Using Lotus Notes Data links (e.g. DocLink, DatabaseLink, etc.) with Outlook 2007 (Part 2 of 2)

Part 1 of this post was about setting the scene on using Notes Data Link with Outlook 2007. Part 2 is about possible solution.

There are several solutions available to convert NDL to mail attachment, Notes url or Web url. These solutions range from keeping and configuring some Lotus Notes Domino servers to route mail to Exchange 2007, using ISV tool such as Genii Software CoexLinks or Binary Tree Zapp to custom development.

The Table below: Pros and Cons of Notes Data Link remediation solutions highlights the various solutions available, their capability in terms of NDL conversion, the cases they can address and their pros and cons.

	Solution 1	Genii Software CoexLinks™ 1
Cases to address	Notes workflow applications that send mails with NDL	Convert NDL to a mail attachment Convert NDL to a Notes url Convert NDL to a web url
	Notes mail users sending mail with NDL to Outlook users	Convert NDL to a mail attachment Convert NDL to a Notes url Convert NDL to a web url
	Outlook users sending mail with NDL	N/A
	Pros (+) and Cons (-)	(+) No need to modify application design (+) No change management required (-) Requires additional licenses

 

	Solution 2	Configure Domino mail servers to route mails to Exchange 2007 using SMTP2
Cases to address	Notes workflow applications that send mails with NDL	Convert NDL to a Notes url
	Notes mail users sending mail with NDL to Outlook users	Convert NDL to a Notes url
	Outlook users sending mail with NDL	N/A
	Pros (+) and Cons (-)	(+) OOB conversion of NDL to Notes URL

 

	Solution 3	Application redesign
Cases to address	Notes workflow applications that send mails with NDL	Convert NDL to a mail attachment Convert NDL to a Notes url Convert NDL to a web url
	Notes mail users sending mail with NDL to Outlook users	N/A
	Outlook users sending mail with NDL	N/A
	Pros (+) and Cons (-)	(+) No need for third party software (-) Development effort

 

	Solution 4	Develop an Outlook add-in3
Cases to address	Notes workflow applications that send mails with NDL	N/A
	Notes mail users sending mail with NDL to Outlook users	N/A
	Outlook users sending mail with NDL	Convert NDL to a mail attachment Convert NDL to a Notes url
	Pros (+) and Cons (-)	(+) Enable Outlook users to embed NDL in Outlook mail (-) Development effort required

¹CoexLinks is a specialized software extension that runs on Lotus Domino server using IBM’s “extension manager” technology to allow interception and modification of mail whether it is added to the mail system on that server or simply routed through the server. No scripts or agents are required.

CoexLinks works by intercepting mail routed through the Domino server and converting any doclinks in the body of the mail to either URL links or NDL file attachments. No scripts or agents are required. Mail recipients are then able to access the targeted Notes resource as easily as if they had received the mail in Lotus Notes by either clicking on the URL link or launching the attached NDL file. URL links may be Notes URLs, which will access the targeted document in the Notes client, or Web URLs, which will access the targeted document in a Web browser. CoexLinks supports all Lotus Notes doclink types (e.g., document links, view links and database links, as well as link hotspots, which are doclinks that appear as underlined text).

²When you send a message in Notes format to an Internet user, Lotus Domino 6 converts the message to MIME for that user. It is possible to specify how Domino structures the MIME content of messages when converting Notes rich-text messages before sending them over SMTP (Specifying inbound and outbound MIME conversion options). By choosing “Convert from Notes to Plain Text and HTML”, Lotus Notes converts document links to Notes URLs.

³The primary way to add functionality to Outlook is to develop a COM add-in that can be installed on each user's machine. COM add-ins are the best way to distribute code that you may have originally created or prototyped in Outlook VBA . They are typically used to:

¾ Add toolbar buttons to Outlook Explorer and Inspector windows and procedures to go with them

¾ Respond to events from the Outlook Application object, etc.