How to Send Meeting Invitations from Lotus Notes to Outlook

Most e-mail calendars use ICS files, allowing one program to create meeting invites and another to accept them.

Scheduling meetings between organizations can be challenging if meeting attendees use two different mail programs. Two common mail management programs are IBM Lotus Notes and Microsoft Outlook. Since both recognize the universal calendar format known as iCalendar, it is possible to send a meeting invitation from Notes and accept it in Outlook. This format has an .ics file extension.

Things You'll Need

• Lotus Notes
• Microsoft Outlook

Instructions

1. Create a meeting invitation in Lotus Notes. In the "required" section, enter the e-mail address of the Outlook user who is to receive this meeting notice.

2. Inform the Outlook user to open the email sent from you containing the meeting invite. The message will contain a file with the .ics extension. When the outlook user opens the attachment, Outlook will add the meeting to his calendar.

3. Instruct the Outlook user to edit the calendar entry for the meeting you sent from Lotus Notes. From there, the Outlook user can edit her status to "Accept," "Tentative" or "Refuse." After selecting her status, the Outlook user can click the "Reply" button to have it sent back to you in Lotus Notes.

4. Open the Outlook invitee's response. This e-mail will also contain a file with the .ics extension. Click on the attachment. This will open a window in Lotus Notes that will allow you to import the iCalendar file. Click on "Import All" to update your calendar entry with the invitee's status.

5. Navigate to your Lotus Notes calendar, and open your meeting. Click on "Invitee Status," and you should see that the Outlook user's invitee status has updated from "No Response" to the status he indicated in his reply.

Tips & Warnings

• Since the iCalendar (.ics) file sends as an attachment, your mail security programs or firewall settings may interfere with the file landing in your inbox. Ensure your security settings for both the Notes and Outlook users will allow .ics files.

References

• Download A to Z: .ICS File Extension
• IBM: Lotus Notes 8.5 iCalendar

Resources

• IBM: Knowledge Collection: Lotus Domino iCalendar