HCL Notes® 11 has a simplified, user-oriented look.

See the following topics for details on the new features in HCL Notes® 11.

Accessibility features help users who have a physical disability, such as restricted mobility or limited vision, to use information technology products.

You can get help that is specific to many of the tasks you are performing, or you can open complete Help on all areas of HCL Notes®.

Use the Open list to open HCL Notes® applications, documents, bookmarks and bookmark folders. The Open list displays icons and a brief description for each item.

Toolbars work with all the applications in your workspace. Some toolbars are context sensitive, which means that they change depending on the task you are performing.

The sidebar provides constant access to your HCL Sametime® Contacts, Calendar, Feed Reader, and Activities. You can change which of these applications displays in your sidebar. However, depending on your organization, you may not have all of these applications in your sidebar.

The status bar appears at the end of the HCL Notes® main window. As you work in Notes, system messages and features appear in the status bar.

Window tabs make it convenient for you to switch from one open document or application to another in HCL Notes®.

You can customize HCL Notes® so that it runs and displays just the way you want it to using Notes preferences.

You can easily change your current home page to another layout or to another type of home page you have created.

You can create your own home page that includes information that is important to you from HCL Notes® and the Web. To create a home page, you use the home page wizard.

You can have more than one home page design, and you can delete any that you have created.

Once you have created a home page, you can change the content and rearrange the layout of the page at any time.

You can create a workspace page to organize your links to applications. A workspace can contain up to 32 pages.

You may want to name workspace pages to help organize your work. For example, if you work with three types of applications -- applications containing human resources information, applications related to sales issues, and applications related to international issues -- you might enter the names HR, Sales, and International on different workspace tabs and move applications of each type to the corresponding workspace pages.

You can use your own background image for the workspace or you can remove an image an use the workspace tab color as the background.

You can easily delete workspace.

Click the page's workspace tab. To use the keyboard to switch to a different page, press CTRL and the left or right arrow.

You can change the color of a workspace tab.

You can save disk space by compacting a file called desktop6.ndk, which is part of the workspace files. Compacting recovers unused disk space by removing references to applications you no longer have on your workspace.

You can create a bookmark in a number of different ways.

Once you have bookmarked an application, document, or a web page, you can set that bookmark to be the home page (the default display) that appears every time you open HCL Notes®. You can redo this as often as you like.

You can easily customize and manage your bookmarks and bookmark folders using a number of different menus and tools, including context (right-click) menus and drag and drop.

There are two main types of views and folders in a Notes® application: shared (available to many users) and private (available to one person).

You can create views in Notes® applications, as long as you have proper access. You can also delete any view that you create.

Use the navigation pane to switch views easily. In addition, you can perform a variety of tasks from the View menu, such as refreshing the view, showing only the unread or selected documents, or searching the view.

You can customize how entry information displays in your views.

Categories help you organize data in views that contain many documents and move around in these views more quickly. Categories can be sorted alphabetically, numerically, or by date.

To create personal folders in a Notes® application, you must have at least Reader access in the Access Control List (ACL) for the application. No one else can read or delete your personal folders.

You can add a document to a folder by moving it to that folder, or by adding it to the folder, while maintaining a copy in the original folder.

Removing a document from a folder does not delete the document from the application or remove it from views. You can still find the document in any view where it was originally placed, such as the All Documents view.

You can move the folders or views in the navigation pane into other unrelated folders or views.

You can change the name of any personal folder or view. You can also rename any shared folder or view in an HCL Notes® application where you have at least Editor access and Create shared/folders/views access in the Access Control List.

You can print a document while it's open, or select document(s) in a view and print them.

In HCL Notes® applications, views are essentially lists of documents; you can print all the text that appears in a list.

You may want to add a header or footer to the pages of the HCL Notes® documents you print. For example, you use headers or footers to add page numbers to printed documents.

Limitations of HCL Notes® are listed in the following table.

Your administrator can set up HCL Notes® Smart Upgrade to send you a notification to upgrade your Notes client to a later release. Whenever you log into your HCL Notes Smart Upgrade compares your installed version of Notes to the version the administrator has made available, and prompts you to upgrade if appropriate.

Your administrator can manage upgrades so that your mail file template is automatically upgraded after you upgrade your HCL Notes® client. When you first start the Notes client after upgrading, Notes begins upgrading the design of local application templates, such as Contacts.

A set of advanced menus can be displayed for the advanced user. Options on advanced menus are targeted more for system administrators or designers, and include menus for tasks such as archiving or deleting Notes® applications, creating an embedded element, or debugging tools.

Create a TeamRoom application to create a place where you and your team members can store documents, share information, and collaborate with one another.

The TeamRoom setup serves as the foundation for TeamRoom. By completing the Setup, you configure and customize TeamRoom for your team's use.

The procedures that follow are tasks necessary for the Team Facilitator to perform in order to effectively manage and maintain a TeamRoom. For additional information about maintaining a TeamRoom, click Help > Using This Application.

After a set of archiving criteria has been created and enabled for your TeamRoom application, you can mark documents as expired on a specific date. Archiving documents decreases the size of the TeamRoom, which improves performance.

You can send, receive, and organize emails, and more.

This quick reference includes a screen image, which explains the basics in Mail, as well as tables that list other commonly-used tasks and shortcuts.

You can change mail preferences to personalize your mail experience.

You can manage junk mail, mail quotas, and meeting notices, to keep your Inbox cleaner.

You can let others view or edit your mail, or open other people's mail if they have given you access.

You can do more things with Mail, such as color-code messages in your Inbox or set up Out-of-Office notifications.

You can get help solving problems in mail.

You can learn more about what you can do with Mail.

You can schedule and keep track of meetings, appointments, anniversaries, and more.

This quick reference includes a screen image explaining the basics in Calendar, as well as tables listing other commonly-used tasks and shortcuts.

You can schedule meetings, reserve rooms and resources, add online meetings and conference call information. You can also check to see when people are available for meetings, and show others when you are available.

You can change the look of your calendar, choose which meeting notices to receive in your Inbox, and more.

You can let others view or edit your calendar and open other people's calendars if they have given you access.

You can do other things with your calendar, like set preferred rooms and conference call information, to make meetings and scheduling easier.

You can get help solving problems in Calendar.

You can learn more about what you can do with Calendar.

You can create, assign, and organize to do items.

This quick reference includes a screen image explaining the basics in To Do, as well as tables listing other commonly-used tasks and shortcuts.

You can set alarms for to do items, view to do items for today only, and more.

You can give someone access to manage your To Do items for you. You can also open and manage another person's To Do items if they give you access.

You can save important information about people, such as mailing addresses, birthdays, and companies. You can import contacts from other programs, and more.

This quick reference includes a screen image explaining the basics in Contacts, as well as tables listing other commonly-used tasks and shortcuts.

You can change the look of your contacts.

You can give someone access to view or edit your Contacts, or you can open other people's Contacts if they have given you access.

You can do many things with contacts, such as print them as labels or synchronize with iNotes and mobile devices.

You can get help solving problems in Contacts.

An HCL Notes® application contains information about a particular area of interest, such as the forms and policy documents for a department, or it might contain documents of a similar type, such as email messages. In addition, some companies create discussion applications, where employees can post responses to particular topics.

This quick reference card is a list of instructions for common tasks and shortcuts for Notes applications, which you can print and keep at your desk for easy reference.

More advanced Notes applications tasks include determining which applications to back up, how to use XPages applications with Notes, and creating a subscription to an application.

View, post, and comment on blogs created with the Notes blog template.

Quickly find some of the most common and more advanced tasks for Web logs (blogs) and how to get started doing them.

In addition to the initial setup and configuration, there are advanced views, forms, and tasks that you can use to manage your blog.

When connecting to servers, Notes® uses Location documents and Account documents to configure those connections. A Location document contains information that Notes needs, in order to manage your connections whenever you change the way you're connecting to servers; for example, your Home location may use remote access software in your operating system to dial your Internet server, while your Online location assumes that you're connected to a LAN. An Account document contains information, such as user name and password, for an Internet connection such as Internet mail.

This quick reference card is a list of instructions for common tasks and shortcuts for Notes locations and accounts , which you can print and keep at your desk for easy reference.

You set preferences for your Location, Account, and Connection documents that provide the information needed by components to connect to servers. Preferences enable you to create, edit, or delete certain Location, Account, or Connection documents.

Learn to do additional tasks with Location, Account, and Connection documents, such as customizing Location settings, enabling Java applets in Notes, and using iNotes to access your Notes mail from the internet.

You can program HCL Notes® to perform tasks automatically using agents (also known as macros). Agents can help you perform repetitive tasks, such as managing documents and sending memos.

These topics contain sample agents that you can use to better understand how to create your own agents.

These topics contain additional information about agent conditions and triggers, for more advanced users.

These tasks explain how to copy data into Notes, and how to share your Notes data with other applications.

This quick reference card is a list of instructions for common tasks and shortcuts for sharing information with other applications, which you can print and keep at your desk for easy reference.

These tasks explain how to import and export data between Notes and other applications.

These tasks describe how to work with object linking and embedding, and how to import or export formatted data.

Your HCL Domino® administrator assigns your roaming user capabilities. The data that your administrator configures to be roaming-enabled replicates or syncs between your roaming server and the Notes® computer that you log into. The roaming server keeps roaming-enabled files and application synchronized for any Notes client on which you log into and work as a roaming user.

Your administrator can configure you to work as a roaming user, enabling your personal HCL Notes®applications and settings to be roamed between any Notes client on which you work. When you log in to Notes on each computer on which you work, you will be initially prompted to convert to Notes roaming user status.

The following Roaming User topics are for more advanced Notes® users.

Replication allows you to keep a local version of a Notes® application on your hard disk drive. The local version is identical to the application on a server, so you can make changes to one version, and those changes will appear in both the local and server versions of the application. Replication is a great tool to have when working with large documents or applications, since the local version, or replica, of an application can open documents and views much faster than the server version, which has to open documents and views over a network.

This quick reference card is a list of instructions for common tasks and shortcuts for Notes® replication, which you can print and keep at your desk for easy reference.

The Replication and Sync page lets you synchronize your replicas of HCL Notes® applications with those applications on one or more servers, and lets you continue other work while Notes copies changes from one application to the other. This allows users on different networks, in a variety of places, to share the same information.

The following Replication topics are for more advanced Notes® users.

You can search from Notes to find documents, document text, applications, and people.

This quick reference card is a list of instructions for common tasks and shortcuts for Notes search, which you can print and keep at your desk for easy reference.

Learn to use correct search syntax, and perform searches of your calendar, contacts, other applications, and the internet, all from within Notes.

Learn more about the Search capabilities of Notes.

Passwords prevent others from using your User ID. When your administrator creates your User ID, he or she decides whether it needs a password, and what type of password is required. Once you access HCL Notes® for the first time, you should change your password to something that you can remember but is hard for others to guess.

Notes® shared login (hereafter shared login) allows you to start HCL Notes and use your User ID without having to provide a Notes password. You only need to log in to Microsoft® Windows® using your Windows password. Your administrator controls whether you can use shared login.

Locking your HCL Notes® ID prevents others from using Notes when you are away from your computer. Locking your ID clears your Notes credentials and drops all connections to Notes servers. You must log in again in order to take any new action using Notes.

Smartcards resemble credit cards, but instead of containing a magnetic strip they contain a microprocessor and memory. You can use a Smartcard with your User ID to login to HCL Notes®, provided you have a Smartcard reader installed on your computer. Once your User ID is enabled for Smartcard login, you are prompted for your Smartcard Personal Identification Number (PIN) in place of your Notes password.

If you want to request a new User Name - for example, if you got married and you want to change your name - you must contact your administrator.

You can view all the names that identify you in Notes®.

A certificate is an electronic stamp, like a stamp on a passport, which verifies to a server that you are who you say you are. Certificates are stored in your User ID. When you first receive your User ID from your administrator, it contains a Notes® certificate. You may decide to use Internet certificates as well. (You may see Internet certificates being referred to as X.509 certificates.)

Every database includes an access control list (ACL), which HCL Notes® uses to determine the level of access users and servers have to a database. Levels assigned to users determine the tasks that users can perform on a database. Levels assigned to servers determine what information within the database the servers can replicate.

When you enable encryption for a local database, HCL Notes® encrypts the database using your public key from your User ID. You are the only one who can then decrypt the database because you have the corresponding private key in your User ID. Nobody else's User ID can open the database.

You can restrict access to applications you have stored locally or encrypt a document in an application.

You can protect your documents, so that only you and the people you designate can read them, even if others have access to the database your documents are in.

Using a secret encryption key that is stored in your User ID, you can encrypt a document that you are posting in a public database, provided the document contains fields that are encryptable.

HCL Notes® uses a public and private key set to encrypt and decrypt data, as well as to validate digital signatures. The public and private key in a set are mathematically related to each other and are unique to your User ID. Your public key is stored in your Notes certificate. Your certificate is stored in your User ID and the HCL Domino® Directory. Your private key is stored only in your User ID.

You can protect your workstation by specifying different types of execution access for different people or organizational certifiers who run HCL Notes® scripts and formulas. For example, you may give all types of execution access to your HCL Domino® administrator, but allow no execution access to unsigned scripts or formulas.

HCL Notes® supports Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), which makes communication secure for your POP3, IMAP, or LDAP accounts. SSL encrypts the data that is sent between your Notes client and the server you specify for your account. Notes supports SSL versions 2.0 and 3.0. By default, Notes negotiates the best SSL version to use with a particular server.

Your administrator may have selected plug-ins to be installed automatically with your client software. These plug-ins are signed with a certificate that is trusted by your client, and verified that the data they contain is not corrupted. Plug-ins signed in this way can then be installed without having to prompt you to accept them.

Widgets and Live Text is designed for three main user types -- end user, power user and application developer, and administrator. Policy and preferences control various access levels. Roles often overlap. For example, a power user may create and deploy widgets to end users while end users may use widgets that have been created for them, rather than create their own.

If you are a Widgets and Live Text end user who does not have widget creation or catalog access rights, you can act on Live Text in your active document or double-click an installed widget to start an action. Depending on your policy or preference settings, you may also be able to do other tasks, such as add a new widget to your client sidebar or My Widgets sidebar panel.

You can create and edit Notes® and Web-based XML extensions (widgets) and make those widgets available from a central catalog.