INotes
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[edit] Using iNotes
iNotes is a web-based version of Lotus Notes. Many districts are using iNotes for their faculty and staff as it can be accessed from any computer with Internet access.
[edit] Logging In
- Open up Internet Explorer or another web browser.
- Type into the address/URL line: http://notes.monroe.edu
- Click on the Sign On Monroe Portal button.
At this point you will be at the Monroe Domino web page which requires yo to login to your Lotus Notes account.
Your Lotus Notes username is your first name and last name ex. John Smith and your password is defined by you, unless this is a new account. Once you have enter this information you will need to click on the Access Server button.
At this point if you have never used iNotes before you will have the ability to set up your Welcome page. If you have used iNotes before and want to see a bit of what you can do with the Welcome page you might want to try the following.
[edit] Welcome Page Set Up
When you first login to iNotes you can set parameters so that each time you login you will be able to get a quick view of your email and day. If this is not your first time, but you would like to change your work space you will to simply click the Edit layout link. There are seven different layouts that you can choose from, as well as a variety of items to show, such as mail, calendars, and quick links.
If you are really just using iNotes for some basic email features and To Do lists these are probably what you would like to see when you enter your iNotes account. Selecting a one, two, three, or four frame layout will determine how much information you will see when your open iNotes.
From your Welcome page you can now navigate to the features that you use the most, simply clicking on the title of the section or one of the tabs will take you directly to the location you need to access, whether it is emails, a calendar, or a list of to dos.
[edit] Working with E-mail
iNotes is a bit different that Outlook or other email clients that you may have used personally. iNotes is closer to a hotmail account. The messages that you create and send are done within your web browser.
In iNotes you will notice that there are a series of tabs that allow you to move between the different functions within Lotus Notes. Each of these tabs gives you the specific functions of the area. For example all the tools related to sending and receiving are grouped within the mail tab.
By clicking on the down arrow to the right of the word Mail you will have a list of actions that you can perform.
There are two options that right off the bat you will want to know about. The first is the New Message option, and the other is the New Folder option.
[edit] Creating New Messages
Most of the time that you will be using iNotes is for dealing with your email. To create a new email you will want to select the New Message option from the mail drop down menu. Once you have done this it will open a new window, where you will be composing your email. 
If you have ever composed an email you will notice that most of the fields are similar to other email services. There is a To, CC (carbon copy), and a BCC (blind carbon copy) area for contacts email addresses. One of the confusing things however is how to address emails to someone within iNotes. Luckily there is an address book of all the school districts within Monroe #1 BOCES in iNotes, and it is pretty easy to use.
To use the address book you can simply click on the To: button which will open a new window, which at the top of the window is the different address books under the Search In drop down. If you are looking for someone in your school district you will want to select the Monroe Address book.
Once you have addressed your email to the correct people, note that there are sometimes similar names in the address books, it is time to finish writing the email and send it along. However sometimes there are attachments that you may want to add to the email.
To do this at the bottom of your email there is an area called Attachments, which allows you to browse for a file on your computer and add it to your email. There are usually two steps to this process. The first is to browse for the file and then upload the file. The attachments section is usually minimized at the bottom of the email, if you click on the word attachment it will open up the space that allows you to add the information.
The next piece is to actually find and add the file to your email. To do this you will want to click on the little folder icon next to the words add attachments, which will open a new window showing the files that you have on your computer. By browsing to the file you want to attach and clicking the open button you will attach the file.
Once you have completed your email, all that is left to do is send it. However once you hit the send button your email is gone. So you may want to spell check it first, which you can do by simply clicking the spell check button on the tool bar.
[edit] Replying to Emails
When you receive an email you will notice that it comes up as Red when it is new, or unread. By double clicking on the email within the mail view you will open up the message, where you can read it and process it as you decide. By default Notes opens up a tool bar for any of the emails that you want to reply to.
If it is something that can be replied to and done so quickly you can simply click on the Reply button which will open a list of option on how to reply. A good idea when replying is to choose Reply with History which enables you to keep track of the conversation over time. It is also usually a good idea to Reply to All with History if there is more then one person in on the email. This way all parties know what is going on.
Another option you may use while processing an email is to choose to forward it. This would be when you are delegating the email to someone else, or informing them of something that is happening. To do this you will simply want to click on the Forward button, which will create a new memo for you with the original information below. It is good practice to let someone know why they are being forwarded this information.
There are two other options that you may want to use as you deal with emails. One is to create a Follow Up action and the other is to Copy Into a New Calendar Entry or a New To Do. Really the main difference between all of these is your own way of work.
[edit] Follow Up
To create a follow up action you will want to simply click on the Follow Up link which gives you the ability to add follow up flags where you can set up a time and follow up activity for the email. This will create an alarm for the follow up if you so choose.
[edit] Copy Into
The follow up flag is helpful if you are disciplined enough to set up time to deal with them. There is another way to deal with this which is to copy emails into calendar entries which will allow you to set the amount of time to work on that activity. For example if an email is asking me to spend X day at Y time with a teacher what I tend to do is go to Tools > Copy into New Calendar Entry which allows me to specify the time and date that I need to follow up on this. I also include the actions within it so that I know what I need to do in relation to the email.
You can also choose to Copy into a New To Do which allows you to create a To Do list if yo are more apt to use this.
[edit] Organizing Your Emails
Something that is helpful when dealing with email is being able to place things in folders. To do this you will need to be in your inbox view where you will click on the New menu bar, which brings up a menu showing what new items you can create. The last one is for a Folder by clicking on this you will open a window that looks like this.
Once you enter a name for the folder and click OK you will have a new folder created. Now you can create a folder to keep all of the emails from your supervisor.
[edit] Address Book
One of the great things about iNotes is that you have your own address book as well as the ability to create groups from the Monroe address book.
[edit] Add Contacts
To access your address book you will want to click on the Contacts tab, which will bring you to your own address book. Under the Contacts tab this is a list of different things that you can do while in your address book. The two most significant are the New Contact form and New Group form. By clicking on a new contact you will be able to add additional people to your emails address book, this however doesn't affect the Monroe address book and will only appear in your personal address book. Simply fill in the information in the Contact Form and click Save & Close and you will have added the address to your book.
[edit] Add Groups
Another great use of the address book is that you can actually create a set of groups that allows you to quickly email people. For example if I was the coordinator of a department I would create a group called Department that listed all of the people in my department so I could quickly email everyone.
To do this click on the New link while you are in your address book view and choose New Email Group. This will bring up a window where you will enter the name of the group, a description of the group, and the members.
Simply fill in the name and description field and then by clicking on the Members button you will be able to use the address book to create a group. Once you are done click on Save & Close to save the group.
Now you should have a group in your email address book that is called Department, which by adding them to the TO: field in your email will address your entire group.
[edit] Working with Calendar
Some people live and die by their calendars, other iNotes users don't worry about them at all. Either way it might be helpful if you understood a few different things about the Calendar.
The iNotes calendar for most teachers isn't useful since your day runs via the class schedule, not necessarily meeting times. However some teachers work with both a class schedule as well as meeting times, or perhaps you'd like to be able to put your doctors appointments in your calendar. All this can be done within iNotes Calendar functions.
When you click on the Calendar tab in your iNotes you will get a list of different views and functions that you can use with your calendar.
Just like a regular day planner iNotes will show you a Day, Week, Month, and Year views. This way you can a day quickly or see out as far as you need. Each day is broken into the hours and allows you to make appointments and hold meetings with others in your organization.
- Calendar views, Calendar, Meeting, Group Calendars
- Navigating
- Setting calendar preferences
- Create a new entry
- Appointment
- Meeting
- Anniversary
- Reminder
- All Day Event
- Detail settings for each type of event, including resources
- Printing
[edit] Additional Help Information
If you are looking for help with Lotus Notes you may want to take a look at the documentation that is provided from the Monroe Domino Cooperative.
