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Welcome to IBM Notes
Welcome to the latest release of IBM® Notes®. Notes is a powerful, multifaceted software for Microsoft® Windows®, Macintosh, and Linux® computers that gives you instant access to all the information that is important to you. You can use Notes to send and receive email and Internet mail, schedule appointments, browse the Web, and use powerful social and business applications in your daily work.
Elements of Notes®
The IBM® Notes® user interface is comprised of views menus, toolbars, navigation panes, and a sidebar that you can use for easy access to some frequently used applications.
Preferences
You can customize IBM® Notes® so that it runs and displays just the way you want it to using Notes® preferences.
How do I customize my Notes Client?
You can customize IBM® Notes® so that it runs and displays just the way you want it to using Notes preferences.
How can I set preferences for how Notes windows open and Notes window themes?
You can set a preference to specify how your IBM® Notes® windows open. You can also save the tab order, and specify a windows theme.

Welcome to IBM Notes
Welcome to the latest release of IBM® Notes®. Notes is a powerful, multifaceted software for Microsoft® Windows®, Macintosh, and Linux® computers that gives you instant access to all the information that is important to you. You can use Notes to send and receive email and Internet mail, schedule appointments, browse the Web, and use powerful social and business applications in your daily work.
- What's New in IBM® Notes® 9.0.1 Social Edition?
  The following table lists features new to the IBM® Notes® 9.0.1 code stream, and tells you how to get started using those features.
- Getting Help
  You can get help that is specific to many of the tasks you are performing, or you can open complete Help on all areas of IBM® Notes®.
- Elements of Notes®
  The IBM® Notes® user interface is comprised of views menus, toolbars, navigation panes, and a sidebar that you can use for easy access to some frequently used applications.
  - Using the Open list
    Use the Open list to open IBM® Notes® applications, documents, bookmarks and bookmark folders. The Open list displays icons and a brief description for each item.
  - Toolbars
    Toolbars work with all the applications in your workspace. Some toolbars are context sensitive, which means that they change depending on the task you are performing.
  - Using the sidebar
    The sidebar provides constant access to your IBM® Sametime® Contacts, Calendar, Feed Reader, and Activities. You can change which of these applications displays in your sidebar. However, depending on your organization, you may not have all of these applications in your sidebar.
  - Status bar: current state information
    The status bar appears at the end of the IBM® Notes® main window. As you work in Notes, system messages and features appear in the status bar.
  - Using the embedded browser
    The embedded browser lets you open and navigate Web pages directly from within IBM® Notes®. The Address bar keeps a history of Web addresses that you type.
  - Working with window tabs
    Window tabs make it convenient for you to switch from one open document or application to another in IBM® Notes®.
  - Preferences
    You can customize IBM® Notes® so that it runs and displays just the way you want it to using Notes® preferences.
    - How do I customize my Notes Client?
      You can customize IBM® Notes® so that it runs and displays just the way you want it to using Notes preferences.
      - What options are available for customizing the basic Notes® client?
        In IBM® Notes®, you can use preferences to change how often Notes will autosave documents, to check subscriptions from your Notes applications, and change default fonts, as well as many other basic preferences.
      - How can I set preferences for how Notes windows open and Notes window themes?
        You can set a preference to specify how your IBM® Notes® windows open. You can also save the tab order, and specify a windows theme.
      - How can I modify the toolbar display?
        You can modify the display of your toolbars by hiding them, making additional toolbars visible, adding pop-up text to them, and resizing them.
      - How can I display or create toolbars?
        You can choose which toolbars display. You can also create your own toolbar and populate it with buttons that best suit your work needs.
      - How can I customize toolbar functionality and buttons?
        You can customize toolbars by adding and removing buttons. When you create a new toolbar, you use Toolbar Customize preferences to populate the toolbar.
      - How can I change web browser preferences?
        You can change which browser will open when you click Web links from Notes® documents: either the Notes embedded browser or the browser you have set as the default for the operating system. You can also change the default home page.
      - How can I set spell check preferences?
        You set spelling preferences to specify a default dictionary language and to add any supplemental dictionaries needed. You can also set defaults for how to handle numbers, words comprised of uppercase letters, or words from a language other than the default dictionary language.
      - How can I switch to a different spelling dictionary?
        You can switch language dictionaries when spell checking a document. You must install the language dictionaries from the IBM® Notes® CD before you can switch language dictionaries. The language dictionaries are recognized by the file extension DIC, and they are located in your Notes/Data directory.
      - How can I add, change, or delete words in my user dictionary?
        It's often helpful to add words to your personal dictionary, known as the user dictionary. These are words that you use commonly and are not found in a standard dictionary.
    - How can I set up my Notes client for other languages or regions?
      You can use regional settings to change your content language, sorting language, interface language, and units of measurement.
    - Preferences - Quick reference
      This quick reference card is a list of instructions for common tasks and shortcuts for Notes preferences, which you can print and keep at your desk for easy reference.
    - Further customizing your Notes client
      The topics in this section are intended for a more advanced Notes user.
- Accessibility features for Notes®
  Accessibility features help users who have a physical disability, such as restricted mobility or limited vision, to use information technology products.
- Using the Discover page
  IBM® Notes® opens to the Discover page by default, unless you set up Notes to open to an application, such as Mail or Calendar, or to a customized home page. The default Discover page is a central location from which you can find targeted Notes client information more quickly and easily, including new features in the release, introductory material for new users, and helpful hints and tips. There is also a Quick Links tab that allows you to launch your workspace, Mail, Calendar, and other Notes applications you have recently used.
- Using the Notes workspace
  The IBM® Notes® workspace, the legacy user interface for Notes, displays pages containing Notes application icons.
- Using bookmarks - linking to documents and applications
  Bookmarks are links that point to IBM® Notes® applications, views, documents, or Internet elements, such as Web pages and news groups. Bookmark folders organize your bookmarks. They can contain bookmarks or more folders.
- Notes views and folders
  Views display specific documents with similar criteria. For example, your Mail has an All Documents view that displays every document contained in the mail application, and a Sent view that displays only documents that you sent.
- Printing
  You print a single document or multiple documents at the same time. You can also print views (lists of documents in an IBM® Notes® application) and the framesets found in both Notes and the Web.
- Advanced Getting Started topics
  The topics in this section have been written for more advanced Notes users.
- License information
- Copyrights
- Trademarks

How can I set preferences for how Notes windows open and Notes window themes?

You can set a preference to specify how your IBM® Notes® windows open. You can also save the tab order, and specify a windows theme.

About this task

Use these steps to set a preference for how documents or applications are opened.

Procedure

Click File > Preferences > Windows and Themes.

Macintosh OS X users: Click Notes > Preferences > Windows and Themes.
Optional: Select On restart, reopen any tabs that were open when I closed the client to reopen the window tabs in the same order they were when you closed the client, the next time you open Notes®.
Select Use large icons in the Open List to change the size of the icon display in the Open List.
Select Inform me that I can return a panel to an applications from the View menu if you use composite applications and you move a panels, so that you will be prompted how to return the panel to the view.
Select Inform me that I can return a panel to the sidebar from the View menu to be prompted when you remove a panel back from the sidebar that you add it back to the sidebar by using the View menu.
Under Window Management specify how Notes® will open a document or a Notes® application:
- Open each document in its own window - each document opens a new Notes® window.
- Open each document in its own tab - (default) each document opens a new window tab in your active Notes® window.
- Group documents from each application on a tab - groups documents, such as mail messages, in a single tab. For example, if you open your mail, a window tab opens. Subsequent messages open in the Mail window tab. A number count displays in the window tab to show how many documents are open.

Results

Theme

About this task

Select a display theme from the list to change the window theme for Notes®:

Operating System Theme for Low Vision - select this option if you are visually impaired.
Notes 8 Theme - uses Notes 8 fonts and colors.
Operating System Theme - uses the fonts and colors you have set for your operating system (for example, display or theme setting you set using the control panel.

Note: Depending on how your administrator set up your Notes® account, you may not be able to change your Theme settings.