The Devil Is In The Details (a.k.a. Sometimes Users Love Something Because of 1 Tiny Feature) …
   

As you know, the Lotus Notes R8.x Eclipse based UI is a departure from our beloved version 4,5,6 and 7 clients. And, just like everyting in life, some people don’t like when things change.
  

So, for some of my users here, Lotus Notes R8.5.1 is the best thing since sliced bread and for others … well it’s the worst thing we’ve ever installed on their computer. You just can’t please everyone unfortunatly.
     

However, in order to help out my users learn about the new features in R8.5.1, I send a weekly “Tips & Tricks” email each Wednesday with 1 particular tip that might help them out. And yesterday’s tip was smash hit.
  

Wanna know what it is? It’s the simplest thing … and here it is:
      

How to Quickly Schedule a Meeting From Your Sametime Contact List
 

There are many ways to schedule a meeting in Lotus Notes R8.5.1. You can do it from your inbox “New” button, you can do it from your Calendar “New” button and you can double-click anywhere on your calendar to bring up a new appointment just to name a few.
  

But since we are all hooked (and dependant) on Sametime, there is an even quicker way to schedule a meeting with someone right from the comfort of your Sametime Contact list. How quickly? Well, try this: 
   

Step 1: Open your Sametime Contact List and find the collegue that you want to schedule a meeting with.
  
Step 2: Right click on that collegue’s name and then click on the “Find Available Time” option.
  
Step 3: The system will try to find a 1 hour time-slot that fits in both of your schedules and display it on your screen.
  
Step 4: Click on “Create Meeting”.
  
Step 5: When the new meeting invitation appear, give the meeting a Subject and enter a description (if needed).
 
Step 6: Click on “Save & Send Invitations”.
  
Step 7: Enjoy (and don’t forget to show up to the meeting!).
  

Simple isn’t it?
 

Bonus Tip: How to Quickly Schedule a Meeting From Your Sametime Contact List With Many People
   

You’ve used the tip above to schedule a meeting with 1 employee … but how can you schedule a meeting with more than one person from your Sametime Contact list?
  

Well, it’s quite simple too: press and hold the “CTRL” key on your keyboard as you select the people and then, once you have all the folks you want, right-click on one of them and click “Find Available Time”. Presto … easy isn’t it?
   
Really Amazingly Busy People … 
  

It’s possible that, one day, you’ll try to use this tip with someone who’s super busy. The system will try really hard to find a time for your meeting but if it can’t find any available time within the next 7 days, the usual “Find Available Time” screen will come up but it will have this particular warning at the top:
  

Parting Words
 

Well, I pretty sure that someone else had blogged about this somewhere else … and if that’s the case, I’m sorry that I’m repeating something that’s already been said.
  

Thanks for reading!
  

Marc