The Lotus Notes Roaming User feature automatically replicates user settings and personalized data to a Domino server of file share where they can be backed up by an administrator. For those not yet using the Notes roaming user feature, the following is a procedure for manually backing up a Lotus Notes user's data and settings files. When the user needs to use Lotus Notes on a new computer, a second computer or a loaned computer, the backup can be applied to restore local data and settings.
Note: This article supersedes documentation topics "Backing up Notes client files" in Domino Administrator help and "Important Notes files to save or back up" in Notes user help.
When should Notes user files and application be backed up?
Backing up a Notes user's personalized data and settings periodically, and specifically prior to Notes client upgrade, is suggested.
Who is this article for?
The intended audience for this article is the Domino administrator responsible for backing up Notes clients but also the Notes client users that may be asked to, or feel compelled to, back up their Notes clients themselves.
This article specifically addresses Lotus Notes 8 and greater.
What platform and version requirements exist?
Backup and restore requires platform parity; if you've backed up your Notes files and applications from a Windows platform (the Notes client was installed on a Windows platform) the backed up files can be restored to that same platform.
A backup and restore operation is easiest between the same Notes version, same platform, and same Notes installation directory path and type (single to single or multi to multi).
A backup from a single user Notes installation to a restore on a Notes multi-user installation can be done with caveats, for example, the user's data directory location differs between the two installation types.
A backup from a Notes custom data directory to a restore on a non-custom data directory (and vice vera) can be done with caveats, as the Notes data directory location differs.
As the matrix illustrates, backed up files can be restored to the same Notes version or greater, but not to an earlier version of Notes.
Backup and restore matrix based on Lotus Notes version
This back up and restore post applies to Notes 8.0.x and greater and has no real bearing on Notes 7.x or 6.x except in that restore of Notes applications and files items listed in the table are upwardly compatible; restoring any files from a previous version of Notes to a newer version of Notes is generally supported.
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8.5.3
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8.5.3
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Yes
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No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
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Yes
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Yes
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Yes
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Yes
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Yes
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Yes
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Do roaming user files and applications also need to be backed up?
One advantage of configuring users as Notes roaming users is that many of the user's personalized data and settings files are stored centrally on a server (not only the local client) and made available to that user on whatever Notes client they log into. When an end-user logs in to Notes on another computer, their server-persisted personalized roaming data is automatically fetched and replicated down to that computer, creating a seamless experience for Lotus Notes users when moving among different computers or to a new computer.
Not all of the backup and restore information described here is necessary for Notes roaming users. The files and applications that a Notes roaming user does not need to back up (because they reside on a central server which is presumably backed up periodically by an administrator) include the following:
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Bookmarks (bookmark.nsf)
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Contacts (names.nsf)
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Feeds subscriptions (localfeedcontent)
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Notebook or journal (notebook.nsf or journal.nsf)
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Eclipse plug-in data and settings (roamingdata.nsf)
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Notes Workspace (managed by bookmark.nsf)
Which Notes client applications and files should be backed up
Back up the items listed in the following table for each Notes client periodically and also just prior to upgrading to a newer Notes release.
Note: Depending on how Lotus Notes was installed, default directories may vary. To locate the listed files, search the Notes <install directory
hierarchy for the file names.
Note: To quickly determine your Notes directory, press CTRL and click the Browse button; the opened directory is your Notes data directory.
Note: Environment variables such as Directory= and NotesProgram= may impact the backup and restore task, as well as various notes.ini variable and values.
Note: Some of these files may have been introduced in a Notes version that is more recent than what you have installed; if so simply ignore whatever listed files or applications you do not have on your system.
Note: The Notes data directory can be found in one of several locations based on your installation configuration. See the following information for recommended data directory location:
-- Multi-user installation on Windows platform:
Note: For reference, see "Notes installation directories for Windows" in Domino Administrator help.
Windows XP Data directory:
:\Documents and Settings\\Local Settings\Application Data\Lotus\Notes\Data
Windows XP Workspace directory:
:\Documents and Settings\\Local Settings\Application Data\Lotus\Notes\Data\Workspace
Windows Vista Data Directory:
:\Users\\AppData\Local\Lotus\Notes\Data
Windows Vista Workspace Directory:
:\Users\\AppData\Local\Lotus\Notes\Data\Workspace
-- Multi-user installation on Linux platform:
For reference, see "Notes installation directories for Linux" in Domino Administrator help.
Linux Data directory: /{$HOME}/lotus/notes/data
Linux Workspace directory: /{$HOME}/lotus/notes/data/workspace
-- Multi-user installation on Mac OS platform:
For reference, see "Notes installation directories for Mac OS X" in Domino Administrator help.
Mac Data directory: ~/Library/Application Support/Lotus Notes Data
Mac Workspace directory: ~/Library/Application Support/Lotus Notes Data/Expeditor
-- Single user installation on Windows platform:
Note: For reference, see "Notes installation directories for Windows" in Domino Administrator help.
:\Program Files\IBM\Lotus\Notes\Data
-- Custom data directory for multi-user installation on Windows and Citric platforms only:
Note: For reference, see "Configuring custom data directories for multi-user install or upgrade on Windows or Citrix" in Domino Administrator help and also the "Customized Notes data directory for specification at install or upgrade" wiki article.
Notes client files and applications
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Example: C:\Program Files\IBM\Lotus\Notes\notes.ini
Notes program directory (Program Files\)
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Note: This file is deleted when Notes is uninstalled.
Note: Follow notes.ini updates using the Professor_INI twitter account and the notes.ini category in the Lotus Notes and Domino wiki.
Note: You may choose not to overwrite an existing notes.ini file but rather to compare the two and decide which specific entries from the backup version you want to add to your current version file.
Note: For statements where a corresponding policy setting exists, the policy setting takes precedent over the notes.ini file statement.
Contains Notes user setup data derived from defaults, Domino policy, and/or user preferences.
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Example: C:\Program Files\IBM\Lotus\Notes\data\name.id
Notes data directory (Program Files\\data)
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This file is not deleted when Notes is uninstalled but it should be backed up regardless.
User's ID file required to log in to Notes.
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Contains words you have added to your personal spell-check dictionary.
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Contains your contact entries, mailing groups, connections, and locations.
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Contains your saved Notes application bookmarks.
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OR
notebook.nsf
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Note: The notebook application (and template) was introduced in Notes 8.5 to supersede the journal application.
Contains your personal journal/notebook information.
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Contains your Feeds subscriptions.
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Contains your desktop/workspace mapping to your bookmarks (chicklets).
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Contains your local free time.
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Contains your application subscriptions.
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<Notes \data\workspace
The entire workspace directory should be backed up with the exception of the following:
<workspace \.config\org.eclipse.osgi\C240D2A32P_xpdplat_.jvm_G07
<workspace \.config\org.eclipse.help.base\index
<workspace \logs
Notes workspace directory :
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Contains Eclipse plug-in data, user settings, and runtime caching files.
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Notes framework\rcp directory
Example: C:\Program Files\\framework\rcp
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Note: You may choose not to overwrite an existing plugin_customization.ini file but rather to compare the two and decide which specific entries from the backup version you want to add to your current version file.
Note: For statements where a corresponding policy setting exists, the policy setting takes precedent over the plugin_customization.ini file statement.
Contains Eclipse preferences from the original install kit's plugin_customization.ini files and optionally any additional entries that were manually added to the plugin_customization.ini file after the install.
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Notes framework\rcp\deploy\extras directory
Example: :\Program Files\\framework\rcp\deploy\extras
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Contains your preset feeds so that when you install the Notes Feed Reader these subscriptions will be added automatically.
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Note: What you do not need to back up
-- As noted in the table, you do not need to back up the JAVA classes cache (64MB) workspace\.config directory (Program Files\<Notes_install_dir
\data\workspace\.config.
-- You do not need to back up any of the data directory items not listed in the table above. For example, you do not need to back up any Notes application templates (.ntf files) or the contents of any subdirectory other than the workspace subdirectory.
-- A Notes user's mail file is traditionally maintained on a target Domino server, referred to as a mail server. A user's local mail file typically does not need to be backed up.
-- See the Roaming users section of this article to determine what files and applications do not need to be backed up for Notes roaming users.
Restoring Notes client applications and files
In the event that a user's client system is lost, damaged or needs to be re-imaged, if the user experiences issues during an upgrade, or if the Notes user has simply obtained a new computer and wants to have his personalized data made available on it, the administrator or the user himself can restore that user's backed up files and applications.
To restore the user's Notes client applications and files, simply copy them from the backup to their correct target location using the directory designations in the above table. Use the backup and restore matrix in combination with the files and applications table (in this article) to determine what to restore and where.
Advanced users and administrators may choose to automate the simple copy and paste process using scripts or backup tools, or by or otherwise making the backup and restore process more automated.