# HCL Notes Reviews **Vendor:** HCL Technologies **Category:** [Email Client Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/email-client) **Average Rating:** 3.2/5.0 **Total Reviews:** 188 ## About HCL Notes HCL Notes is an enterprise email client that integrates social collaboration, messaging and business applications into a single workspace ## HCL Notes Reviews ### 1. Robust Collaboration Suite with Email, Calendars, and File Sharing **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Ahmad J. | ICT Specialist 2, Information Technology and Services, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 10, 2026 **What do you like best about HCL Notes?** It provides business collaboration functions such as email, calendars, to-do lists, contact management, discussion forums, file sharing, websites, instant messaging, blogs, document libraries, user directories, and custom applications. **What do you dislike about HCL Notes?** HCL Notes can feel outdated and complex and it often requires heavy IT support **What problems is HCL Notes solving and how is that benefiting you?** HCL Notes helps by pulling email, calendar, tasks, and business apps into one place, so you don’t have to bounce between different tools. For me, that means less hassle and smoother teamwork, since everything I need to stay organized is right there. ### 2. Reliable Hub for Keeping Emails and Apps Organized **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Ruchi S. | Technical Specialist Professional, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 31, 2026 **What do you like best about HCL Notes?** I like its reliability and how it keeps emails and applications organized in one place. **What do you dislike about HCL Notes?** It feels outdated and not very user-friendly compared to modern tools. **What problems is HCL Notes solving and how is that benefiting you?** It helps manage emails and internal communication in a structured way, making it easier to track conversations and stay organized. ### 3. From Lotus Notes to DominoForEver - now V 14.5 **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Vittorio O. | Fondatore, socio e CEO, Information Technology and Services, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 27, 2018 **What do you like best about HCL Notes?** It is a very good and durable technology we have 25 years of experience and looking forward. Some important success stories in this period!! **What do you dislike about HCL Notes?** Ibm marketing under estimate the product for some long years. This was a very big problem. **Recommendations to others considering HCL Notes:** I'm very happy with Ibm Notes and Domino and my customers too! **What problems is HCL Notes solving and how is that benefiting you?** This is a very comprehensive platform for both business and social collaboration. It enables users to address a wide variety of business challenges. Of course, it also includes email functionality. ### 4. HCL Notes: Still Reliable for Legacy Workflows, But Lags in Modern UX **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Mayur W. | Technical Specialist, Computer & Network Security, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 08, 2025 **What do you like best about HCL Notes?** HCL Notes (formerly IBM Notes/Lotus Notes) still shines when it comes to enterprise-level email, calendar, and database-driven collaboration. Its tight integration with Domino Server allows for advanced application development and secure messaging. The offline functionality is robust, and its document-level security remains a strong point for organizations with strict compliance requirements. **What do you dislike about HCL Notes?** The user interface feels outdated, and the learning curve is steep, especially for new users. Integration with modern cloud-based tools (like Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, or Slack) is limited. The mobile app is functional but not user-friendly, and updates are not as frequent or innovative as competitors'. Some workflows feel clunky, and the overall user experience lags behind modern standards. **What problems is HCL Notes solving and how is that benefiting you?** HCL Notes is ideal for businesses that rely on custom-built Notes applications or need secure internal communications. It's particularly useful in industries like finance, legal, and government where data integrity, security, and auditability are critical. For organizations already deeply invested in Domino infrastructure, Notes continues to provide value with low latency and dependable performance. ### 5. Traditional e-mail client software along with business collaboration fuctions **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Suman K. | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 24, 2024 **What do you like best about HCL Notes?** HCL notes is quite easy to use as the users don't require additional learning to use the software. It offers other tools like Calendar, To-do list, Contact list, etc. along with the email client, which is quite helpful. We consider it a secure platform to share information among the staff members of the organization. **What do you dislike about HCL Notes?** The user interface could be more professional and modern as it offers legacy design and features that are quite problematic sometimes. It is not 100% capable of handling modern HTML emails. **What problems is HCL Notes solving and how is that benefiting you?** We use HCL notes in our organization as the primary email client. All of our staff members have been provided an account on the HCL notes so that they can send or receive emails from both internal and external users. ### 6. HCL Notes is great but its use is declining **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Mickey J. | CEO, Management Consulting, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 25, 2024 **What do you like best about HCL Notes?** Rock-solid stable. Well integrated email, calendar, and other functions. Enables really easy implementation of company databases that we use every day to run our business. Setup is very easy, and its security features are unparalelled. **What do you dislike about HCL Notes?** Not many IT specialists know how to use Notes - mostly because it wasn't supported for a very long time (treated like an orphan by IBM). **What problems is HCL Notes solving and how is that benefiting you?** Integrated system is our interface for every business application. ### 7. Widely used mailing software in many organisations **Rating:** 3.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Anand K. | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 16, 2024 **What do you like best about HCL Notes?** It is quite easy to understand and does open on both intranet as well as internet. **What do you dislike about HCL Notes?** It needs a new UI as soon as possible. Doesn't work that great on mobile devices. **What problems is HCL Notes solving and how is that benefiting you?** We use this email client at our organization on daily basis and it is helping us to receive emails from clients as well as for our internal communications. ### 8. Much more than just secure email, whole of business functionality when paired with Domino **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Daniel B. | President, Computer Software, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 26, 2023 **What do you like best about HCL Notes?** I've long enjoyed the rapid and flexible "full text" search in Notes. My primary use involves custom applications built in Domino for Notes clients, used in house and distributed to many customers. It's hard to beat the rapid development possibilities paired with indexed "no-sql" data storage. I've also been impressed with HCL's continued stewardship of the product, pushing thoughtful updates and modernization. My customers appreciate the all-in-one-place utility of Notes, combining their email access alongside business and operational applications. **What do you dislike about HCL Notes?** HCL Notes remains strongly connected to its legacy of on-premise and in-house administration. This can present some friction for organizations that have otherwise committed to cloud or distributed (low or no in-house administration) solutions. There were some initial bumps in the road as HCL took over from IBM, although those appear to have smoothed over. **What problems is HCL Notes solving and how is that benefiting you?** Although this prompt only allows me to choose email client, Notes is much more than just an email client. It's a full featured application platform hosting email, in-house solutions (like support, logs, timesheets, whatever your imagination or consultant / developers can provide). This is the major value for me with HCL Notes; email is simply a cherry on top. ### 9. Secure Email **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Ravi M. | Senior Systems Analyst, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 19, 2023 **What do you like best about HCL Notes?** Email is secure and make documentation is easy. **What do you dislike about HCL Notes?** Some of the mails with HTML contents cause the notes client to crash. **What problems is HCL Notes solving and how is that benefiting you?** easy to use and easy to save data. ### 10. Using it since years ago **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Paolo A. | Channel manager, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 18, 2022 **What do you like best about HCL Notes?** Easy to use and great for sharing info among the team. **What do you dislike about HCL Notes?** A little bit old design and often loses the sync between the unread mail and the counter **What problems is HCL Notes solving and how is that benefiting you?** We have all that we need in one application and that is great. We save time in usage and support ### 11. Huge competitive advantage **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Simon B. | IT & Compliance Director, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 17, 2022 **What do you like best about HCL Notes?** Security and RAD features. We are able to build new APIs and other features in hours, sometimes minutes. The security and replication allow us to achieve 99.999% uptime for our company. And the licence terms are very reasonable. A top quality product with great support! **What do you dislike about HCL Notes?** Some legacy features are problematic. QA when bringing out new releases can be spotty, with obvious errors that should not have made it into production. Documentation is improving, but still leaved something to be desired. **What problems is HCL Notes solving and how is that benefiting you?** We have been able to provide a complete technical solution to our enterprise with no reliance on alternative technologies. We have significant compliance obligations and Notes' workflow capabilities have been great at implementing high levels of compliance. ### 12. Relax with HCL Notes! **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Nigel B. | Administration and Technical Director, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 16, 2021 **What do you like best about HCL Notes?** Security is unrivaled - The email client has NEVER been hacked! We regularly get hacked emails from Exchange/365 customers, I always sing Notes virtues! THE securing in applicatoins is stunning too, the programmers only need to worry about the app; the securing and ACL is all done and waiting to be used. **What do you dislike about HCL Notes?** The email formatting is still not 100%. Image rendering is not what it should be. Marketing needs to be better, Schools and Colleges should have Notes and Domino free else all students come out loving Microsoft because they know nothing else! Verse should be free online for domestic users like gmail and hotmail etc then users will get to see the advantages of Verse/Domino **Recommendations to others considering HCL Notes:** Forget Security - It's done! **What problems is HCL Notes solving and how is that benefiting you?** Email rendering as above, Nomad is wonderful, we have apps on iphones working perfectly, with that build in security ### 13. Powerful software **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Information Technology and Services | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 28, 2021 **What do you like best about HCL Notes?** So many cool hidden features that many people don't know about. I like how the apps integrate seamlessly with email, calendar and instant messaging. Security is so important these days and Notes is rock solid. And it runs on my iPad and my Samsung phone, so all my apps are instantly available on Mobile without relying on a website browser. **What do you dislike about HCL Notes?** The web conferencing tool isn't as good as others. I can't use it to manage my personal mailbox or other mailboxes. All I can use it for is my work email account. **What problems is HCL Notes solving and how is that benefiting you?** It's fast to develop simple personal productivity tools, especially when starting with the templates that are included. I was able to create them without the aid of the IT department. ### 14. Notes, what else? **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Wilhelm H. | I, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 31, 2022 **What do you like best about HCL Notes?** Overall ease of use, security, speed, continuity **What do you dislike about HCL Notes?** Missing marketing from Vendor/HCL, not being noticed within the market **Recommendations to others considering HCL Notes:** do not really compare with competitors; notes will win anyway **What problems is HCL Notes solving and how is that benefiting you?** mailing to an from everywhere ### 15. HCL Notes - gets the job done **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Chemicals | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 17, 2022 **What do you like best about HCL Notes?** HCL Notes is a powerful tool for skilled administrators with LotusScript knowledge. **What do you dislike about HCL Notes?** Like every tool HCL Notes has its quirks. **What problems is HCL Notes solving and how is that benefiting you?** We solved the problem of sending information through snail mail :) ### 16. Stable and versatile - More than just e-mail and calendaring **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Government Administration | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 14, 2020 **What do you like best about HCL Notes?** The platform allows for a high level of systems integration and process handling. Started with R5 and found that each release did not require heavy testing to ensure backwards compatibility. In fact, applications written in R5 still run unmodified in R11. **What do you dislike about HCL Notes?** Licensing can be confusing and documentation is hard to find. As the product can do so many things it is hard to explain. While under IBM's rule, it became stagnant ( not keeping up with modern features ). HCL has done an excellent job so far in trying to correct this but documentation is still hard to come by or missing entirely ( release notes / fixes, etc ). **Recommendations to others considering HCL Notes:** Highly recommend looking into the systems integration side of things ( using services built into Domino like DECS ). Makes using the platform have a much higher ROI as you can easily pull information from external sources to provide employees with access to data. **What problems is HCL Notes solving and how is that benefiting you?** Integration of various systems into a common user platform / interface. Offline connectivity is a bonus along with the ease to replicate applications between sites for continuity. Web enabling applications has been a great benefit as well to assist in removing special client installation/setup requirements. The ability to run both in parallel allows for a smooth transition. ### 17. Absolutely not **Rating:** 0.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Richard P. | Product Manager, Computer Software, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 18, 2020 **What do you like best about HCL Notes?** Nothing.I do not like anything about this. Reasons colleagues have told me to use (thick client) for notes instead of verse: 1.) manage a calendar. send invited on behalf of 2.) access underlying databases or requests **What do you dislike about HCL Notes?** 1.) Often requires downgrade in version of java to even open, introducing security holes. 2.) What kind of modern email client requires the user to identify a database or server? Is this a joke?! **Recommendations to others considering HCL Notes:** Dont. Use anything else. Verse if you have to, outlook or g-suite if you can. **What problems is HCL Notes solving and how is that benefiting you?** Intended for email, a-synchronous communication and calendaring - I almost always use verse instead - I would much rather use outlook or gsuite if I could. ### 18. Domino - Application Design and mesaging **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Computer Hardware | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 15, 2019 **What do you like best about HCL Notes?** The ability to design simple application without any specialized skills and the security of domino, allowing you to secure on multiple levels ( ID, Network, Server, Operating system, application level and Form level security. Using ACLs allow you to selectively allow or deny access based on business needs / requirement **What do you dislike about HCL Notes?** OEM is slow to improve on software - Updates are not released fast enough, The Versioning's of the separate products do not match. A good example is IBM Verse part where for installation and configuration, the user is expected to cope data to certain location and manually change multiple values in multiple locations. **Recommendations to others considering HCL Notes:** IT is the Best - I am impressed by the simplicity of implementing the new verse on AIX - No Need to setup up separate windows server for verse. **What problems is HCL Notes solving and how is that benefiting you?** Expense Request, Email Application response, review cycle ### 19. All your office works **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Muhammad Q. | Process Engineer, Oil & Energy, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** September 27, 2019 **What do you like best about HCL Notes?** IBM Notes is the top application that I use the most in my office. You can e-mail, call a meeting, set up a to-do list, create various folders to segregate mails from different persons, etc. Anything you want IBM Notes to do for daily communication, it can do it easily without any hassle. the most important thing that I like about this software is its meeting calling feature. The other thing that I like the most is scheduling your tasks with in-built Calender. You can also initiate "Out of Office" notification when you are on leave. It is the best software that I used at my work. **What do you dislike about HCL Notes?** You have to get different rights to send or receive mails to/from persons outside your organization. On the other hand, sometimes conditions regarding mail segregation do not apply. **Recommendations to others considering HCL Notes:** It is a good communication tool for daily tasks, calling meetings and sharing data to your colleagues and getting their feedback. It allows any user with no experience to start using it without any difficulty. It offers great ease of use. **What problems is HCL Notes solving and how is that benefiting you?** I am doing my daily communications with my uplines and down the line. Every assignment is sent to me via Notes and I update my seniors via the same protocol. Vendor documents related to different projects are also emailed to me via IBM Notes, that I review and provide feedback to my Manager. ### 20. Review Notes Calin **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Calin Adrian P. | Technical Solutions Manager, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 01, 2019 **What do you like best about HCL Notes?** It works very well as a mail client, however, the main benefits of notes don't come from the mail but from the domino suite, that allows creation and management of various databases, forums, auctions and other forms of collaboration. I like the integration with Sametime and the fact that I can browse for any contacts in the internal database. I find the calendar very effective, you can easily schedule a meeting, appointment, all-day event, or just simple reminders. You can see easily the availability of the participants and select the right time slot. **What do you dislike about HCL Notes?** To take full advantage of the notes suite it can be quite expensive. On the other hand, the core is quite old, and complex to develop new features or make it lighter. There are cheaper alternatives and better collaboration tools for the enterprise. It may still work well in some enterprise cases. It requires strong infrastructure servers behind. It is not very easy to find good administrators, typically it requires that you will handover the administration and maintenance part to IBM. **Recommendations to others considering HCL Notes:** Recommended only for a large enterprises that have an in-house team able to understand and work with Domino. **What problems is HCL Notes solving and how is that benefiting you?** I am using it for mail, calendar, and chat features, but I am also using still many databases for various tasks. You can create documentation with owners and board reviewers, therefore, it is useful to keep documentation up to date. Scheduling meetings with many participants. Acceptance, denial or proposing new times are very easy to use for all the participants. It works well also with external invites. ### 21. IBM, Help Collaborate in the Workplace **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Maria L. | Reporter, Newspapers, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 04, 2019 **What do you like best about HCL Notes?** It often has many useful features that can accomplish many tasks efficiently. Employees have a platform through which they can connect with each other and have all the important information they should know. In addition, it helps organize tasks through the calendar, schedule employee meetings, send emails and use shared storage. Its integration with other IBM applications is what we need. **What do you dislike about HCL Notes?** There is very little understanding of this software from IBM. Therefore, IBM needs to research and reshape its image and prove that they are doing wonderful work on their software. **What problems is HCL Notes solving and how is that benefiting you?** The software's capabilities make collaboration easier and have the ability to handle everyday tasks, so less staff time and effort are required. It makes the user's work more flexible and easier. Therefore it is user-friendly. ### 22. Great teamworking , teleworking tool **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Government Administration | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 06, 2020 **What do you like best about HCL Notes?** As we are teleworking, we use this tool and SameTime to chat and collaborate on working on documents **What do you dislike about HCL Notes?** it is not as comprehensive and advanced as its competitors like Microsoft Teams **What problems is HCL Notes solving and how is that benefiting you?** Allowing communication with colleagues, integration with emails, sharing documents ### 23. It's a great all around email product **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Pedro M. | Enterprise Tech Support, Computer Software, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 13, 2019 **What do you like best about HCL Notes?** The performance of my Domino environments is just great. I do not remember the last time I had downtime that affected mailflow or my users. **What do you dislike about HCL Notes?** Sharing information with users on what is and isn't possible with Domino. It is sometimes dificult to find the KB article or the exact information needed. **Recommendations to others considering HCL Notes:** Have an open mind, most people have this idea from 10 years ago and that is not where the product is today. **What problems is HCL Notes solving and how is that benefiting you?** Just providing great email service to customers. The newer versions have narrowed the GAP to other systems in terms of usability, look and feel. ### 24. Efficient For Internal Organizational Communication **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Management Consulting | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 04, 2019 **What do you like best about HCL Notes?** IBM Notes can be use to schedule meeting with clients and internal teams. IBM Notes is integrated with IBM Sametime to facilitate both group and individual chats easily across the regions. Besides, IBM Notes can be easily used to reserve Guest House when having business trips in offices in other countries. HR related matters like leave management can be easily accessed on IBM Notes platform. **What do you dislike about HCL Notes?** IBM Notes is less compatible for web/internet browsing compared to other search engines. The web browser takes more time to load data and sometimes the page will be just blank. Still need to use other web browser. **Recommendations to others considering HCL Notes:** Company having many offices worldwide can consider IBM Notes can as a good software platform for information sharing and standardization across the company. **What problems is HCL Notes solving and how is that benefiting you?** Easily sharing templates with other colleagues within the company intranet platform that is linked within IBM Notes. Contact detail management platform for referencing any contact details, thus saves a lot of time asking other staffs. ### 25. Effective use of workspace features **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Kayla G. | Chief Education Officer & Co-Founder, Internet, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 04, 2019 **What do you like best about HCL Notes?** The functionality of the workspace has been used to design the database, allowing all staff to access important files and documents. It is considered an alternative to Sharepoint, but in this respect, Workspace is more efficient and organized. In this case, the company's choice of access control is a critical factor. **What do you dislike about HCL Notes?** The software lacks efficient features because it runs very slowly. Each task takes a lot of loads and encounters difficulties when loading, causing task completion delays. Therefore, this program is not suitable for those who want to work faster and have a reliable working environment, because it is impossible in this way. **What problems is HCL Notes solving and how is that benefiting you?** This is a perfect replacement for SharePoint because it organizes the data (records and program documentation) according to the needs of the user. In addition, employees can have a centralized platform to share their files and work. ### 26. IBM Notes, an effective tool for email **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Addie S. | Freelance, Brand Strategy, Marketing and Advertising, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 04, 2019 **What do you like best about HCL Notes?** IBM Lotus Notes has been used in the office for many years. It not only provides email capabilities but also offers a variety of other features such as built-in messenger. In general, if you understand how it works, it is an efficient and effective email tool. It has many useful features, such as automatic email, allowing any application other than IBM to send an email via Lotus Notes. It also allows for the organization and tracking of databases. Therefore, any type of customization can be done easily. **What do you dislike about HCL Notes?** Disadvantages: IBM does not allow large attachments to be sent via email, which limits communication to some extent. Moreover, it does not provide updates and advanced features. **What problems is HCL Notes solving and how is that benefiting you?** It is an effective application for communication for business purposes via email. It is also very effective for internal and external communication. ### 27. IBM Notes for sending emails **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Natasha R. | Licensed Agent with New York Life, Financial Services, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 04, 2019 **What do you like best about HCL Notes?** Many people also use IBM notes for email delivery because it has unique features that ordinary emails don't provide. It has a default messenger feature that makes it more useful. This is by far the best email program once you start using it. It also has an automated email feature that allows non-IBM other applications to send email through it. Therefore, it has a very unique and simple way to customize the application to suit you. **What do you dislike about HCL Notes?** It has a limitation that the attachment should be based on the capacity of the software and can sometimes be said to be a communication barrier. **What problems is HCL Notes solving and how is that benefiting you?** Because it has many features for writing and sending e-mail, it helps to organize internal and external communications. In addition, it is used to simply send attachments and important instructions via email. ### 28. Outdated **Rating:** 0.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Airlines/Aviation | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 05, 2019 **What do you like best about HCL Notes?** This is an opinion from an end user, I'm not an IT guy, I have no idea how stuff works on the background, but honestly, it all seems outdated It feels like I'm using a software from '90s. I don't really like anything about it besides the instant messages from our contact's list, which is useful **What do you dislike about HCL Notes?** Outdated interface, which is ugly to me at least Everything takes too much time to load Small inbox size (it might be related our IT team limiting it though) Not enough integration with other tools **Recommendations to others considering HCL Notes:** Avoid it. We are moving away from it for a reason. It is outdated and we have better options in the market today. **What problems is HCL Notes solving and how is that benefiting you?** I'm a basic user and I basically use it as my email and scheduler. It's a basic, outdated and slow Office 365 ### 29. Notes belongs back in 1999 **Rating:** 1.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Accounting | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** September 29, 2019 **What do you like best about HCL Notes?** Email can easily be encrypted for sending secured documents and messages **What do you dislike about HCL Notes?** The interface appears as if it hasn’t changed since 1999, HTML editors are horrific and offer little functionality, no warning when sending messages without subjects or attachments when words like attached are in the body of the email. Clunky interface and not widely used elsewhere so unable to attach emails to send to others when necessary. **What problems is HCL Notes solving and how is that benefiting you?** IBM Notes does contain many database features that tie in automatic approval routing based on a user-defined matrix, which does help reduce the amount of paper documentation throughout the business. ### 30. Use of workspace features is useful **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Nikki F. | Production Engineer, Internet, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 04, 2019 **What do you like best about HCL Notes?** The workspace feature of IBM notes builds a database through which employees can access files. Many companies use it as a replacement for Sharepoint software, but workspaces are more efficient and organized than they do. Control of access is a key feature of some organizations. **What do you dislike about HCL Notes?** It tends to run very slowly, and it takes a long time to load emails and access the database. It is often frozen when the page is loaded. The task completion time is too long. Therefore, it is inconvenient and reliable to use because it is time-consuming and annoying. **What problems is HCL Notes solving and how is that benefiting you?** It is used to organize documents, safety records and training records for many companies. It also provides a single platform for all employees to access important documents and documents. ### 31. a platform that I administer, use and develop for over 15 years **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Nikita Y. | Senior administrator Lotus Domino / Notes, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 17, 2019 **What do you like best about HCL Notes?** The best feature of the platform is its openness and flexibility. Support for multiple programming languages and many settings. **What do you dislike about HCL Notes?** very outdated user interface, lack of full outlook support for macos. Missing Russian templates in Domino 10 **Recommendations to others considering HCL Notes:** Use and be happy:) **What problems is HCL Notes solving and how is that benefiting you?** building a large corporate email and workflow system ### 32. Difficult user interface **Rating:** 3.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Rhonda W. | Vocational Case Manager Assistant, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 22, 2019 **What do you like best about HCL Notes?** My firm uses this for interoffice emails and for keeping digital files of all cases and documents, and it seems to work well for most. We don’t have to deal with physical files unless we prefer them **What do you dislike about HCL Notes?** The interface can be a bit clunky, as the title states, and unintuitive to use **What problems is HCL Notes solving and how is that benefiting you?** We don’t have to keep physical files as I said, and the program keeps track of everything, including documents and case notes ### 33. IBM NOTES ALL IS ALL YOU NEED TO GET THINGS DONE. **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Eli L. | Experimented Consultant , Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** September 24, 2019 **What do you like best about HCL Notes?** So for sending emails, and chating with my colleagues IBM notes has been a very good tool , very reliable. You can manage all of that easily with IBM Notes, we use it in the firm and it is a great tool **What do you dislike about HCL Notes?** the user interface is kind of old , it looks like from the 90's, and sometimes it's not very responsive. **Recommendations to others considering HCL Notes:** Is not very fast software but it works and its stable. **What problems is HCL Notes solving and how is that benefiting you?** Collaboration, organization, communication, with clients, colleagues. Calendar function and other apps ### 34. I am moving to MS Office / Outlook **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Desima B. | Interpreter, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 09, 2019 **What do you like best about HCL Notes?** There is no such feature in IBM notes, but I am now switching to MS Office Outlook because it has more advanced options and is more reliable to use. **What do you dislike about HCL Notes?** IBM notes are inconvenient to use, mobile phones are not easy to use, and not as instinct as MS Office. **What problems is HCL Notes solving and how is that benefiting you?** Many companies use MS Office and are widely distributed. Therefore, there is no benefit to using IBM. ### 35. One stop solution **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Steve H. | Managing Director, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 09, 2019 **What do you like best about HCL Notes?** The Domino Server supports a variety of programming languages. It has an integrated email engine, data storage, and web development, all in one box. Other solutions require you to install multiple servers or at least multiple software applications, sometimes quite disparate and you have to try and get these connected. You would then have to have them restart automatically in the case of a server restart. May or may not have to have them start in a particular sequence. Domino provides a one-stop solution that has everything self-contained. **What do you dislike about HCL Notes?** Lack of business templates. Certainly, a CRM (may even be basic) would be a highly welcomed solution for all organisations. It could easily integrate with the mail file. Integrated code management. **Recommendations to others considering HCL Notes:** Now that HCL has taken over Domino, I believe that this platform will provide an extensive opportunity for business applications. Internet connectivity is readily available nearly everywhere now, but when you do not have it available, Domino/Notes does provide the offline capability like nothing else as easily....ever. **What problems is HCL Notes solving and how is that benefiting you?** Booking systems, Help Desk, Purchase Order management, along with a host of other business benefits. We have realised a lot of benefits, such as a rapid application development platform, easily located source code. ### 36. Long standing stable platform that can run apps written 20+ years ago and those moving forward. **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Irv S. | Senior Messaging Administrator, Information Technology and Services, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 09, 2019 **What do you like best about HCL Notes?** Solid email system stability. Server configuration/setup is straightforward. Excellent security model. Definitely worth a look for those organizations hesitant to move to cloud due to clustering and advanced replication, and high availability features. Ease of administration. **What do you dislike about HCL Notes?** A weaning set of 3rd party tools for specialized needs/requirements. The disparity/configuration involved with using Connections and Sametime on a separate platform (DB2/Websphere). Quickplace and a Teamroom integration would have been far easier for smaller companies, along with leaving Sametime in Domino. Heavy client install and separate Java security patching. Reporting is limited. **Recommendations to others considering HCL Notes:** There has been an immediate improvement in customer interaction with the transition of the product to HCL. While moving to the cloud is the pattern choice of late, there will always be some companies that need on-site and full control of their data and systems, and Notes/Domino should be in the mix here for some time to come. **What problems is HCL Notes solving and how is that benefiting you?** Email, Calendaring, Scheduling, Custom Applications (RAD). ### 37. Usage of IBM Lotus notes **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** sonyabevis t. | Python Dev, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 18, 2019 **What do you like best about HCL Notes?** Every organization requires a setup to create and organize the databases from the complex operational procedures. Lotus plays a vital role in doing the documentation of an organization. It is also helpful for the administrators as it allows them to restrict the unwanted access of employees.In some organizations it is used as a training program for database training and enables to define any problem in the systems. **What do you dislike about HCL Notes?** The software is not advanced as it needs to provide the updated version which will allow the users to work efficiently and effectively. Also, it is a slow software and is considered as relatively outdated. Moreover, the users finds difficulty to use the software as it does not provide friendly functionality. And the irregular users do not find it easy to use as it is not easy for them to relearn the functions, however, the users who use it very often are very comfortable in using it. **What problems is HCL Notes solving and how is that benefiting you?** It is very useful for the documentation as it makes the work easy through databases. It also helps in the training programs and allows to tackle the operational problems.The employees can easily access the notes to work on by logging in to their emails. ### 38. IBM notes, used as an efficient tool for email **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** abby m. | Java Developer, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 30, 2019 **What do you like best about HCL Notes?** IBM Lotus Notes has been used for years for the office work. It not only provides feature of emailing but multiple other features like inbuilt messenger. Overall it is an efficient and effective email tool to use if you get to know how it works. It has many useful features like auto-emailing which allows any application other than IBM to send emails through the Lotus Notes. It also allows to organize and keep track of the databases. Thus, any type of customization can be done easily. **What do you dislike about HCL Notes?** IBm does not allow large attachments to send through emails and this limits the communication to some extent. Moreover, it does not provide with the updates and advanced functions. **What problems is HCL Notes solving and how is that benefiting you?** It is an efficient application for the communication of business purposes through email. Also it is effective for internal and external Communication. ### 39. Back to the future. **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Francesco P. | IT Senior Consultant, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 20, 2019 **What do you like best about HCL Notes?** IBM Notes has been designed with security in mind from the very beginning. Its security model was based from the start on private/public key pair cryptography, and the hierarchical naming system coupled with a role-based authorization model was 10 years ahead of any other competitor, and it was the reason why it allowed simple and fast development of intranet applications with full control of user rights. It is since 2001 with the announcement of Microsoft Sharepoint Portal Server that we all Notes enthusiasts have had to endure mokery smiles from the new kids on the block... To see that after all these years IBM Notes is still alive and kicking is great, great news, and to imagine those kids 18 years later with their white hair still repeat their usless mantra is also great. This IBM-Microsoft rivalry is integral part of the history, something like Philadelphia Eagles vs NY Giants, and I really like that today it is our turn to rejoice. **What do you dislike about HCL Notes?** It is a product different from any other, so users sometimes does not find that common "look and feel" **Recommendations to others considering HCL Notes:** It has always been the best product to integrate all those business functions that allows people to "Get Things Done", and now it is "on steroid" with a new user interface, best in class email and caledar client and a new IBM Domino 10 backend which fully supports nodesjs. **What problems is HCL Notes solving and how is that benefiting you?** A whole set of intranet apps with workflow: purchase requests, hiring process, document repositories, meeting rooms management, CRM, HRM, .... ### 40. Easy to use, very straightforward **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Apparel & Fashion | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** September 03, 2019 **What do you like best about HCL Notes?** It is quite simple and user friendly. Anyone in the office can use it just as well. **What do you dislike about HCL Notes?** It would be nice if I got a reminder pop-up for my meetings like I did when I used Outlook. It kept me on track better. **What problems is HCL Notes solving and how is that benefiting you?** The time automation is often incorrect, causing me to have to change my meetings frequently. ### 41. One place for email, database manipulation and document management **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Information Technology and Services | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 10, 2019 **What do you like best about HCL Notes?** IBM notes is secure and convenient for managing database applications and mail in one platform. It is fluid in it's transition between mail, calendar and databases for ease of use - we particularly like the ibm traveller application for mail on the go. **What do you dislike about HCL Notes?** We could use an application for iOS iPhone to do database management as the new app released for this is iPad only which we do not have. **Recommendations to others considering HCL Notes:** If mobile database manipulation is ciritical to your workload make sure you have access to an iPad as this is the only platform that an app is available for. **What problems is HCL Notes solving and how is that benefiting you?** We use notes for mail, database manipulation and document creation as well as calendar management. ### 42. IBM znotes Personal Review. **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Stetson M. | Logistics Account Executive, Higher Education, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 21, 2019 **What do you like best about HCL Notes?** What I like best about IBM notes is that it is business friendly. It makes email more so much business friendly. Basically could say that email and business calendar just got flawless or world-class yo could say. It gives team members to access the business email, to the business calendar, the business contacts, the business management capabilities, and more importantly business applications. I also like that it is user-friendly. Best for a team environment. **What do you dislike about HCL Notes?** What I dislike about IBM Notes. Let me see. I would say the chat option gives a lot of issues at times, but not on the regular. With some people in our organization, they always want to switch away from it because some people can be inpatient which is normal. Another thing would be since IBM is not the only thing we use it doesn't integrate with other software I would say. So coming from a team leader that could be a little frustrated at times. **Recommendations to others considering HCL Notes:** Yes churches and schools **What problems is HCL Notes solving and how is that benefiting you?** The business problems that I am solving with IBM Notes are getting to chat with my team on the regular without making a phone call or leaving my desk could just message them right away. Can also chat with multiple people. The benefits I have realized are one We can schedule a lot easier, the calendar is easy to use, the features are very user-friendly. ### 43. IBM Notes is effective but basic. **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Kipruto A. | Freelance IT Expert, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 20, 2019 **What do you like best about HCL Notes?** I have used IBM notes in my past employment. The application was in use in majority of the departments in our organization where it was primarily used for email, calendar, events and meeting scheduler,contacts management , social networking within the institution (note 9) and also enterprise shared storage. The basic functionalities like the calendar, email, contacts and scheduling is implemented superbly. What I liked about IBM notes is, it has a very simple user interface which makes it easy to use. The application's compatibility with various operating system platform e.g Windows, linux, osx mac etc. IBM notes offers one of the best encryption and message security standards which is key when passing highly confidential information and data within an organization. I also love the easy to backup and recover data functionality. **What do you dislike about HCL Notes?** Despite IBM Notes being an effective an helpful application, it has got its challenges. One major factor letting IBM notes is Its old schools GUI, Its less appealing to new users and the tech savvy guys. There are few or no marketing initiatives by IBM to market this product, the should up their game on marketing. IBM should do a revamp and re-engineer this application, they Seem to be letting it Die slowly. **What problems is HCL Notes solving and how is that benefiting you?** Communication within a business is key in making decisions and passing crucial info to stake holders in a business. Without an effective communication and scheduling platform like IBM Note an Institution might suffer breakdown due to ineffective means of communication and planning. Our organization reaped immensely from timely and effective communication, on point meeting scheduling, contacts management all this owing to IBM notes. ### 44. IBM Notes simple but does the job **Rating:** 3.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Non-Profit Organization Management | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** September 09, 2019 **What do you like best about HCL Notes?** Easy to setup meetings and check the calendar. Good for Collaboration and Comunication with colleagues. **What do you dislike about HCL Notes?** Ugly User Interface. Randomly crashes or throws exceptions. Lot of functions unknown. **Recommendations to others considering HCL Notes:** Is a good software if you cant get a better one like Microsoft Outlook **What problems is HCL Notes solving and how is that benefiting you?** Easier to arrange meeting using IBM Notes ### 45. The best tool for your email **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Betza O. | Periodista audiovisual, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 16, 2019 **What do you like best about HCL Notes?** With this application you can use in a more productive way your e-mail, program through the calendar your appointments, commitments and daily tasks and you will have the best results, you can also integrate messaging functions and share files, you will have available your contact list, configure workflows and manage them with **What do you dislike about HCL Notes?** The interface needs a renewal in the design, this would make it more attractive to the user. **What problems is HCL Notes solving and how is that benefiting you?** We use it in some opportunities to manage the great database that we have, and to share ideas about our audiovisual samples, before making them public, we have also sent the links of our publications by mail with the help of this plan. ### 46. Functional, Don’t know if there are better options **Rating:** 3.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Banking | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** September 10, 2019 **What do you like best about HCL Notes?** It’s easy to understand, i currently use the ninth edition and it’s a great improvement on the 8. **What do you dislike about HCL Notes?** I wish the employee chat functionality was more robust like webex teams or slack **What problems is HCL Notes solving and how is that benefiting you?** Solving emailing, meeting room scheduling, and chat ### 47. Not friendly and not easy to use **Rating:** 3.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Chemicals | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** September 21, 2019 **What do you like best about HCL Notes?** Nothing special that I like about notes **What do you dislike about HCL Notes?** Unknown to me, I struggle to archive emails, insert tables, autograph corrections...etc **What problems is HCL Notes solving and how is that benefiting you?** I have not realized any special benefits nor solved any special problem ! ### 48. IBM Lotus Notes **Rating:** 2.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Chemicals | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 24, 2019 **What do you like best about HCL Notes?** Workspaces allow for organization of business-wide documentation. Categorization capabilities make separating databases easy and allow restricted accessibility, which can be defined by administrators. **What do you dislike about HCL Notes?** Software is very slow and restrictive. Lotus notes is not often updated, and seems very unfriendly toward users and is relatively antiquated. User functionality is strictly limited by how often the software is used - such that frequent users are much more fluid but for someone who uses it on a weekly or even monthly basis, the learning/re-learning curve is quite steep. **Recommendations to others considering HCL Notes:** There are other softwares that will provide much more user-friendly interfaces, and with Microsoft's recent upgrades to the Office software package, you can accomplish most of the same things with that. **What problems is HCL Notes solving and how is that benefiting you?** Currently our company utilizes Lotus Notes as a training hub and training database/tracking system. It allows us to define shortcomings in our training programs and organize all of our standard operating procedures into on easily accessible database which can be pushed to all active users via a simple email. ### 49. IBM Notes 10 **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Keerthana S. | Process Associate, Accounting, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 20, 2019 **What do you like best about HCL Notes?** It gives advanced email methods and mail management techniques.The search options helps to find what we need of. It supports both IOS and android applications. That's the best part which i like about it. Not only for an email, it can be used as calendar, messaging, browsing as well. **What do you dislike about HCL Notes?** While using this software for quite while i am not finding any difficulties in using it. Initially it takes time to understand about the usage for this product. Might get more doubts about how to use it during initial days. Once we get use to it, it is more user friendly. **What problems is HCL Notes solving and how is that benefiting you?** We use more of prototyping within the teams. So instant messaging services we use while prototype so that everyone be on same track. If i talk about benefits it really saves times in team work. ### 50. I am using desktop workflow application **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Talesha L. | SR Software Engineer, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 06, 2019 **What do you like best about HCL Notes?** it is able to handle various office tasks efficiently. It has features to manage and create groups for the workplace discussion, manage the workflows of business and customising the applications making them ready to go with the tasks. therefore, it is a timesaving and effective application to manage the daily tasks **What do you dislike about HCL Notes?** This software does not provide the users with new versions and advanced functions. Various applications and and advanced websites are provided out there in the market that works more efficiently and are up to dated. This reduces the number of potential users for the application. **What problems is HCL Notes solving and how is that benefiting you?** it provides the features to send emails and customize different applications according to need of the task. ## HCL Notes Discussions - [In what industries is IBM Notes mostly used?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/in-what-industries-is-ibm-notes-mostly-used) - 1 comment, 1 upvote - [View HCL Notes pricing details and edition comparison](https://www.g2.com/products/hcl-notes/reviews?section=pricing&secure%5Bexpires_at%5D=2026-06-14+12%3A27%3A45+-0500&secure%5Bsession_id%5D=859d5a47-cbc9-479e-9aaa-4cebc620f89b&secure%5Btoken%5D=e450c933144c8015f75bf15b4b83f838934ba6f36d73047006990289e0781dac&format=llm_user) ## HCL Notes Features **Inbox Tools** - Unified Inbox - Filters - Reminders - Notifications **Coordination Tools** - Calendar - Contacts - Task Management **Software Options** - Desktop Application - Mobile Application **Email Client - Agentic AI** - Autonomous Task Execution - Cross-system Integration ## Top HCL Notes Alternatives - [Microsoft Outlook](https://www.g2.com/products/microsoft-outlook/reviews) - 4.5/5.0 (3,405 reviews) - [Thunderbird](https://www.g2.com/products/thunderbird/reviews) - 4.3/5.0 (333 reviews) - [Front](https://www.g2.com/products/front/reviews) - 4.7/5.0 (2,413 reviews)