Editing the NOTES.INI file

You should rarely, if ever, need to modify a server's or client's NOTES.INI file. The NOTES.INI file contains many settings that Domino® and Notes® rely on to work properly. An accidental or incorrect change may cause Domino or Notes to run unpredictably. Therefore, you should edit the NOTES.INI file only if special circumstances occur or if IBM® Support Services recommends that you do so.

There are three ways to edit NOTES.INI settings:

  • Open the NOTES.INI file and edit it. The procedure for doing this depends on your client's or server's operating system and the text editor you use.
  • Create a Configuration Settings document and edit its settings. Using a Configuration Settings document, you can add and modify many NOTES.INI settings at a time. However, there are a number of settings that you cannot set in the Configuration Settings document. Also, because a Configuration Settings document applies only to Domino servers, you cannot use it to modify a Notes client's NOTES.INI file.
  • Use the Set Configuration server command.

Because directly editing the NOTES.INI file is unsafe, it is best to use a Configuration Settings document to modify server settings.

  1. From the Domino Administrator, open the Domino Directory and click Configuration in the navigation pane.
  2. To edit an existing Configuration Settings document, highlight it and then click Edit Configuration. To create a new configuration document, highlight the server for which the Configuration Settings document will apply, then click Add Configuration.
  3. To modify NOTES.INI settings on the server, click the NOTES.INI Settings tab. This tab lists a number of current settings in the server's NOTES.INI file.
  4. To add a setting, click Set/Modify Parameters to display all settings that you can set in the Configuration Settings document. Select the setting(s) you want to add from the list. Type the value for the variable in the Value field.
  5. To modify or clear a setting, highlight a NOTES.INI variable in the list and click Clear. In the Clear Parameter or Value field, choose Clear parameter or Clear value. If you are clearing a parameter, be sure to clear the value before clearing the parameter. If you choose to clear a value, you can type in a new value.
  6. Save and close the document.

The Current® parameters field displays the NOTES.INI settings that have been configured for the server. You can also see historical information about the last NOTES.INI setting that was configured on the server, including the name of the setting, the value to which it was set, the name of the person who configured it, and the time and date on which it was configured.