Notes Links Part 2: Document Links
February 15 2005 04:00:00 AM
Add/Read Comments [18]
In my first blog entry about links, Notes
Links Part 1: Database, I introduced
the general concept of "links" in the Notes/Domino world, as
well as talked about Database links. In this entry I will cover Notes
Document Links.
When you create a Database Link, it allows you to easily open a database to its default view. Notes Document Links allow you to get more granular, connecting you to a specific document. Document Links can be used in many ways, here are a few examples:
To create a Document Link
With the document you wish to link to selected (either reading it on screen, or selected at the view level in a database) choose "Edit - Copy As Link - Document Link".
Or, right-click on the document you are reading and choose "Copy as Document Link"
Then in the document you wish to place the link (email, calendar entry, discussion document, etc) you can either choose Edit - Paste, right-click and choose Paste, or press CTRL+V. Notes will create the link, represented as an icon of a document,
,
that the reader than clicks on to open
the document.
As I mentioned with Database Links, personally I like to highlight the link with a little more than just the icon. For example:
>>
<<,
or (
),
or "Click here to open the document ---> 
"
Additional Tip: Create Special Link Message
If your goal is to send a document link via email, Notes provides an automated way of assisting you. With a document selected (either reading it on screen, or selected at the view level in a database) choose "Create - Mail - Special - Link Message" from the Notes menus.
Notes will create a "Link Message" type email, and automatically create the subject line, and add the document link to the body of the new message. Now all you have to do is address the email, and click Send.
Notes document links are a great way to tell people about content that resides in Notes databases. As I've mentioned before, and I am sure your IT department has, instead of sending files to people as attachments in email messages, instead store the files in a central repository like a TeamRoom or Document Library, and then email document links to the content instead.
Happy linking...
When you create a Database Link, it allows you to easily open a database to its default view. Notes Document Links allow you to get more granular, connecting you to a specific document. Document Links can be used in many ways, here are a few examples:
- Emailing a co-worker a link to a document you want them to read/edit. Say you are reading a document stored in a TeamRoom that you think a co-worker should also read. Instead of sending them the entire document, send them a link instead. This way instead of having the "static document" (a snapshot of the document at the time of sending) in their email, they have a link to the "live document" so when they click on the link they will be reading the current content.
- Creating a summary, or "table of contents" to many documents in one convenient place. Let's say you are working on a project which you know has important content stored in several different databases; a TeamRoom has policy documents, a CRM database has links to vendors supplying parts, and a Product Catalog has documents with prices. You can create document (or email) with links to the specific content stores in these various sources, and paste them all into a single document, providing you quick access to the specific content needed for this project.
- When creating a calendar entry for a meeting, rather than typing the agenda into the meeting invite, paste a link to the agenda stored in a TeamRoom instead. Not only does this provide a central repository for the content, it also allows you to change the agenda without having to update the calendar entry and resend it to all the participants.
To create a Document Link
With the document you wish to link to selected (either reading it on screen, or selected at the view level in a database) choose "Edit - Copy As Link - Document Link".
Or, right-click on the document you are reading and choose "Copy as Document Link"
Then in the document you wish to place the link (email, calendar entry, discussion document, etc) you can either choose Edit - Paste, right-click and choose Paste, or press CTRL+V. Notes will create the link, represented as an icon of a document,
As I mentioned with Database Links, personally I like to highlight the link with a little more than just the icon. For example:
>>
Additional Tip: Create Special Link Message
If your goal is to send a document link via email, Notes provides an automated way of assisting you. With a document selected (either reading it on screen, or selected at the view level in a database) choose "Create - Mail - Special - Link Message" from the Notes menus.
Notes will create a "Link Message" type email, and automatically create the subject line, and add the document link to the body of the new message. Now all you have to do is address the email, and click Send.
Notes document links are a great way to tell people about content that resides in Notes databases. As I've mentioned before, and I am sure your IT department has, instead of sending files to people as attachments in email messages, instead store the files in a central repository like a TeamRoom or Document Library, and then email document links to the content instead.
Happy linking...
For people that prefer hotspot links over the "paper icon" links:
Instead of selecting "paste" after the "copy as link" operation, you can select text and create a hotspot using "Create - Hotspot - Link hotspot". This will automatically paste the link into the hotspot.
Correct, I have hotspots planned for an upcoming tip. Not just text, but images, etc.
I find that the Copy Selected as Table to be most helpful for sending multiple links with additional view information attached. Also, are they ever going to update the Link Message form? It looks almost the same as it did in V3. :)
Sean---
Copy Selected as Table is an upcoming tip :-)
Sounds like you're a step ahead of us Alan. I'm working on a FAQ section for my Intranet, and I'm including some/many of yours. Thanks for the great tips!
You're very welcome, I plan on keeping them coming!
That's a good thing, Alan... I have nearly 200 people at our company signed up to get these tips as I load them into a Notes database here. :-)
Alan,
I hope that I did not steal your next article with this post, but have been using Link Messages with applications and found them very usefull if the application is setup correctly.
{ Link }
Chad
No worries Chad, I liked your post. I did have "@Command([Compose]; @MailDbName; "Bookmark")" planned for a future post, but it was going to come after teaching people about customizing the toolbar. I'm also going to post about "link properties". Your post is great, as it helps developers "enhance" their applications.
hi allan
i have an interesting question. one of my users get the word 'link' when she is sent a doclink (instead of the icon), yet the link still works. i have changed the nab entry of the user from mime to notes rich text. is there a setting on the local nab that i can check? is there anything else on the client or mailfile that i can check?
kind regards
Hi Jason, it sounds like the email is being sent to their external internet address, and then it comes back into your company and into their Notes email box. Can you check the address it is being sent to.
Is it possible to create a standard HTML link back to a database document? My exact challenge is that I have a spreadsheet that I send out to my team, and I'd like to include links in the spreadsheet directly to documents that live in our shared team room. I'm trying to make it fool proof. If you have any suggestions, that would be GREAT! thank you!
Hi Mia, yes you can create a URL directly to a Notes document: notes://servername/databaseName/0/documentUNID?OpenDocument
Does anyone know if there is a way to email content into a Lotus Notes TeamRoom?
Thanks,
Mike
Yes, Mike, TeamRooms, and Notes database actually, can be set up to receive email. You just need your Domino Administrator to create a mail-in-dabatase document in the domain's address book, so the main router knows where to send the messages.
Dear Alan, thanks for your tips! I'm trying to work with document links, but in e-mail messages (aka "Memos")... I need create a link of a previously sent Memo in a fresh new Memo. It's the same idea of forwarding a previously sent Memo, but instead of having the message body pasted to the new Memo's body, a document link icon would fit my needs.
If I right-click on the Memo which I want to link to and choose "Copy as Document Link", the pasted link points to the document in my mailbox database, but the recipient of the memo obviously does not have access to it. Is there a way to sent a copy of the memo "inside" the document link, or link to the memo stored in the recipient mailbox database?
I don't think the links will work for documents stored in your email.
Hello Alan,
when I paste a document link (created using the 'Copy as Document Link' option) inside an external program (eg Gmail or notepad), there's no url but in stead i get something like this:
Wekelijkse ICT Vergadering - link naar verslag
<NDL>
<REPLICA C125749C:00461761>
<VIEW OF867962C7:D68029F0-ON85256603:006ADD59>
<NOTE OFB5BC1882:B923D662-ONC12577ED:002EBE50>
<HINT>CN=TVHBE02/O=TVH</HINT>
<REM>Database 'Wekelijkse ICT Vergadering', View 'By category', Document 'link naar verslag'</REM>
</NDL>
How do a get a proper link (style 'notes://...')
Other thing: if I sent a document link from notes then the receivers using Gmail don't have any link in there mail just a string link this:
(Document link: Database
'Wekelijkse ICT Vergadering', View 'By category', Document 'Verslag
teamsmeeting 26/11/2012')
Thanks