Data loss in Lotus Notes while using Outlook’s To-do task

This blog describes the problem occurred while using Microsoft Outlook 2002 connector for Lotus Notes.

Actually, when you use Outlook 2002 Connector and mark a recurring task that was created in the Lotus Notes R5 client as Complete, you may find that the Due Date and the body contents of the base To Do item in Lotus Notes have been modified to the Due Date and body contents of the next recurring item in the series.

This is usually a problem with MS Outlook 2002 Connector. When you use the Lotus Notes R5 client to create a recurring To Do item (equivalent to a Task in Outlook), a “base” item is created in Lotus Notes. But, when you modify an item in the series out of sequence in Lotus Notes, changes are not reflected in Outlook.

Like, when you try to modify an item in the series in Lotus Notes, you are prompted with the following dialog:

You are modifying a reoccurring entry.

How would you like these changes to be applied in the related entries?

Your options are:

• Just this instance

• All Instances

• This instance and all previous instances

• This instance and all future instances

Regardless of which option you select, the base item in Lotus Notes is not modified.

When you use Outlook 2002 Connector to view a recurring To Do item that was created in the Lotus Notes client, the item appears as a single Task in Outlook. When you modify the Task in the Outlook client, the underlying base item in the Lotus Notes client is modified and given the Due Date of the next recurring item.

To get rid of such behavior of Outlook 2002 Connector, it is recommended to use a professional Lotus Notes to Outlook conversion software that makes your conversion work easy as never before. Kernel for Lotus Notes to Outlook exports Lotus Notes emails, calendars, contacts, journals, to-do list, drafts, etc. stored in Lotus Notes database (.NSF) file to MS Outlook Personal Storage Table (PST) file. When you use Kernel for Lotus Notes to Outlook, you do not face any migration issue.

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