Quick Start: Send and Receive Your Lotus Notes Email on a BlackBerry

So you have a RIM BlackBerryTM handheld from your wireless carrier. You can send and receive emails from anywhere using the handheld's BlackBerry email address. But how do you link it to your corporate Lotus Notes email so new email in Notes also shows up in your handheld inbox? You want people to think you're receiving and sending emails from Notes when you're really on the BlackBerry.

One way is with the BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES), a minimum $4000 software investment, not to mention the cost of another Domino mail server and server license. You'll also need your IT department to purchase, install, and configure this solution. In addition to standard corporate email features, BES offers encryption between Notes and your handheld, wireless calendar sync, and deletion sync.

If you don't need the encryption and the wireless calendar sync of BES, or if you don't want to wait for corporate IT, you can get virtually all of the same email functionality with MartinScott WirelessMail for Notes/Domino. The BlackBerry's "push" email address works perfectly with WirelessMail, including support for file attachments, sending emails that appear to come from Lotus Notes, and even retaining sent emails in your Notes Sent folder. Additionally, the BlackBerry comes with a cradle and desktop software for synchronizing your Lotus Notes calendar, contacts, and to-do's with the handheld. In fact, from your BlackBerry's email application, you can't even tell whether WirelessMail or BES is linking your Notes email to the handheld.

Below is a quick guide to getting the most from your BlackBerry and WirelessMail.

Requirements:

  • BlackBerry handheld and service plan. BlackBerry Web Client account* recommended for advanced features.
  • Lotus Notes/Domino email box
  • Lotus Notes 5.x or later version

* The BlackBerry Web Client is a website account issued by your wireless carrier for you to manage your own BlackBerry settings. Web Client accounts are available from all BlackBerry carriers, and are usually included with your monthly "BlackBerry Internet Edition" service plan. If you do not have a Web Client account, contact the customer service for your wireless carrier. You probably do have one, but just need to find out your login information.


1) Install WirelessMail (Without a license key, WirelessMail will work as a free 30 day trial. With a license key, it works permanently. Please contact Support with any problems or questions). When prompted for your 'Destination email' address, enter the email address of your BlackBerry handheld. On the WirelessMail install page, click . Installation may take anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes depending on network speed. If you are on a local replica of your Notes mail, replicate your mail after installing WirelessMail to allow it to work on your server mail box.


Newly received emails should now display on your BlackBerry! Below are the steps to take advantage of advanced BlackBerry features to make WirelessMail more useful.

Make emails sent from the BlackBerry appear to come from Lotus Notes

2) Login to your BlackBerry Web Client, choose the 'Profile' settings, and then choose to change the 'Sent From Address' option (AT&T is pictured below... others are very similar). Enter your Lotus Notes internet email address in the 'Sent From Address' field and click Submit.




Make emails sent from the BlackBerry show up in the Sent folder in Notes

3) In the Profile settings, select 'Auto BCC'. Enter your Notes internet address and click Save. This will cause the BlackBerry to send a copy of all outgoing messages back to Notes.




4) In the Options settings, select 'Email identification' and optionally enter a signature to automatically appear at the end of all messages sent from the BlackBerry. You probably want to match the text you use in your Lotus Notes emails. You can leave this blank if you don't want a signature.




5) From your Notes inbox choose Actions\WirelessMail\Configuration... to open the WirelessMail Configuration screen. If you don't see this option, restart Lotus Notes.




6) Select your BlackBerry address in the list, and click the "Edit Address Profile..." button. For the "Device 'From' address", enter the exact same address that you entered above in Step 2, including any upper and lower case. Click OK to close the box.




7) On the 'Email Types' tab, check the box 'Copies are sent back to Lotus Notes - place them in the "Sent" folder.' Then click the 'Save Changes & Exit' button.




Emails sent from the BlackBerry should now appear to come from your Notes internet address. Within a few minutes, such emails will also appear permanently in the Sent folder in Lotus Notes, as if you had sent them from Notes.