Using Lotus Notes 8.5 without Lotus Domino. Configuring POP3 and SMTP. 

We all know how to use Lotus Notes against a Lotus Domino server, but this time I took some time to configure Lotus Notes like a POP3 client without connecting to a Lotus Domino server.

Installation & Setup

After you normally install Lotus Notes 8.5, when you load Lotus Notes for the first time it will ask you a few things.

1. First it is the Welcome Screen, just click "Next".
   
   
2. Them it will ask your name if you want to connect to a Domino Server. Since this is a test to use Lotus Notes without a Domino server, we are going to uncheck "I want to connect to a Domino Server"
   
   
   
3. Them it will ask if you want to configure any other extra services.
   
   

On this example we will add an POP2 account, or you can click "Finish" and configure it later. On this case I selected "Internet mail Server (POP or IMAP, SMTP)" and clicked "Next".

1. So, on "Set Up Internet Mail" I simple selected "POP", "Incoming INternet Mail" and added my POP3 mail server. Click "Next".
   
   
2. On the next page it will ask you Account name and password. Click "Next".
   
   
3. Them it will ask you for a SMTP account for the outgoing mail. Add the SMTP server and click "Next".
   
   
4. On the last page it will ask you for the user name and password for the SMTP accoung. Add the information and click on "Finish".
   

After the installation a Notes database (.nsf file) for your inbox will be created. The database/application is created on the Notes Data directory under the "mail" subdirectory. In my case a "miturbid.nsf" database was created on "c:\Program Files\IBM\Lotus\Notes\Data\mail\miturbid.nsf"

Downloading E-mail.

Once you set up your POP3 account you need to download your emails to you mail datase.

1. Open the Replicator by clicking the "Open" button and selecting "Replication".
   
   
2. You will see a "Receive Internet mail" application listed you can do two things. Click the "Start Now" button, or you can right-click the "Receive Internet mail"icon and select "Replicate Selected Application"
   
   

This will download your e-mails and put it inside the mail database.

Registering POP3 Mail Accounts.

We had seen a way to configure a POP3 account but only when we configure Lotus Notes for first time. To configure a new POP3 account or modify a already created account we can do it on the "Contacts" database also refered as the names.nsf application/database.

There are two ways to configure your POP3 account on Lotus Notes 8.5. The Easy way and the More Easy Way.

The Easy Way - Option 1

1. Open the "Contacts" application. By clicking the "Open" button and clicking "Contacts", or selecting Contacts from the Lotus Notes Home page.
   or      
2. On the left menu of the "Contacts" application select "A dvanced"
   
   
3. It will open a different menu. To create a new POP select "Accounts" on the left meny and click the "New" button.
   
   
4. On this new Account profile add the information for the POP account.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. Click "Save and Close" and you can close the "Contacts" and "Contacts - Advanced" applications.
   
   

The POP account is now ready. Go to "Replication" to download the e-mails to your local mail application.

The More Easy Way - Option 2

1. Go to "File -> Preferences..."
2. Select "Accounts" on the left menu.
   
3. Click on arrow in "New Account"
   
   
4. Select "POP"
   
   
5. Add the information of the POP account on the page.
   
6. Click "OK" for the New Account window and click "OK" for the Prefences window.
   

Registering an IMAP account

To show the registration of an IMAP account in Lotus Notes 8.5 I'm going to use Gmail.

First, check that the server you are going to connect has support for IMAP. On this case I went to my gmail account to check that the IMAP support is turned on.

• On the Gmail page I selected "Settings" and browse the "Forwarding and POP/IMAP". Select IMAP "Enable ". Click on "Save Changes"
  
  

Now going back to Lotus Notes 8.5 to set up the IMAP account.

1. Go to "File - Preferences -> Accounts"
2. Click on arrow in "New Account" and select "IMAP Online"
3. Add the information of the IMAP account.
   
   
4. For GMail to work you need to go the Advance section and on "Accept SSL site certificates" select "Yes".
   
   
5. Click "OK" for the New Account window and click "OK" for the Prefences window.
   
6. Open the Lotus Notes Workspace
   
   
7. You will see the GMAIL IMAP application for the account that you just created.
   
   
   

References

• Configuring Gmail POP on Lotus Notes