I know, I know. I wrote a 900 part series on why Lotus Notes DOESN’T suck and now I’m posting this. Its because Notes sucks when you have to run it on a Mac. If you’re stuck using Notes on a Mac, let me help make it easier for you…First, make sure you have OS X (whatever version). Second, be sure to run Notes 6.5x. It’ll make your life MUCH easier.

Once you have it installed, you’ll notice that you can’t see anything. That’s because Lotus and Apple seem to disagree on some core font issues. But its easy to fix. Here’s how:

1. Shut down the Notes client
2. Go here and download the Notes preference editor
3. Install/Open/Run the preference editor
4. Open the preference file located in : Users : : Library : Preference (you’ll know the file when you see it, its the only one you can click on and it has “Notes” in the name)
5. From the Preference Editor menu, select “Item” then “Add”
6. In the NAME box type: Display_font_adjustment
7. In the VALUE box type: 2
   You can put any number 0-25 in here. “2″ might be a good starting point.
8. Click OK then select FILE, then QUIT. Save the file when prompted

Restart Notes and you’ll instantly notice a big difference.

I’ve called IBM to log many issues (below) and they have them all on file and several will be addressed in the 7 codestream. But I’d still recommend calling them if you have a moment. Squeeky wheel, ya know.

• Notes doesn’t scroll. Ever.
• Fonts suck
• No right-click
• Local db’s are … inconsistant
• File\Open dialog box sorts by name and doesn’t leave folders at the bottom, like in Windows
• Fonts really suck

References related to this article:
IBM TechNote #1100042 - Fonts appear small in Notes Client on Mac
IBM TechNote #4005829 - Notes Preference Editor for Notes 6.x and Mac OSX