Setting the Workspace To Launch as the Home Page in the Notes R5 Client
End-user training is always a concern when upgrading to a new release. For new users, the Notes R5 Client user interface (UI) is more intuitive than that of the Notes R4; however, when upgrading existing users, you might want to give them the familiar R4 Workspace (Desktop.dsk) instead as a starting point. This can help ease adoption of the R5 releases because your users can begin exploring the new features, while still retaining the familiar look-and-feel of Notes.
By customizing the bookmark template (Bookmark.ntf) before rolling out Notes R5 Client, you can set the Workspace to launch as the default Home page. As users become more comfortable with the new interface, they can choose their own Home page by using the mouse to right-click a bookmark entry and selecting 'Set Bookmark as Home Page'. The Welcome database is located in the Favorites bookmark folder, or they can choose any other database as their launch option.
If you choose not to customize the template for all users, individuals can set the Workspace as the Home Page themselves by simply clicking the Databases bookmark folder on the Bookmark bar (far left hand side of the screen), right-clicking the Workspace entry and selecting 'Set Bookmark as Home Page'.
To customize the Bookmark.ntf to launch the Workspace as the default Home page for all users:
1. Launch Domino R5 Designer client.
2. Open Bookmark.ntf.
3. Select Outlines.
4. Edit the UserBookmarkOrder outline. Note: This outline is called UserBookmarkOrderTemplate in more recent 5.x releases.
5. Expand the Databases outline entry.
6. Select the Workspace entry.
7. Open the Outline Entry properties box and go to the hide-when tab (the shade).
8. Hold down the SHIFT key and click the 'Hide outline entry from' property labelled 'Notes 4.6 or later'.
9. Release the SHIFT key .
10. Unclick the hide when property 'Notes 4.6 or later'.
When installing the Notes R5 Client, substitute your modified Bookmark.ntf for the default Bookmark.ntf template. When the user launches Notes for the first time, it will still create the Bookmarks database (Bookmark.nsf) and copy all their Workspace icons into Bookmark folders, but instead of seeing the Welcome page, they will see the Workspace icons.
Note: If you are upgrading an existing Notes R5 Client install, be sure to remove/rename the existing Bookmark.nsf and Bookmark.ntf before performing the upgrade.
An important note: After the first setup of the bookmarks from the Desktop.dsk, there is no further synchronization between the two. Users can resync newly added icons into Bookmark folders by closing Notes, deleting the Bookmark.nsf file and restarting Notes. However, it is a one-way only process. Changes made directly to the Bookmark folders cannot be synchronized with the Desktop5.dsk. For this reason, users should be encouraged to become comfortable with and move to the new Bookmarks interface as quickly as possible.
If users want to eventually switch from this default setup of having the Workspace set as the Home Page, they can do either of the following:
- To set the Home Page back to the default Welcome page, click the Favorites folder on the Bookmark bar, and right-click the Welcome bookmark. In the menu which appears, select 'Set Bookmark as Home Page'. Select OK to the message, "Set 'Welcome' as current home page?"
or
- To set the Home Page to anything such as a particular database, locate its bookmark in the Bookmark bar, right-click it, and select 'Set Bookmark as Home Page' in the menu which appears.
Enhancement requests, to be able to easily see what the current default home page is in Bookmark.nsf database (spr #MHAC47FTTX), and also to more easily customize the Bookmark.ntf template to launch the Workspace as the default Home page for all users (spr #MHAC47FTXD), have been submitted to Lotus Quality Engineering.
