Save Window State in Lotus Notes 8.5.x

In Lotus Notes 7.x the ability to “Save Window State” (File > Save Window State) was introduced to allow users to have certain databases available to them on startup.

This ability is available in Lotus Notes 8.5.x but is set up a little differently. Now you must bookmark the databases you wish to appear automatically at startupĀ in a special “Startup” folder.

To do this, right click on the open tab and select “Create Bookmark”

Then select the “Startup” Bookmark folder located under “More Bookmarks”

If you want ONLY the bookmarks in the startup folder to show up when the Lotus Notes Client starts, then go to Files – Preferences – Windows and Themes and DESELECT the “On restart, reopen any tabs that were open when I closed the client”.

If you leave this checked, all tabs that were open will show up on restart PLUS the items in your startup folder. So, even if you had closed any of the tabs represented in the startup folder they will be available when the client starts as expected.

13 thoughts on “Save Window State in Lotus Notes 8.5.x”

  1. Any idea what files the Startup and Last State bookmarks are saved under? I am trying to restore these settings on a floating pool of virtual desktops and haven’t had any luck. Thanks!

  2. @Chuck – Sorry, I looked briefly for this a couple of months ago and figure it’s probably stored in the new “framework” folder in the data directory. The need wasn’t pressing so I did not open a PMR for it (which I’ve been doing for nearly EVERYTHING lately since IBM seems to to be largely relying upon the users to make wikis for everything…

  3. @Chuck – Hi Chuck, any progress with the pooled VDAs and Lotus Notes’ Windows and Themes preferences? Did you manage to fix this issue? I have the same problem with Xendesktop VDAs: tabs would open after a restart of Lotus Notes, but with no content in it, and an error message saying Wrong URL syntax (or similar) in the left sqection…

  4. @Pierre

    Same problem here with 8.5.3 running in XenDesktop 5.6

    Users log on and see the tabs blank with “Invalid Url Selection”

    The users then close all the bookmarked tabs, such as mail and calendar and then they re-open each tab and they show just fine.

    In my opinion, The users should not have to do this every time they open notes.

    Anyone have a fix?

  5. @Pete

    This is how I managed to fix the issue:

    LN8.5.3 multiuser install in VDA master image.

    In Citrix Profile Mgmt policy, set the following:

    profile mgmt/File system/Synchronization/Directories to sync: add AppData\Local\Lotus\Notes\Data\workspace

    profile mgmt/File system/Synchronization/Files to sync: add AppData\Local\Lotus\Notes\Data\*.id, AppData\Local\Lotus\Notes\Data\bookmark.nsf, AppData\Local\Lotus\Notes\Data\busytime.nsf, AppData\Local\Lotus\Notes\Data\Cache.ndk, AppData\Local\Lotus\Notes\Data\cluster.ncf, AppData\Local\Lotus\Notes\Data\desktop8.ndk, AppData\Local\Lotus\Notes\Data\headline.nsf, AppData\Local\Lotus\Notes\Data\localfeedcontent.nsf, AppData\Local\Lotus\Notes\Data\names.nsf, AppData\Local\Lotus\Notes\Data\notes.ini, AppData\Local\Lotus\Notes\Data\notesbook.nsf, AppData\Local\Lotus\Notes\Data\user.dic

    profile mgmt/File system/Exclusion list Files:
    AppData\Local\Lotus\Notes\Data\workspace\logs\rcpmon*.dmp

    profile mgmt/File system/Exclusion list Directories: AppData\Local\Lotus\Notes\Data\workspace\.configbak

    profile mgmt/Streamed user profiles/Profile Streaming: DISABLED (no sync of the cache.ndk + streaming of user profile enabled are the factors that created the problem a far as I could understand).

    Let me know if it works, or if you need further info.

  6. @Pierre – Thank you for the reply. I made the modifications to the profile manager, but now our VDI’s seem sluggish on log in, perhaps the lotus synch is lowing them down. Once again, thanks for your help.

  7. @Pete
    Login takes about 20 seconds here for my users, which is acceptable. Do you make use of Microsoft’s Folder Redirection?

  8. Pierre,

    Thanks for all of the help. We now have a problem where the Full client does not load. It state “Loading….Please Wait” and cycles forever until killed in Task manager. The Basic client works fine however. Not sure what to do. I opened a support call, but they gave me the same old, reinstall after running NICE, delete cache, bookmarks, rename workspace etc…

    None of this made a difference. Even a clean install of 8.5.3 in multi-user results in the same problem of “Loading….Please wait”

  9. Hi Pete,

    The very first time Lotus Notes loads when setting it up for a new user, it does indeed take four five minutes, you need to be a little patient. But then afterwards, next logons in LN only takes a few seconds. Do you use Folder Redirection as well as the Citrix Profile? If you wish, and if you keep struggling, let me know and we could organise a remote session sometimes next week for me to have a quick look at your environment. @Pete

  10. @Pete – The two biggest issues I have seen that cause the eternal “Loading…” issue are:
    1) a conflict regarding Java libraries – check your environment variables for anything reflecting another JVM or JRE on your box. So far we’ve been able to simply get rid of those conflicting apps but there are fixes available for folks who need to keep them. IBM can direct you there – I think they can give you some registry settings to help.

    2) Messed up workspace folder (new with R8.5.x and located in your data folder). Often just deleting this (with the LN client shut down of course) will resolve a great many issues. It just holds your eclipse configurations and will be recreated when you restart the standard client. Consider this to be your new Desktopx file.

    BTW, if neither of the above resolves the issue, consider a virgin install – ONLY the user ID is retained – to see if it may be something like a corrupt workspace, names or desktop file that could be messing up your install.

  11. Pierre,

    We found our problem was with a shared java piece from HP.

    Title: Notes 8.5.x standard does not launch with HP Quick Test
    Professional 10.0 installed
    Doc #: 1429922
    URL: http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21429922

    It is also explained here:

    http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/lewiki.nsf/page.xsp?documentId=045C3E9C307EF
    39E852577520053890D&action=openDocument#Native+Launcher

    The work around involves a registry edit to make sure the HP QuickTest
    Pro components don’t interfere with existing Notes components with the
    same name.

  12. It seems like the window state of the Notes Standard client is maintained in the file com.ibm.rcp.platform.personality.config.xml which is in the …\Data\workspace\.metadata\.plugins\com.ibm.rcp.personality.framework\personalityWindowState\ folder.

    Perhaps if that file is added to the Citrix sync list, the saved window state will carry over to other pools?

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