Editing HCL Notes (section)

===Comparison with other email clients===
Notes was designed as a collaborative application platform where email was just one of numerous applications that ran in the Notes client software. The Notes client was also designed to run on multiple platforms including [[Windows]], [[OS/2]], [[classic Mac OS]], SCO Open Desktop UNIX, and Linux. These two factors have resulted in the user interface containing some differences from applications that only run on Windows. Furthermore, these differences have often remained in the product to retain backward compatibility with earlier releases, instead of conforming to updated Windows UI standards. The following are some of these differences.
* Properties dialog boxes for formatting text, hyperlinks and other rich-text information can remain open after a user makes changes to selected text. This provides flexibility to select new text and apply other formatting without closing the dialog box, selecting new text and opening a new format dialog box. Almost all other Windows applications require the user to close the dialog box, select new text, then open a new dialog box for formatting/changes.
* Properties dialog boxes also automatically recognize the type of text selected and display appropriate selections (for instance, a hyperlink properties box).
* Users can format tables as tabbed interfaces as part of form design (for applications) or within mail messages (or in rich-text fields in applications). This provides users the ability to provide tab-style organization to documents, similar to popular tab navigation in most web portals, etc.
* End-users can readily insert links to Notes applications, Notes views or other Notes documents into Notes documents.
* Deleting a document (or email) will delete it from every folder in which it appears, since the folders simply contain links to the same back-end document. Some other email clients only delete the email from the current folder; if the email appears in other folders it is left alone, requiring the user to hunt through multiple folders in order to completely delete a message. In Notes, clicking on "Remove from Folder" will remove the document only from that folder leaving all other instances intact.
* The ''All Documents'' and ''Sent'' "views" differ from other collections of documents known as "folders" and exhibit different behaviors. Specifically, mail cannot be dragged out of them, and so removed from those views; the email can only be "copied" from them. This is because these are ''views'', and their membership indexes are maintained according to characteristics of the documents contained in them, rather than based on user interaction as is the case for a ''folder''. This technical difference can be baffling to users, in environments where no training is given. ''All Documents'' contain all of the documents in a mailbox, no matter which folder it is in. The only way to remove something from ''All Documents'' is to delete it outright.

Lotus Notes 7 and older versions had more differences, which were removed from subsequent releases:
* Users select a "New Memo" to send an email, rather than "New Mail" or "New Message". (Notes 8 calls the command "New Message")
* To select multiple documents in a Notes view, one drags one's mouse next to the documents to select, rather than using {{keypress|⇧ Shift}}+single click. (Notes 8 uses keypress conventions.)
* The searching function offers a "phrase search", rather than the more common "or search", and Notes requires users to spell out [[Boolean]] conditions in search-strings. As a result, users must search for "delete AND folder" in order to find help text that contains the phrase "delete a folder". Searching for "delete folder" does not yield the desired result. (Notes 8 uses or-search conventions.)

Lotus Notes 8.0 (released in 2007) became the first version to employ a dedicated user-experience team,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/community/blogs/marybeth/entry/welcome_to_my_design_blog |title=Welcome to my "design blog"! |author=Mary Raven |publisher=IBM |date=April 18, 2006 |access-date=September 29, 2016}}</ref> resulting in changes in the IBM Notes client experience in the primary and new notes user interface. This new interface runs in the open source [[Eclipse (software)|Eclipse]] Framework, which is a project started by IBM, opening up more application development opportunities through the use of Eclipse plug-ins. The new interface provides many new user interface features and the ability to include user-selected applications/applets in small panes in the interface. Lotus Notes 8.0 also included a new email interface / design to match the new Lotus Notes 8.0 eclipse based interface. Eclipse is a Java framework and allows IBM to port Notes to other platforms rapidly. An issue with Eclipse and therefore Notes 8.0 is the applications start-up and user-interaction speed. Lotus Notes 8.5 sped up the application and the increase in general specification of PCs means this is less of an issue.

IBM Notes 9 continued the evolution of the user interface to more closely align with modern application interfaces found in many commercial packaged or web-based software. Currently, the software still does not have an auto-correct option - or even ability - to reverse accidental use of caps lock.

Domino is now running on the Eclipse platform and offers many new development environments and tools such as XPages.<ref>{{Cite web
| url = http://www.lifeit.co.uk/infrastructure/domino/training/
| title = Lotus Notes & Domino Training - Life IT
| website = www.lifeit.co.uk
| access-date = 2016-02-26
}}</ref>

For lower spec PCs, a new version of the old interface is still provided albeit as it is the old interface many of the new features are not available and the email user interface reverts to the Notes 7.x style.

This new user experience builds on Notes 6.5 (released in 2003), which upgraded the email client, previously regarded by many as the product's [[Achilles heel]]. Features added at that time included:
* drag and drop of folders
* replication of unread marks between servers
* follow-up flags
* reply and forward indicators on emails
* ability to edit an attachment and save the changes back to an email id