Notes Links Part 1: General Overview and Database
February 9 2005 05:00:00 AM
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Today's tip is the first in a series about
"Notes links". To begin, think about the way you surf the
web and share information you find. Lets say you want to show someone
a new story on the IBM home page. You don't have to copy the page
into email and send it to them, instead you can send them a URL link such
as: http://www.ibm.com, which they click on and are then taken directly
to the page.
The same thing can be done to link to Lotus Notes/Domino resources.
Instead of using your email as a "delivery mechanism for the actual content", you can send other users links to Discussion databases, TeamRooms, Document Libraries, HelpDesk applications, CRM databases, Product Catalogs, Knowledge Bases, or any other Notes application your company uses!
There are four types of Notes links, each taking you to a different level of content:
1. database
2. document
3. view
4. anchor
In today tip I'll discuss database links.
Say your company has a database on a server which functions as a repository for important content. It might have news items, technical documents, marketing material, customer information, product specifications, etc. If you want to make another user aware of this database you can simply email them a link. There are several ways to do this:
If you use the Notes Workspace, you can right click on a database and choose "Database - Copy as Link"
If you prefer to use the Notes menus, with the database selected on your Workspace you would choose "Edit - Copy As Link - Database Link".In the graphic below you can see that Anchor, Document, and View are greyed out. If you are already inside the database you wish to link to (as opposed to just selecting it from your Workspace) these options will be available, but I am going to discuss them in upcoming tips.
If you use Notes Bookmarks instead of the Workplace, the technique is similar to the one above. You right click on the bookmark and choose "Database - Copy as Link"
Regardless of which "copy" method you choose, you then "paste" the database link into either an email message, a calendar entry, a document in a database, etc. the same way. You can either press CTRL + V on your keyboard, right click with your mouse and choose "Paste", or from the Notes menu choose "Edit - Paste". Either way Notes will insert a little icon of a book representing the database link:
Personally I like to make the links stand out a bit more, so I type some addition characters near the links such as:
Now users can click on the link and be taken directly to the database.
Advanced tip!!!
Since I mentioned using drag and drop in Notes as one of my previous tips, I thought I would show you that drag and drop can also be used to quickly create links, rather than using the various two step copy and paste processes mentioned above.
Either from your Workspace or from Bookmarks, simply select the database you want to link to, and drag it onto the Notes Window Tab for the item where you want to create the link (email, calendar entry, document). Without releasing the mouse button, hover over "New Memo" (as an example) for a moment, and that document will become active. Then drag the mouse to the position in the document where you want the link to be, and release the button, this will automatically create (similar to paste) the link for you. Give it a try!
or
The same thing can be done to link to Lotus Notes/Domino resources.
Instead of using your email as a "delivery mechanism for the actual content", you can send other users links to Discussion databases, TeamRooms, Document Libraries, HelpDesk applications, CRM databases, Product Catalogs, Knowledge Bases, or any other Notes application your company uses!
There are four types of Notes links, each taking you to a different level of content:
1. database
2. document
3. view
4. anchor
In today tip I'll discuss database links.
Say your company has a database on a server which functions as a repository for important content. It might have news items, technical documents, marketing material, customer information, product specifications, etc. If you want to make another user aware of this database you can simply email them a link. There are several ways to do this:
If you use the Notes Workspace, you can right click on a database and choose "Database - Copy as Link"
If you prefer to use the Notes menus, with the database selected on your Workspace you would choose "Edit - Copy As Link - Database Link".In the graphic below you can see that Anchor, Document, and View are greyed out. If you are already inside the database you wish to link to (as opposed to just selecting it from your Workspace) these options will be available, but I am going to discuss them in upcoming tips.
If you use Notes Bookmarks instead of the Workplace, the technique is similar to the one above. You right click on the bookmark and choose "Database - Copy as Link"
Regardless of which "copy" method you choose, you then "paste" the database link into either an email message, a calendar entry, a document in a database, etc. the same way. You can either press CTRL + V on your keyboard, right click with your mouse and choose "Paste", or from the Notes menu choose "Edit - Paste". Either way Notes will insert a little icon of a book representing the database link:
Personally I like to make the links stand out a bit more, so I type some addition characters near the links such as:
Now users can click on the link and be taken directly to the database.
Advanced tip!!!
Since I mentioned using drag and drop in Notes as one of my previous tips, I thought I would show you that drag and drop can also be used to quickly create links, rather than using the various two step copy and paste processes mentioned above.
Either from your Workspace or from Bookmarks, simply select the database you want to link to, and drag it onto the Notes Window Tab for the item where you want to create the link (email, calendar entry, document). Without releasing the mouse button, hover over "New Memo" (as an example) for a moment, and that document will become active. Then drag the mouse to the position in the document where you want the link to be, and release the button, this will automatically create (similar to paste) the link for you. Give it a try!
