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I am sending emails to different users in my corporation. Some of our clients use Lotus Notes (8). These emails are generated by the server. Inside this email (HTML formatted), there is a link to a "mailto":

Please <a href="mailto:myaddress@mycorp.ca" >click here</a> to reply.

There is nothing else in the body of the email. Unfortunatly, when I click on this link (wich does appear as a link when reading the email from a Lotus Notes client), I get this error:

\\mailto:myaddress@mycorp.ca is not accessible.  You might not have permission to use this
network ressource.  Contact the administrator of this server to find out if you have access
permissions.

The parameter is incorrect.

On the other hand, if I create the email manually through the Notes client (using a "HotSpot"), the link works... Unfortunatly, generating the email with the Lotus Notes API is not a possibility because (a) we do not have a Domino server in our corporation, and (b) not all of our users use Lotus Notes...

Question: Is there a way to fix this problem without using the Lotus Notes API? I have tried this :

<div onclick="window.navigate('mailto:myaddress@mycorp.ca');" >Click Here</div>

but the javascript code is ignored... (probably a javascript security restriction in the client).

I have also considered not using HTML format in my emails; I could do most of my formatting using Rich Text Format, but I do not know what syntaxt would generate a Hotspot (or a functional mailto link) in the RTF content...

JFTxJ
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  • It is also woth noting that the link in question works with all other email clients... – JFTxJ Mar 05 '14 at 18:17
  • If you examine an email generated by Lotus Notes, does anything in it give you a hint as to how to create an email link which will work with it? – Andrew Morton Mar 07 '14 at 19:08
  • That's the problem. When i generate an email with Lotus Notes, there doesn't seem to be a way to "examine" the content itself (in plain text). When I receive an HTML formatted email from another client, there is an option to "View Source", but that option is greyed-out when I get an email from Lotus Notes (or even while creating the email in Notes)... – JFTxJ Mar 07 '14 at 19:32
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    If you can drag an email onto the desktop then you can examine it with a text editor (or hex editor). Otherwise, trying to find out what is inside the email could be horribly complicated: [Lotus Notes - save whole email message eml c#](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8452468/lotus-notes-save-whole-email-message-eml-c-sharp). Or you could brute-force it by using [Wireshark](http://www.wireshark.org/) to look at the raw data as it comes over the wire. – Andrew Morton Mar 07 '14 at 19:41
  • Probably not all that helpful, but instead of getting `\\mailto:myaddress@mycorp.ca is not accessible.` on my machine, it will open up in Outlook, even though Notes is my configured default email client. – Danny Mar 13 '14 at 16:35
  • [This article](http://www.sharepointpitstop.com/2012/10/open-mailtolinks-lotus-notes-or-outlook.html) allowed me to open the mailto in Notes. – Danny Mar 13 '14 at 17:00
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    Just a wild idea, but have you tried `mailto://myaddress@mycorp.ca`? I know the URL is not correct, but I'll give it a try, just in case it works... – Xavier Rubio Jansana Mar 14 '14 at 17:46
  • What the hell??? Xavier just found my answer! It's not perfect (it opens a blank IE page (imbedded or not) and leaves it open, but at the very least the mailto protocol is fired! Thank you! I would like to award the bounty to you Xavier Rubio Jansana! (Can you write your last comment as an answer and I will award you the bounty!) – JFTxJ Mar 14 '14 at 19:05

1 Answers1

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I am not sure that there is a way for one link that will work for both clients - Outlook and Lotus.

Lotus Notes developers call it HotSpot.

Check those links, if you can create it manually - send it to yourself and check the sent HTML.

http://blog.iangoodsell.com/2009/06/i-hate-lotus-notes-inserting-hyperlinks.html

http://www.alanlepofsky.net/alepofsky/alanblog.nsf/dx/creating-links-to-a-web-page

vmax33
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  • Ya, but like I said, I am generating these things from a server engine and do not have access to what is required to use the Notes API. – JFTxJ Mar 14 '14 at 17:26
  • I would try to do it manually first and then just copy paste it. Try to send it to your private email. No need to use API. – vmax33 Mar 14 '14 at 19:43
  • I will try that too. I think (untested) that the Domino server actually "converts" the email to HTML (or rich text) when it is going out, which would mean that if I send it out, then back in, the HotSpot would no longer work as a HotSpot, but would be converted to a standard HTML link, and would behave accordingly once it is back in Lotus Notes. But this is definitely worth a try. Thanks. (I should mention that Xavier's comment is the answer though. Although not perfect, at least the URL protocol is fired... But if this solution is better, I will let us all know for sure!) – JFTxJ Mar 15 '14 at 20:49