edit, view or save the attachment they just double clicked. Setting this to 1 will open the attachment by default. Setting it to 2 will edit the attachment by default, enabling them to save it back to the document they just opened it from. We're saving clicks and making things less complicated for users with this one.
Custom Settings Tab > Managed Settings Sub Tab We use Sametime, so many of these are related to our Sametime environment or how Sametime interacts with the Lotus Notes calendar or our embedded Sametime clients. FYI, I've already enabled token based single sign-on between our Domino, Sametime, Quickr and Websphere servers.
authType=ST-DOMINO-SSO; com.ibm.collaboration.realtime.community, Enforce Lets us use single sign-on to our Sametime server. loginByToken=True; com.ibm.collaboration.realtime.community, Enforce Login by token.
tokenLoginOnly=True; com.ibm.collaboration.realtime.community, Enforce Token only login.
savePassword=False; com.ibm.collaboration.realtime.community, Enforce Disables a user saving a password. When they do it seems to mess up that token login. ;)
autologin=True; com.ibm.collaboration.realtime.login, Enforce Automatically log the user into Sametime
logging.service=service.notes; com.ibm.collaboration.realtime.chat.logging, Enforce Ensures the user's chat history is saved to their mail file.
logging.default=0; com.ibm.collaboration.realtime.chat.logging, Enforce Ensures the user automatically saves chat history.
lookupExpirationDays=0; com.ibm.collaboration.realtime.people Ensures Sametime client cache is refreshed upon each Notes login
name=sametime.servername.com; com.ibm.collaboration.realtime.community, Enforce Sametime server name.
useCanonicalNamesOverride=1; com.ibm.collaboration.realtime.community, Enforce Ensures we use canonical names to allow presence awareness in Notes views
meetingServerHostName=stms.servername.com; com.ibm.rtc.meetings.shelf, Enforce: SetOnce Sametime meeting server name.
serverPort=9082; com.ibm.rtc.meetings.shelf, Enforce: SetOnce Sametime meeting server port.
communityServerName=sametime.scotsburn.com; com.ibm.rtc.meetings.shelf, Enforce: SetOnce Sametime community server name.
authServerUrl=domino.servername.com; com.ibm.collaboration.realtime.community, Enforce: SetOnce Authentication server name
useAuthServer=true; com.ibm.collaboration.realtime.community, Enforce: SetOnce Set to use our an authentication server (i.e., our Domino server) as the authentication server for Sametime
resetUser=true; com.ibm.collaboration.realtime.login, Enforce: SetOnce Resets the user settings to ensure they pull down the latest and greatest settings on login to Notes
earlyStartupLogin=false; com.ibm.collaboration.realtime.login, Enforce: SetOnce Disables the Sametime login window. Why give them the login window when you're using single sign-on? Don't.
autoChangeMyStatusInMtg=true; com.ibm.collaboration.realtime.imhub: SetOnce Automatically change the user's Sametime status if they're in a meeting.
whenIamInAOnlineMtg=true; com.ibm.collaboration.realtime.imhub: SetOnce Automatically change the user's Sametime status if they're in an online meeting.
enabled=true; com.ibm.collaboration.realtime.calendar: SetOnce Enables status changes for user calendar entries
notes_enabled=true; com.ibm.collaboration.realtime.calendar: SetOnce In Calendar Service page, specify whether to check Lotus Notes calendar for meetings to allow auto status changes.
If you have other tips on other desktop policies to enhance a user's experience, please let me know. I'd love to hear about them.
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