Desktop Search and Notes

Anthony Holmes  24 June 2009 10:38:26 PM

When I installed Notes 8.5 on my Macintosh, I kind of assumed that it would match the Windows version in most features, with maybe a few missing. I didn't expect the Mac version of Notes to have features that don't appear in Windows.

Tonight I've discovered another piece of Mac/Notes niceness. You can index Notes databases with the Macintosh search system, Spotlight. The menu option for doing this appears under Actions; Desktop Search...




The Macintosh wins over Windows because the capability is visible and everything is already in place so that it 'just works' once you've completed the Configuration dialog)... But it's worth remembering that it is also possible in Windows to set up Desktop Search so that your Notes' content is included in your PC's more general indexing system.

The (IBM) preferred way seems to be to use Google Desktop together with a plug-in written by IBM and documented in the Lotus Notes 8.5 Information Center here. (The capability also exists with Notes 8.0.)

There is also some Microsoft documentation about making Notes' content visible to Microsoft Windows Desktop Search. The documentation mentions Notes 5-7 and Windows 2000/3/XP. I'm not sure whether it works with Notes 8/8.5.

I wouldn't be surprised if there weren't a couple of other options available from other indexing companies.

I can't see any documentation about a similar capability in Linux (integrating a full Linux system index with Notes' content)... but maybe there is something out there?

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