SnTT: Do not dereference shortcuts in file dialogs

This week I ran into an issue that allowed me to uncover a new feature (or a new preference at least) in Notes 7.

The issue in question is with attaching files to an email. In version 5 of Notes for Windows, you would open the attach dialog, and then if you saw a shortcut (or .lnk file) and clicked on it, you would be taken to the destination of the shortcut. In version 6 of Notes, you wouldn’t be taken to the destination of the link, but rather the .lnk file would simply be attached to the message. In order to drill down in directories, you had to use real file paths as opposed to shortcuts.

The problem we ran into was that it seems Notes 6.5.3 had a regression bug where the shortcuts worked like version 5. It would simply allow you to drill to the shortcut’s destination. We upgraded a person who had been on 6.5.3 for a LONG time, and had used it exclusively this way. She even had shortcuts set up for every place she kept files so she could get to them easily. Once we upgraded her to 6.5.4 then it only wanted to attach the .lnk file instead.

Needless to say, this made Notes “broken” in the user’s eyes. After digging around, I found out about the regression bug, and how things were supposed to work in R6. The user understood, but was bummed that she couldn’t use it the old way.

So, being on 7.0.1 myself, I decided to look at the User Preferences for the client, and lo-and-behold, Lotus has actually made this a new User Preference! It’s called:

Do not dereference shortcuts in file dialogs

Check that preference, and you will attach the .lnk files when in the attach dialogs. If you UN-check the preference, it will drill down to the destination of the shortcut.

I know this is going to save me some headaches…and make one user really happy!

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