Editing HCL Notes (section)

==Reception==
Publications such as ''[[The Guardian]]'' in 2006 have criticized earlier versions of Lotus Notes for having an "unintuitive [user] interface" and cite widespread dissatisfaction with the [[usability]] of the client software. ''The Guardian'' indicated that Notes has not necessarily suffered as a result of this dissatisfaction due to the fact that "the people who choose [enterprise software] tend not to be the ones who use it."<ref>{{cite news | url = http://technology.guardian.co.uk/weekly/story/0,,1705106,00.html
 | title = Survival of the unfittest
 |work=The Guardian |location=London | date = 2006-02-09
| first=Charles
| last=Arthur
}}</ref>

Earlier versions of Notes have also been criticized for violating an important usability best practice that suggests a consistent UI is often better than custom alternative. Software written for a particular [[operating system]] should follow that particular OS's [[user interface]] style guide. Not following those style guides can confuse users. A notable example is F5 keyboard shortcut, which is used to refresh window contents in Microsoft Windows. Pressing F5 in Lotus Notes before release 8.0 caused it to lock screen. Since this was a major point of criticism this was changed in release 8.0. Old versions did not support proportional scrollbars (which give the user an idea of how long the document is, relative to the portion being viewed).<ref>{{cite web
 |url = http://lotusnotessucks.4t.com/lnEx29.html
 |title = Lotus Notes Sucks
 |url-status = dead
 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120422075347/http://lotusnotessucks.4t.com/lnEx29.html
 |archive-date = 2012-04-22
}}</ref> Proportional scroll bars were only introduced in Notes 8.<ref>{{cite web
 | url = http://www.edbrill.com/ebrill/edbrill.nsf/dx/updated-lotus-notes-hannover-screenshots#01252006042825PMPSCUCT.htm
 | title = Updated Lotus Notes "Hannover" screenshots (comment)
 | access-date = January 20, 2012
 | archive-date = November 1, 2011
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111101165408/http://edbrill.com/ebrill/edbrill.nsf/dx/updated-lotus-notes-hannover-screenshots#01252006042825PMPSCUCT.htm
 | url-status = dead
}}</ref>

Older versions of Notes also suffered from similar user interaction choices, many of which were also corrected in subsequent releases. One example that was corrected in Release 8.5: In earlier versions the out-of-office agent needed to be manually enabled when leaving and disabled when coming back, even if start and end date have been set. As of Release 8.5 the out-of-office notification now automatically shuts off without a need for a manual disable.

Unlike some other e-mail client software programs, IBM Notes developers made a choice to not allow individual users to determine whether a return receipt is sent when they open an e-mail; rather, that option is configured at the server level. IBM developers believe "Allowing individual cancellation of return receipt violates the intent of a return receipt function within an organization". So, depending on system settings, users will have no choice in return receipts going back to spammers or other senders of unwanted e-mail. This has led tech sites to publish ways to get around this feature of Notes. For IBM Notes 9.0 and IBM iNotes 9.0, the IBM Domino server's .INI file can now contain an entry to control return receipt in a manner that's more aligned with community expectations (IBM Notes 9 Product Documentation).<ref>{{cite web
 | url = http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21241003
 | title = Is there a setting in Lotus Notes to control whether a return receipt is sent?
}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
 | url = http://searchdomino.techtarget.com/tip/Finding-and-disabling-hidden-return-receipts
 | title = Finding and disabling return receipts
}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
 | url = http://www.mindwatering.net/SupportRef.nsf/b49d69a888845c8085256d220011d77b/37fdcce19aa1551685256929001226d1!OpenDocument
 | title = Techniques to Not Send a Return Receipt When Viewing Mail
}}</ref>

When Notes crashes, some processes may continue running and prevent the application from being restarted until they are killed.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.virtualobjectives.com.au/notesdomino/killnotes.htm |title=KillNotes |date = October 17, 2022}}</ref>