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When setting up the upcoming "Getting Things Done with Lotus Notes" webinars with special guest presenter David Allen, I ran into an interesting issue with GoToMeeting. They include an "Add to Outlook calendar" link on the webpage that appears after registering for a webinar, and we can't remove the link or change it to say Lotus Notes. Kinda embarrassing for Notes events like these.

Eric Mack then blogged twice about this on the Notes on Productivity blog.

I sent in a help request to GoToMeeting to see if anything could be done to about this Outlook-gate issue. Their help team recently responded with this:

There is no way to remove that option. Outlook is the default option because of its widespread use.

Ok, not surprising and even understandable. I'd bet other virtual meeting software companies do the same thing.

It's unfortunate, though, because it's confusing for our webinar attendees and it looks pretty bad when running Lotus Notes events.

So for everyone asking about the Add to Outlook link on our webinar registration forms, we know. :-) We can't change it. But maybe you can write to GoToMeeting and show that there are a lot of Notes users out there who would appreciate some consideration.

P.S. Oh, and you should know that if you actually click the "Add to Outlook" link, it's really just an .ics file that can be imported into your Notes 8 calendar. So no harm in clicking that link...

I was recently asked by a customer:

I normally use email folders for storing emails that I need to reference later. Should I be using the eProductivity Reference Database instead? What's the advantage?

The Reference Database is a separate - and free! - eProductivity application designed to store non-actionable reference materials.

While you can also use email folders for storing non-actionable materials, the Reference Database offers a number of advantages.

First, getting items out of your Lotus Notes mail file will speed it up and also help you to avoid mail file size quotas. For performance reasons, you don't want to store large file attachments (pictures, etc) in your mail file unless you have to. The Reference Database gives a great storage ground for these files.

Secondly, the Reference Database offers far more capabilities than email folders. You can categorize and tag your entries more effectively. You can create checklists and daily log files with datestamps. And, you can utilize the Quick Capture/Quick Paste functionality which helps if you find yourself typing the same things over and over again.

I personally use email folders to just store copies of emails that I might need someday in the future, but don't actively intend to come back to. I use the Reference Database to store all the items that I need to access regularly e.g. ideas for future blog posts, travel packing lists, monthly calls lists, etc.

Download the Reference Database

This week's tip shows shows how to customize your eProductivity project types and action contexts to suit the way you work.

Project Types and Action Contexts are the eProductivity "buckets" into which you classify your work. One such bucket might be "Calls", which lists the phone calls you need to make.This follows the GTD principle of defining your work into the context in which it can actually be done. If you have a phone handy and a "Calls" list to plow through, defining your work this way is very productive.

This is Part 1 in a mini-series, so subscribe to Weekly Tips to ensure you don't miss the other parts.

To see more tips, take a look at the Weekly Tip Archive.

People frequently ask me how eProductivity handles email attachments. When people try to drag-and-drop emails into an eProductivity project/action/calendar entry, the attachment seems to disappear.

While the attachment is still there - it's located inside the linked email if you open the email up - the attachment is more hidden than some might like. You might want the attachment to be immediately available once you open up the project/action/calendar entry.

Well, as with many things in eProductivity, "there's a preference option for that". We like customizable software, and from the feedback we get, so do you.

So to control this email attachment option, go inside the eProductivity preferences and look for the following section:

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Oh, and if you're wondering how to get into the eProductivity preferences, click on the big eProductivity button inside the software and locate the "Preferences..." menu item.

This week's eProductivity Tips newsletter featured a much closer look at the powerful Categorized Views and Advanced Views options inside of eProductivity. These views allow you to create highly effective lists inside of eProductivity, and customize everything according to your desired work style.

Because this was a close look at vital eProductivity features, I thought it was well worthwhile to repost here. Enjoy!

And go sign up for the Tips newsletter while you're at it!

Learn how to customize your eProductivity Navigator by adding predefined and custom contexts.

eProductivity is highly customizable, and it can be setup for the way you work best. Stay tuned, more videos that teach you how to do this are on the way.

Our popular webinar series is continuing this Thursday, December 10th at 10:00am PST. This will be one of the last webinars for the 2009 year, since we'll be stopping presentations for the Christmas holiday season.

Again, webinars are completely free and open to anyone. If you'd like to know more about eProductivity and what it can do for you, we'd love to have you attend. Even better, bring your eProductivity questions and ask them live. You'll get answers straight from eProductivity experts and you'll benefit the other attendees as well.

To learn more and register, go here: www.eProductivity.com/webinars.

Thanks again to everyone who has attended a previous webinar! Your active participation has helped to make them successful.

To everyone who hasn't yet attended...we hope to see you soon. :)

Need some guidance on using eProductivity more effectively?

I recommend subscribing to the eProductivity Weekly Tips newsletter. This free email newsletter offers easily digestible tips & tricks on using the various eProductivity features. It's a pretty convenient way to learn more about the software.

Go here for an sample newsletter from the past month.

Go here to subscribe.

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An eProductivity customer asked:

I am being upgraded by my company from Notes version 7 to Notes version 8.5. How will this affect my eProductivity software?

The main thing you need to know is that eProductivity is not likely not to work immediately following the upgrade. To restore it to working order, you'll need to re-apply the eProductivity template, which is thankfully a fast and painless process.

When your Notes administrators upgrades you to Notes 8.5, they will usually do two things:

1. Upgrade your Lotus Notes software
2. Replace your mail template design with the new Notes 8.5 template.

This second step will break the functionality of eProductivity. Your eProductivity navigator and contexts will not appear after the upgrade and the action buttons in your folders may not work.

The good news is that you won't lose your projects or actions or linking. You just won't see them until you re-apply the eProductivity template to your mail file. The re-application process is quick and easy - it's the same process you went through when you installed eProductivity for the first time.

So, following the upgrade to Notes 8.5, you'll likely need to follow these steps to get back your eProductivity functionality.

Paul updated his Reference Tutorial video with this additional clip. It shows how to use the Reference Database's Quick Paste feature. Very handy when you're dealing with repetitious information!

We've been offering free public webinars for a few weeks now. They've definitely been a success and we've received great feedback from attendees. Thanks everyone! However, if you didn't live in the Americas, our session times may have been a little inconvenient.

That is no longer the case. We're now offering webinars at more international-friendly times.

Anyone located overseas should appreciate the changes. Although we think an Australian getting up for a 3:00am Saturday morning webinar shows great dedication - and we really appreciate it! - we want to help you get your beauty sleep too.

See our eProductivity Webinars page for more details on the new times.

You should attend an eProductivity webinar if:
• You're curious how eProductivity might benefit you
• You want a live demonstration of eProductivity's features
• You want tips and best practices for using eProductivity
• You want to learn the foundational ideas of GTD

Come by and join us!

A customer recently asked:

How can I create a linked Waiting For action item after sending an email? I'm about to send off an email to a colleague that requires them to respond and I don't want to forget.

Geat question. The answer is, eProductivity has many powerful linking options.

Go through the screenshots below to learn how to create a linked Waiting For action item after sending off an email.

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Step 1:

Step 2:

Step 2.5:

Send the email. :)

Step 3:

Step 4:

There you go! Hope it helps to save you time and eliminates the unproductive extra clicks required to manually link the email to a new Waiting For.

Sidebar: As I've been mentioning, we're creating more training resources for our customers, including our free public webinars that are now available. If you have webinar topics that you want covered, or if you have a time slot (e.g. Tuesdays at 1:00pm) that you would really like to see webinars held at, please let us know. We value your feedback and suggestions.

Continuing on my recent theme of taking you deeper inside of eProductivity's features, I'd like to give a brief mention to Categorized Views.

Categorized Views allow you to visually create a project / subproject hierarchy inside of eProductivity.

Continue Reading "Got complex projects? Need some control?" »

The eProductivity Today view. Your dashboard for getting a handle on your day's priorities. But how does the Today view actually work?

I think we get this question frequently for two reasons. One, because people want to use the Today view to track all their due dates so that nothing urgent slips through the cracks. Two, because the process by which items appear on the Today view can seem a little magical at first.

Continue Reading "How to use the 'Today' view " »