strange notes problem

[frl]

Hi,

I have a problem with one remote user. She gets the following messages:

"Unable to open Names and Address Book (names.nsf), due to error: "File does not exist". Locations cannot be used until the problem has been corrected."

"Unable to send mail because the mailfile specified in your cuurent location in not on your workspace or available on the network."

"File does not exist: c:\notes\mailbox.ntf"

I guess this is address book problem, but it is hard for me to fix it as I can only communicate to the user through the phone.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance!

 

[pmonett]

Ask the user to locate the notes.ini file, delete it, and reinstall Notes.
Maybe make the user do a file search on the disk before, to look for names.nsf.
It would seem that the user in question got a bit trigger-happy with the delete button. An ntf file is not readily accessible under Notes (for non-developers at least), and if that file is missing as well as the names.nsf, I have the feeling that the user needed to make some space on the disk. As such, he erased all ntf files, and some other files. Unfortunately, he made the mistake of removing the personal address book, which is pivotal to Notes functionality.
Unless some other thing happened, such as a disk crash and corrupted files, which is feasible also.
In the end, the result is the same, Notes needs to be reinstalled.

Pascal.

 

[griff79]

It could be far more simple.

Check the shortcut to make sure its starting in the right location.

Also, in the notes.ini file, check the line.
names=
this should be set to names=names.nsf,(other address books) I've seen cases where the other address books are listed in front. Change this back to the correct order.

I would not expect any of those fault to require a re-install of notes. I've seen all of those errors before and they are all related to user specific settings, not the Client software.

If the names.nsf is missing. Restore it (if it was on a share) or Simply replace it by copying your own, deleting your contacts and seting up the location documents for the users details.

As this is a remote user, it may be best to give them a replacement address book, its a lot easier then then a re-install, which could also loose the users settings replication and desktop. For this option you would not need a long phone call and it would just be a case of making sure its in the right place.

 

[frl]

Thanks a lot. I fixed the problem for this user (sent him new notes.ini, names.nsf, desktop.dsk, favourite.nsf, cache.dsk files).

But now two more remote users are having same problems. Notes is saying:
"Unable to open Names and Address Book (names.nsf), due to error: "File does not exist".

How come three users have the same problem at the same time. So I am really confused. It is not like the user is doing something wrong like I thought with the first user.It must be that some settings are wrong for all. Does anybody have any clue?

Thanks

 

[frl]

For the second user I have replaced file by file (names.nsf, desktop.dsk...). And I think the problem was in the notes.ini file. When I replaced that file it worked. Although for this user I had luck, because I had a backup of his notes config files.

But I still don't know why this problem happened at the same time for three users?

 

[griff79]

If the config files are all present, It would seem that the problem is completly in the notes.ini

do you use other local address books ?

Check in the notes.ini to see were it is loosing its link to the config files.

Names=names.nsf,other.nsf - check that other local address books havent jumped in front of names.

DefaultDirectory=(loction of config files (names,desktop etc.))
Directory=(same as above)

Make sure your users are not using a different shortcut for notes. If the 'start in' link is incorrect it will start the applciation but not find the config.

Difficult to say why this is happening but I've seen the same problem for remote users. They had local copies of the mobile address book. It jumped in front of the names.nsf, in the notes.ini names list (as above). Switching them back fixed the fault. But i never did work out how it happened.

 

[ms1138]

Notes will try to create a mail.box file when the user is using a Location where the mail file is on the local computer instead of on the server. Notes will look for mailbox.ntf in the local data directory specified in the Notes.ini. If the local data directory does not contain mailbox.ntf, then you will get that error.

Keep in mind that the local data directory preference may be different for each user. Sending them a Notes.ini that works on one pc may not work on another.

In my experience, this problem is usually due to the user having their current Location set up to use mail locally, and not having a local replica of thier mail file on their computer. Also, users need to have all of the Notes templates in their local data directory so that Notes can create local files when necessary.

Also, desktop.dsk, favourite.nsf and cache.dsk do nothing to resolve this sort of problem.