Enhancements in 8.5.1 

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This page provides an overview of various features and enhancements that have been made available with Lotus Notes Client and Domino Server Version 8.5.1.

As the writing of this document, Notes and Domino 8.5.1 has not been released yet, so the list below is subject to change. Please check the Release Notes for the complete list.

Lotus Notes Clients

General
Preferences	Back by popular demand, you can use red text to indicate unread documents. Click File > Preferences, and then click the Fonts and Colors preference. For the field Unread mail indication, select Plain red text. Also note that this preference provides you with an easy way to enlarge the text in the data areas of Notes, such as the Inbox and messages. Mail signatures imported from preferences will now be ignored by all Spell Check operations. New Spell Check preference options let you automatically correct three common typing errors: Typical spelling errors, such as "teh" instead of "the;" starting a sentence with a lowercase letter; typing two capital letters, such as JOhn.
Convenient toolbar icons for often used editing options	You can use toolbar icons to perform the following editing tasks: A text color icon you can click to set the color of new text or change the color of selected text. A highlighter icon you can click to enable or disable highlighting. The cursor changes to show that you are using the highlighter. An insert link icon you can click to create hotspot links for selected text An underline icon you can click to underline selected text
Convenient table editing options	Drag column or row margins to resize Drag the margins of the entire table to resize it Drag the contents from one cell to another Set the table width when creating a fixed width table Easily insert a new row or column by holding down the Shift key and double-clicking the common border Multiple undo actions
Editor improvements	Multiple undo actions in a list Cursor changes to show when permanent pen or highlighter is in use List elements do not display if there is no text on the line (Note that in edit mode, if the cursor is located on a line then the list element displays, but if no text is entered, the list element is hidden when the document is saved.) Improved selection behavior when selecting text in a Notes section.
Drag and drop	Drag e-mail to the main or sidebar calendar to create a calendar entry Drag calendar entries to a new date in the main or sidebar calendar to reschedule or counter Drag documents or shortcuts from your operating system Desktop or file folder to the Open list or a Bookmark folder. For example, drag a Symphony™ document to a Bookmark folder, or drag a Notepad shortcut to the Open list.
View business cards in more places	You can view a person's business card when you hover over their name in your Inbox; e-mail To, Cc, Bcc, or type-ahead list; calendar entries and invites; Sametime Contacts list; chat windows; Activities; and more.
Action Bar in preview pane	Perform meeting actions, such as Accept and Decline, from the preview pane in Mail, Calendar, and To Do.
ODF, ODP, and ODS files do not automatically open in embedded IBM Lotus Symphony	ODF, ODP, and ODS file types will not automatically open in embedded Lotus Symphony. The first time you click on a file (either as an attachment or in the file system), you will be prompted to associate the file with IBM Lotus Symphony; Lotus Symphony Documents, Presentations, or Spreadsheets; or OpenOffice.org (if it is installed). Note: IBM Lotus Symphony is based on OpenOffice.org. Information about OpenOffice.org can be found at www.openoffice.org.
Better spam protection with Lotus Protector	With Lotus Protector, you can view and manage a list of company-blocked senders, add your own personally-blocked senders, or choose to allow certain blocked senders' mail. To view and manage your spam settings from Notes, expand the Spam Protection section in the navigation pane of you mail. Note: Your organization may choose not to use Lotus Protector, in which case you will not see these features.
Roaming user	Notes roaming user now supports improved plug-in deployment of roamed widgets. Notes roaming user adds file server support for Notes roaming users working on supported Linux® and Mac OS platforms. Roaming user is now available for file server roaming or Domino server roaming for all supported Notes platforms. Notes roaming user now supports Notes workspace roaming.
Mail
Empty trash from right-click menu	From any mail view, right-click on the Trash folder and select Empty Trash.
Archiving Improvements	Visual differences between an archive and mail make it easy to tell when you are working in an archive. Easily find your recently archived messages by opening the Recently Archived folder in an archive. The subject line of archived messages say (Archived) and the header includes the date on which the message was archived. If you archive a message and leave a summary, you can open the message from its original folder. Open the summary from the original folder, and then click Open in Archive in the action bar above the message.
Attachments in Internet mail	When you receive mail that includes attachments from an Internet address, the attachments are included at the top of the message in a collapsible section. This includes Notes mail sent through an SMTP server.
Calendar
Main calendar and Day-At-A-Glance automatically refresh	At midnight, the main Calendar and Day-At-A-Glance panel automatically refresh to the next day.
Save and re-use information for multiple online meetings	When you add an online meeting to a meeting invitation, you can save and re-use the information for future meetings. Save multiple meetings and choose from LotusLive, Sametime, or Sametime Classic, depending on your organization. To add, edit, or delete online meetings, click Online Meeting on a meeting invitation you created.
Search
Searching your desktop from the search list in the tool bar is available on more operating systems	Macintosh users: In the search field's drop-down list, click Spotlight and perform your search. Linux users: In the search field's drop-down list, click Beagle or Tracker and perform your search. Vista users: In the search field's drop-down list, click Windows and perform your search.
Show or hide what displays in the search list in the tool bar	Click File > Preferences, click Search, and then click Search List.
Add a Notes view or application to the search list in the tool bar	Open a Notes application. You now see the view or application's name (or both) at the top of the search field's drop-down list. Click the Add to search list link below the item you want to add. To use widgets to add the view or application, or to add a Notes or a Web search engine, see the "Widgets and Live Text" section of this table.
Contacts
Append a vCard to your signature	You can append a vCard to your signature. Click File > Preferences, expand Mail, and then click theSignature tab. Click Append My vCard.
Widgets and Live Text
Additional feature and plug-in widget type definition available	The Start Configuring Widgets wizard dialog now contains a new widget option -- Features and Plugins. This option initiates a new wizard sequence designed to simplify the process of creating a client plug-in deployment widget – a process documented in the "Deploying client plug-ins with widgets and the widget catalog" section of Domino Administrator help at publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/domhelp/v8r0/index.jsp. The wizard guides you through the widget definition process, prompting for the update site in which the target plug-in resides. After specifying the plug-in, entering the name, image url, and description for the widget, the wizard creates the widget's install manifest content, saves the new widget, and installs the specified plug-in. You can then export or publish the widget.
New My Widgets sidebar panel toolbar	The My Widgets sidebar panel toolbar contains options for accessing the widget catalog and controlling your sidebar panel view state. Catalog browse button -- This opens the widgets catalog. Show button -- This toggles My Widgets sidebar panel palette items between Thumbnail view or Details view. In the Details view, you can sort by Title or Type. The selected view state is remembered when you restart Notes. Type to find field-- This filters widgets based on what you type.
Revised Notes widget creation wizard	The Notes widget creation wizard has been enhanced to simplify the widget creation process based on the current context.
Add a Notes view or frameset to the Notes toolbar Search list	The Notes widget creation wizard now enables you to add the Notes view or frameset as a search engine in the Notes toolbar Search list.
Add a Web search engine to the Notes toolbar Search list	The Web widget creation wizard now enables you to add the site as a search engine in the Notes toolbar Search list.
Simplified widget creation wizard page using Basic and Advanced tabs	The Configure a Widget wizard page now contains a Basic tab and an Advanced tab. When you select Wire as an action on the Basic tab, you can choose a widget property to be wireable. Use the Advanced tab to create more than one property to wire and optionally set a default for each wireable property.
Ability to wire Notes form field content to Live Text or other default values	You can create a widget from a Notes form that can wire field content to Live Text or other default values.
Security
Change in how trust is pushed from policy or in feature kit affects trust user interface options	New options exist for user response to code signing, time stamping, expiration acceptance, and trust prompts based on new certifier and trust setting capabilities available to the administrator. These options impact trust for features and plug-ins deployed to Notes users, and third-party features that may be added to the Notes install or upgrade kit.
Activities
Dogear has been renamed	In Lotus Connections 2.5, the name of the "Dogear" feature changed to "Bookmarks." Menu options for searching Dogear and creating Dogear bookmarks have been updated to reflect the name change.
Use the Lotus Connections preferences page to specify server information	Now that more features of Lotus Connections are available from within the Notes client, a Lotus Connections preferences page is available. Use the page to specify Lotus Connections server information. You can still use the Activities preference page to define settings for the Activities sidebar; expand the Lotus Connections preferences page to find the Activities preferences page.
Access Lotus Connections content from the business card.	You can find content that a person has contributed to the Lotus Connections features by clicking links available from the business card.
Work with community activities.	View and contribute to community activities that were created using the Communities feature in Lotus Connections.

Domino Server

Ease of use for platform statistic event generators

When you create a statistics event generator, you now have the option to monitor a template statistic. This option allows you to monitor a platform statistic for all instances of all tasks on a server, so that you do not have to create a separate statistics event generator for each task instance. You can select the template statistic to monitor from a drop-down list of platform statistics, including DominoLocalFreeKBytes, DominoSharedFreeKBytes, HeapFreeKBytes, MemFreeKBytes, SharedFreeKBytes.

Lotus iNotes

Mail Policy Setting	Description
Refresh Inbox automatically	By default, Lotus iNotes users can set a Mail preference so that their Inbox is updated (refreshed) automatically when new mail arrives. Use this setting to disable the user preference. If this setting is not enabled, the Lotus iNotes user preference does not display in Mail preferences.
Enable unread count	Enable so that the number of unread messages in a folder displays in the navigator pane of the iNotes client.
Autoupdate unread count	Select the mail folders for which you want the unread count to update automatically.
Enable scroll hints	Select to display information about messages (depending on sort order) as users scroll through a mail list view.
Disable warning on opening attachments	By default, when a user opens an attachment, a message displays warning that opening the attachment may be a security risk. Enable this option to suppress the warning message.
Filter out images from emails	Enabling prevents users from accessing or forwarding images by filtering them out of messages at the server level.
Proxy servlet name/URL pairs	Use this setting to specify a list of Lotus Quickr servers and assign user-friendly names for the servers. Then when a user browses to add a place in their Lotus Quickr user preferences, they can browse for places by selecting from the list you have defined in their effective policy.
Show sidebar on startup	By default the sidebar displays in the mail client. Select Hide to prevent the sidebar from displaying.
Show preferences	By default, a set of user preferences are available in the mail client. To prevent preferences from displaying, clear this field.
- Allow archiving on the server - Allow local archiving	Enable archiving on a per person basis. Using one or both of these policy settings overrides archiving settings in the server's Configuration Settings document.
New Features
Mail disclaimer policy settings	Mail disclaimer policy settings are now supported by Lotus iNotes.
Web-style search	A new notes.ini setting, INOTES_WA_DISABLE_WEBSTYLE_SEARCH=1, allows Lotus iNotes users to perform Web-style searches.
Disable URL links in edit mode	By default, users can identify or open hotspot links (URLs) while editing or responding to a message. You can prevent this for Microsoft Inernet Exporers and return to the behavior of previous releases. Use the setting iNotes_WA_EnableOpenLinkInEditor=0 to prevent IE users from accessing or identifying links in compose or edit mode. The default setting is 1 (enabled).
New Prohibit Archive policy settings available	Two Archive policy settings are now supported. Prohibit archiving and Prohibit private archiving criteria can be used to disable archiving for Lotus iNotes users, or to prohibit the creation of private archive criteria.
Security policy settings for configuring proxies	Previously, proxies were configured by use of a proxy-config.properties file located in the Domino\data\properties directory. This is no longer supported, and you must use a security policy settings document to configure proxies.
ID Vault support	Lotus iNotes users can take advantage of the Notes ID Vault to back up their Notes ID. iNotes supports the use of policies to enable this feature. Once ID Vault is enabled, iNotes users will have an additional Security preference Synchronize Notes ID with Vault. If this feature is not enabled, the user preference does not display.
Prefetch Documents	You can set a notes.ini so that the client loads the contents of either the visible unread messages or of all visible messages in an asynchronous manner after the view list is loaded. The result is that messages will open from the view faster, because the contents are not being loaded when the message is opened, rather they have already been fetched and exist in the view. Note that enabling this feature may have some bandwidth or server CPU consumption trade-offs. To enable this feature, use notes.ini setting iNotes_WA_PrefetchDocuments=value, where: 1 = fetches all unread documents shown in the mail view 2 = fetches all documents shown in the mail view
Customizing color gradients	You can now easily customize the color gradients used in Lotus iNotes by editing the dwa.properties file in forms85.nsf. All gradient fill and roundrect colors are now defined in dwa.properties. To change colors, edit this file in Lotus Domino® Designer and provide new color specifications.
Notes.ini setting to unblock Google™ Chrome browser	The Google Chrome browser is blocked by default. To allow the use of Chrome, use iNotes_WA_ChromeBrowserBlock=0. If this setting is absent or set to any other value, the Chrome browser is blocked.
Notes.ini setting to allow pass-thru of HTML	As of Domino 8.5.1, pass-thru HTML that is enclosed within square brackets is disabled by default. To allow this pass-thru HTML style, use the setting iNotes_WA_AllowPassThruHtml =1. The default value is 0.

Administration

Pushing managed settings with desktop policy setting	Support for pushing managed settings is now available using the Custom Settings tab on the Domino desktop policy settings. This enables you to push both Lotus-supplied and custom Domino policy, Eclipse preferences, and notes.ini settings during client install or upgrade, including deployment of Notes client features and plug-ins using widget deployment methods.
New topic on updating deployed Notes feature	A new topic describing the process of updating a deployed Notes feature and plug-in has been added.
New "Use the Bypass approval..." option for Roaming	A new "Use the "Bypass approval..." option on the Remove Roaming Profile dialog is available for automating the removal of roaming databases whenever a user is downgraded from roaming to non-roaming.
User workspace can roam	The Notes user workspace can now participate in roaming.

Client Installation

Administrative trust defaults can be pushed in the install media kit	You can now push administrative trust defaults to a new deploy.nsf in the install media kit using an Export option in the server's Domino Directory to provide additional trust capabilities during an install.
Customized data directory specification is now available during Notes multi-user install and upgrade	You can now create a customized data directory when installing or upgrading Notes multi-user on a Windows or Citrix platform.
Add-on installer toolkit to deploy third-party features	An add-on installer toolkit is now available for creating custom install kits for deploying third-party features to an existing Notes install.
Validation tool to test installation changes made	A validation tool is now available for testing changes made to a customized Notes install kit before running the installation executable.
Symphony install option available on Mac OS X	The Symphony feature in the Notes installation panel is now available when installing on the Apple® Mac OS X® platform.
Activities install option renamed to Connections	The "Activities" option on the Notes install panel has been renamed "Connections." However, the feature name remains "Activities" in the installed Notes sidebar panel.
Silent install option for Designer, Administration and Symphony	Silently installing Notes requires new options when installing Domino Designer, Domino Administrator, and/or Lotus Symphony features.
Features and Plugins option in Widgets wizard dialog box now available	The Start Configuring Widgets wizard dialog (click Getting Started with Widgets in the Notes toolbar or My Widgets sidebar panel) contains a new option -- Features and Plugins. This option launches a new wizard sequence designed to simplify the process of creating a Notes client plug-in deployment widget, a process currently documented in the "Deploying client plug-ins with widgets and the widget catalog" section of Domino Administrator help. The wizard guides you through the widget definition process, prompting for the updatesite in which that target plug-in resides. After selecting the plug-in you want, entering the name, image url, and description for the widget, and reviewing the manifest used for the widget, the wizard will created the widget and install the plug-in. You can then export or publish the widget to the catalog.
Browse button in Notes Widgets preferences now available	The Notes Widgets preference panel (File > Preferences > Widgets) now has a browse button for the widgets catalog server and database fields, simplifying the task of specifying the target server on which the widgets catalog resides.
Notes SCI tool replaced by Expeditor NCI tool	The "WebSphere Portal composite application support for Notes" tool, also known as "Notes SCI" has been retired and removed from the Notes install kits (apps\ca8_SCI.exe and xvf ca8_SCI.tar) and replaced with the Expeditor NCI tool.
New topic on updating deployed Notes feature	A new topic describing the process of updating a deployed Notes feature and plug-in has been added.
New script in the Notes on Linux install kit reducing auto-start time	The Linux platform Notes install kit contains a new ntsspreld.sh script that, when installed and enabled, reduces Notes client auto-start time after the first operating system startup.

Databases

Optimized copying of DAOS objects (DAOS-aware Notes client)

By optimizing the copying of DAOS objects, the Lotus Notes client is now able to recognize that a user's mail server is enabled for DAOS, and to refrain from replicating unnecessary copies of attachments, improving connection speed for users of mail and other databases on the server. New Show Stat DAOS commands provide information on this optimization. Note This new object copy optimization feature requires the compaction of local mail database files to the current ODS level.

Policies

Support for Eclipse managed settings, notes.ini and locations settings	Support for easily pushing Eclipse managed settings, notes.ini settings, and locations settings are now available using the Custom Settings tab on the Domino desktop policy settings page in conjunction with the server's Domino Directory (names.nsf). This enables you to push both Lotus-supplied and custom settings during client install or upgrade, including deployment of Notes features and plug-ins using widget deployment methods.
Ability to push trusted certificates to clients	You can create cross-certificates in the Domino Directory for Internet certifiers and Lotus Notes certifiers and then push the cross-certificates to the Contacts application on Lotus Notes clients. The cross-certificates are used to establish client trust of a certifier when accessing servers, reading encrypted S/MIME mail, or installing signed Lotus Notes client plugins. When you push cross certificates, users are not required to create the cross-certificates or retrieve them from the Domino Directory. You can also push Internet certifiers to clients and enable users to create cross-certificates themselves. There are two ways to push certificates to clients' Contacts: through customization of the Lotus Notes client installation media or through security policy settings.
Time stamping plug-in jar signatures	You can now time-stamp plug-in jar signatures using the jarsigner tool provided by the Java™ SDK to ensure the long term validity of plug-in signatures. The Notes client uses a time stamp included with a plug-in jar signature to determine if the plug-in signing certificate was valid at the time of signing. If a plug-in signing certificate has expired but was valid at the time of signing, Notes accepts it so that users are not confronted with security prompts during plug-in installation or provisioning. You can use security policy settings control whether to also ignore expiration of the time stamping certificates themselves. By default, time stamping certificate expiration is ignored.
New setting for detection of other e-mail applications	A new setting has been added to the Mail policy settings document to allow for detection of e-mail applications other than Notes. The first use of the detection functionality is to prevent data loss when exchanging calendar invitations among users of Notes calendars and users of other calendars such as Microsoft Outlook/Exchange.
New setting for Lotus Protector for Mail Security 2.5	Specify the Lotus Protector for Mail Security 2.5 server URL in a NOTES.INI setting in the desktop policy settings document.
New setting for customized quota warning text	Specify customized mail quota warning text using a NOTES.INI file setting in the desktop policy settings document. Use the notes.ini setting quotawarningtext=
New settings specific to iNotes	There are new policy settings for Lotus iNotes as well as general policy settings that Lotus iNotes now supports. For more information, see Lotus iNotes table.

Security

Windows® single sign-on for Web clients	You can set up an IBM® Lotus® Domino® Web server to honor Windows users' Active Directory logon credentials. Users who are logged on to the Active Directory domain can open applications on the server from a browser without being prompted for a Domino HTTP password.
ID vault integration with programs that store ID files in databases	You can enable Lotus® Notes® API programs that can store Lotus Notes IDs in databases to use an ID vault. Doing this allows the users of such programs, for example, Lotus iNotes® users or Lotus Notes Traveler users, to take advantage of the ID management features that an ID vault provides.
Ability to push trusted certificates to clients	You can create cross-certificates in the Domino Directory for Internet certifiers and Lotus Notes certifiers and then push the cross-certificates to the Contacts application on Lotus Notes clients. The cross-certificates are used to establish client trust of a certifier when accessing servers, reading encrypted S/MIME mail, or installing signed Lotus Notes client plugins. When you push cross certificates, users are not required to create the cross-certificates or retrieve them from the Domino Directory. You can also push Internet certifiers to clients and enable users to create cross-certificates themselves. There are two ways to push certificates to clients' Contacts: through customization of the Lotus Notes client installation media or through security policy settings.
Time stamping plug-in jar signatures	You can now time-stamp plug-in jar signatures using the jarsigner tool provided by the Java™ SDK to ensure the long term validity of plug-in signatures. The Notes client uses a time stamp included with a plug-in jar signature to determine if the plug-in signing certificate was valid at the time of signing. If a plug-in signing certificate has expired but was valid at the time of signing, Notes accepts it so that users are not confronted with security prompts during plug-in installation or provisioning. You can use security policy settings control whether to also ignore expiration of the time stamping certificates themselves. By default, time stamping certificate expiration is ignored.
Stronger Internet password format	Support for a stronger Internet password format in Person documents if all servers run Domino 8.0.1 or later.
New ECL options for Java code in XPages	Workstation security options in the execution control list (ECL) can now control execution of Java™ code in XPages applications.

New Domino Designer Client

The Domino Designer 8.5.1 client has been greatly improved with many features requested by customers. Here's a brief overview of some of them:

• Class Editor
  The new class editor allows the developer to see the outline of a library broken down into classes, properties, and methods. The code of each class is displayed as a single paragraph. The properties and methods are shown in alphabetical order.
• Error Reporting
  The LotusScript error handling has been improved. The developer no longer needs to save the code to see if they have errors. As you complete statements, the editor places a red line next to each line containing an error. The editor allows you to save the LotusScript code even though it contains errors. The complete list or errors is displayed in a special error panel for more convenience.
• Class Definitions
  The editor now recognizes custom classes. The developer just needs to hover over any declaration so that a definition of the datatype or class appears as a tool tip. If the class is a custom class, it just displlays information about that class.
• Template and Comment Templates
  There are new Notes Preferences under a section of the Domino Designer for LotusScript Editor. You can now define templates containing code used frequently that can be inserted into your code. Comment Template allow you to define documentation for each type of code module that is then automatically inserted each time you create a new module (class, sub, property get etc.).
  

For more information, consult the Domino Designer wiki (http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/ddwiki.nsf/) or the Domino and Notes Infocenter (http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/domhelp/v8r0/index.jsp).

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