About working offline

When you are not connected to a network, you can work with your IBM® iNotes® mail, calendar, and contacts offline and perform most online mail tasks.

When you work offline, you work with a subscription, which is a local copy of your mail file. You can use this local mail file to perform tasks such as creating messages and calendar entries, and responding to email. Messages that you send while working offline appear in the Sent view, even though you have not yet connected to your mail server to send and receive new mail.

When you work online again, you synchronize the local copy of your mail with your mail file on the server so that each mail file receives the latest updates and changes from the other mail file. When you synchronize, mail you composed and queued for sending while offline is sent. Mail you received in the server copy of your mail file is added to the local copy of your mail file.

Make sure you have a Notes ID

You must have an IBM Notes® ID to work offline. Depending on how your account is set up, you may already have a Notes ID (usually name.id) attached to your mail file. If you also use the IBM Notes client, your Notes ID file is usually stored in the notes/data directory. To see if you have a Notes ID stored in your mail file, click the arrow next to your name and select Preferences. From the Security preferences, check whether your mail file contains a Notes ID. If it does not, you can import it into your mail file by clicking Import Notes ID.

Your administrator may have configured IBM Domino® Off-Line Services (DOLS) to generate a Notes ID dynamically as needed. If you are unsure about a Notes ID, see your administrator.

Set Offline preferences

Offline preferences apply to the local copy of your mail file, and affect how you work offline. Set Offline preferences before you install an offline subscription. If you change any of the Offline preferences after you have installed your subscription, you must reinstall it for the changes to take effect.
Important: To safeguard your offline mail, make sure that you select the preference Encrypt mail file locally. You must set this preference before you install a subscription. You cannot encrypt your mail file after you install it.

To set your Offline preferences, complete the task Setting Offline preferences.

Install a subscription plugin

After you have made sure that you have a copy of your Notes ID file, and that you have set Offline preferences, you are ready to install the subscription management software and a subscription (local copy) of your mail file. There are two different tools you can use to manage your mail file subscription, depending on your operating system:
  • Windows:IBM Domino Sync Manager
  • Linux: IBM iNotes Sync
To install one of these subscriptions, complete the task Installing a subscription of your mail.