Spring 2006

http://cit.information.unl.edu

Keeping your Lotus Notes mail database size smaller

helps you and the system
We have all received the messages from the Lotus Notes change the “Soft Delete expire time in hours.” Change to the
management team with requests for users to reduce their mail desired number of hours and click on the OK button. For exam-
database size to help reduce the load on the server. Did you ple, you can set the number of hours to 720. Now when you
know that having a smaller mail database size will also make delete an e-mail note it will be in the Trash folder and stay there
access to your e-mail run more quickly? for 30 days. After 30 days, the note will be automatically de-
The Lotus Notes team recommends that you keep your mail leted from the server.
database size under 200MB. Following are several practical and
easy-to-follow tips for Lotus Notes R6 you can use to check the Reduce the number of attachments you keep on
database size and to reduce its size. the server
Did you know that every time you reply to or forward a note
Check your mail database size with an attached file (or multiple files), the Lotus Notes system
While in your Lotus Notes Inbox, select File > Database > makes new copies of the files to go with the new note? That
Properties from the menu. The means each file has the potential to be stored multiple times on
Database dialog box will open. the server.
Click on the i tab to see the size You can easily avoid creating unnecessary copies of attached
information. The mail database files by selecting the “Reply without Attachments” or “Reply to
sample shown here has 3,026 All without Attachments” or “Forward without Attachments”
documents using 142MB of option.
server disk space. Also, when you receive attached files, don’t keep all of the
files on the server. You can easily store the attached file on
Delete the e-mail you don’t need your local hard drive or departmental file server by using the
Many people keep too much e-mail because they are afraid “Save and Delete” option.
to put something in the Trash that they will need to look at the 1. Right-click the attachment and from the shortcut menu
next day or next week. But, did you know that you can put e- select “Save and Delete All.” If there are several files and
mail in the Trash and keep it there for a few weeks before it you don’t want to save all the files, select those you want.
disappears? You will need to change two settings to make this Then right-click on the group and select “Save and Delete
happen. All Selected.” These options are also available in the At-
First, go to File > Prefer- tachment menu.
ences > User Preferences. In 2. In the “Save Attachment” dialog box, select the drive and
the Basics section of User folder to store the file(s).
Preferences change the “For 3. Click the Save button.
trash... empty trash folder”
4. Your e-mail message screen will now have a text message
setting to Manually (see
in the body: [attachment "file name here.doc" deleted by
sample at right). Click on
Your Name/UNIT/IANR/UNEBR].
the OK button to save the change.
5. Click on the “Save and File” or “Save and Close” button
Next, click on the Tools button in the Action bar and select
(above the mail header
Preferences. In the Prefer-
on the left side) to exit
ences dialog box, the Mail -
this e-mail message.
Basics section will be show-
You can keep or delete the e-mail message as needed.
ing and the last option is to
Don’t keep all your Sent e-mail archiving” check box.
Did you realize Lotus Notes, by default, saves a copy of all All items should be
Sent mail? Do you need to keep a copy of all those quick notes unchecked as shown in
about meeting reminders or notes sent to family? the sample at right.
To change the setting to 3. Click on the Add but-
NOT save your sent mail ton.
automatically, select File > 4. In the Archive Criteria Settings dialog box, enter a “De-
Preferences > User Prefer- scriptive name...”
ences. In the dialog box, This is the name that
select the Mail - General will show in the left
tab on the left. In the panel of your Mail
“Sending - Save mail that database screen. Next, click on the Select Documents
you send” option setting, select “Always prompt.” Each time button.
you send an e-mail, you will be given the choice to save the 5. In the Archive Document Selection dialog box, change the
message or not. “All documents” setting
If you have been using the default setting of saving all of to the “selected by user”
your sent mail, you should now clean-up your Sent mailbox. To option. Then, click on
delete messages from the Sent folder follow these steps. the OK button.
1. In the Sent folder, select multiple messages by clicking in 6. You will return to the Archive Criteria Settings dialog box.
the blank column to the left of each message (a check mark Click on OK to save your settings and close the dialog box.
will appear). 7. You will return to
2. Click on the Delete button in the Action toolbar. the Archive Set-
3. In the “Deleting...” dialog tings dialog box
box, select Delete to delete the which will now
messages and put them in the display the setting
Trash folder. option you just cre-
ated. The sample at
right shows a new
Remember to periodically clean out old e-mail in your Sent setting for “Mrutt.”
folder. Click on the ar-
chive setting name
Use the Archive feature to store old e-mail you just created. Then, click in the “Enable archiving”
If you have old e-mail you are keeping for historical pur- check box to enable your new archive (checkmark should
poses, such as participation in a task force or a project that be visible). Click the OK button to save the Archive setting
ended last year, you should use the Archive feature. Archived and return to you Mail Inbox.
e-mail is moved from the server to your local machine. This 8. From the menu, select Actions > Archive > Archive Now.
will be especially helpful if you have used folders to sort and You will receive a message box asking “Do you wish to
file your e-mail. archive now?” Click on the Yes button to build your local
Archived e-mail is stored on your local hard drive and is archive location.
easily accessed just like e-mail on the server. When you use
Archive, it is important to include the archived mail in your Be patient as it could take a few min-
desktop backup routine. utes to build your archive.
NOTE: The Archive feature as described here is only avail- After the hour glass goes away, your
able in version 6.5 or newer. archive should be built and you will be
able to access it from the Tools option in
Follow these instructions to activate the Archive feature. the left panel. The sample at the right
After the archive setting and location are created, then you can shows an archive named PKParchive.
move selected e-mail notes to your archive. When you click on the archive name to
1. While in the Lotus Notes Mail Inbox, select Actions > open it, you will see that your whole
Archive > Settings on the menu. folder structure in your mail file has been
duplicated in your archive on your local
2. In the Archive Settings dialog box, click the Settings tab on
hard drive. No e-mail has been moved,
the left. The Settings window may be empty or there may
you now need to select the e-mail notes
be old settings. If there are old settings, then disable each
you will move to the archive.
setting by highlighting it and un-checking the “Enable

CIT Information is published by Communications and Information Technology, IANR, University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Newsletter articles may
be copied and distributed for nonprofit, educational purposes only and the source must be acknowledged. Direct all correspondence to the editor,
Pamela K. Peters. E-mail: [email protected]; Phone: (402) 472-5630; FAX: (402) 472-5639.
 To move e-mail to the archive, follow these instructions.
1. Open the folder (or Inbox) that contains the e-mail you
want to archive.
2. Select multiple messages by clicking in the blank column
to the left of each message (a check mark will appear).
3. From the menu select
Actions > Archive >
Archive Selected
Documents. The
Move to Archive
Destination dialog
box will open and
will show the loca-
tion name for your
archive. Click on the
OK button. The
e-mail messages you selected to be archived will now be
moved to the archive on your local PC in the same folder
location as it had on the server.
4. If you have moved all the files in a folder and no longer
need the folder, you may also want to delete the folder from
the mail file structure on the server. Select the folder and
then go the menu Actions > Folder Options > Remove
Folder. You will receive a warning that this cannot be
undone. Click the Yes button to continue and the folder
will be deleted.
You can now view any of the archived messages by simply
opening your Archive location under the Tools option. You can
view, print, reply to, or forward any message just like when it
resided on the Notes mail server.
When you make your backup of your data files, be sure to
back up your archived e-mail. Add this folder to your backup
routine: C:\Program Files\Lotus\Notes\Data\Archive.

CIT Information is published by Communications and Information Technology, IANR, University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Newsletter articles may
be copied and distributed for nonprofit, educational purposes only and the source must be acknowledged. Direct all correspondence to the editor,
Pamela K. Peters. E-mail: [email protected]; Phone: (402) 472-5630; FAX: (402) 472-5639.