Which one is better? Lotus or Outlook? Users are complaining about lotus but the boss and programmer hates outlook and will not change over... What can I say, to change their decision... I prefer outlook...

I haven't used Lotus Notes, but I've tried many email clients over the years, and Outlook is my preference. I like that it has a Calendar, Tasks, Contacts, email and journaling all in one. Plus you don't have dozens of different files to maintain; it's all-in-one (for the most part.) Life is more painless for those who are brainless.

I have used both and presently use both but primarily use Lotus Notes 6.5.5. I too like Outlook much more than Lotus Notes/Domino but unfortunately the company has bought into Notes many years ago and are not about to reinvest in Outlook/Exchange. I can not tell you one thing that Notes has over Outlook because I know of none but I can tell you a few that Outlook has over Notes. They both have similar functionalities and once you get used to the differences after using Outlook before Notes then I found Notes is easy enough to work with. My biggest gripe is changing a read email to not read. In Outlook simply right click on it and select the option. In Notes you go to Edit Selected Read Flag. So annoying but if I had never used Outlook then I wouldn't even know the difference. Bryan

Errr, you are asking about email client for private use or business use? For private use, I would take alternative email clients like Thunderbird, TheBat, Mulberry. For business use, I would take Lotus Notes/Domino. And it is totally wrong if you think Lotus Notes/Domino just email client. It is like a huge framework and you can develop database application on it. You can tweak, modify just about almost everything...you can even modify the interface of the mailbox, the behavior, etc. It can be also used for workflow applications, knowledge management system, document management system, enterprise portal, CRM, etc. And its index/search functionalities is one of the best of its breed. But Lotus has one major drawback: its "awkward" interface. But if you used to it then all will be ok :))

Thanks for all the inputs... The problem is we have users on both outlook(.pst) and lotus notes (7.01). All but my boss and the programmer hates Lotus. One of the most complain I get is the filing system. Why can't the folders auto expand when Lotus opens. Another one is how Lotus looks, there's not much room on the interface. Sanjaya, it seems as though you have a solution to this? If not, by going with Outlook, would have an Exchange server benefit us and how?

About Lotus interface: The best way is ask your Lotus admin to do it for you :)) Ok try this: collapse all the folders as you want it to be than in Lotus Notes client go to File >> Database >> Properties >> choose tab "Launch" then check the "Restore as last viewed by user". Otherwise you can try (you should have Lotus Domino Designer installed): auto-expanding folders: Open the database Mail.ntf (template file) than go to View than in the view property and check "Collapse all when database first opened" (It is useful for a new database one as default). Moreover you can play with views and change the colors, behaviors etc as you want :)) --> as I said, please consult with your Lotus admins/developers. Exchange server, first of all the minuses: security issues (viruses, etc). Pluses: it best integrates with other MS Office products and if your office uses SAP too, than there is an integration effort called Mendocino. My advice: go with Lotus, hire the best Lotus admin and developer, starts projects like document management systems, workflows, etc based on Lotus and you will see the ROI will be there very fast :)) and your boss will promote you ;))

I'm not sure why you are having problem with read mail not being marked as read, but here are two thoughts: 1) If you are using the preview pane to read the email at the view level, you can go into "File.Preferences.User Preferences. Under additional options, check the first item, "Mark documents read when opened in the preview pane". 2) Instead of going into the edit menu to mark a document as read (or unread) simply toggle the "Insert" key. For more tips like this, go to http://www.alanlepofsky.com