Lotus Notes to SharePoint Migration

How to migrate a Lotus Notes database to SharePoint

Seascape for Notes is a Lotus Notes to SharePoint migration and data archiving tool that helps you convert HCL Domino databases (Lotus Notes databases) to SharePoint lists or document libraries. Here are the migration steps:

Lotus Notes to SharePoint migration steps

Follow these steps to migrate Lotus Notes Domino databases to SharePoint, either Microsoft 365 / SharePoint online or on-premises:

1. Click on the SharePoint option to run the migrator from Notes to SharePoint. Select a database to be exported, the export settings, and the staging folder, and click Next to begin your export. Your Lotus Notes documents will now be converted to PDF files that are saved in the staging folder, along with Notes attachments and metadata (saved in XML format).
2. Once the database is exported to the staging folder, click on the Upload to SharePoint button to open the SharePoint Uploader. In the SharePoint Uploader, select the staging folder to upload the Notes data to SharePoint.
3. Connect to a SharePoint site using your credentials and select a SharePoint library or a SharePoint list to which the data from the staging folder will be uploaded.
4. Select the Lotus Notes fields that you wish to import into SharePoint and map them to the appropriate SharePoint columns. When you’re done, click on the Start Upload button, and the data will be uploaded to SharePoint.

Notes to SharePoint migrator options

The SharePoint Uploader maps Lotus Notes fields to corresponding SharePoint lists and library columns. It can also create new columns in SharePoint automatically and transfer the Notes field values to those columns.

Example: A SharePoint Library with Notes documents

Here’s an example of how the uploaded PDF files and metadata are displayed in a SharePoint library:

Lotus Notes to Office 365 migration

If you need to migrate email accounts from HCL Domino to Microsoft 365 or Office 365, you have numerous options for automated mailbox migration.

You can start with the Microsoft Online Notes Inspector (MONTI) tool to evaluate how much data needs to be migrated from Domino mailboxes.

Lotus Notes applications, though, are a different kettle of fish.

For companies using Microsoft 365, the idea of lifting all applications from Lotus Notes and automagically shifting the code and data to Office 365 may sound appealing. But in practice, it’s often undesirable and even impracticable.

Some Notes applications will be retired, some have been replaced with commercial packaged software, some are earmarked to be rebuilt on a new platform. Among those that will be rebuilt, some will be consolidated into fewer applications. This is a unique opportunity to rethink your applications’ functionality, data structures, and business logic.

Note that doing so may require considerable time and planning, which is further complicated if your applications contain tons of historical data.

Fortunately, there is a way to handle the issue of historical application data quickly and efficiently, leaving you more time to deal with more complex issues. You can simply extract historical data from Lotus Notes and then have authorized users access the data in Microsoft Teams and SharePoint.

In some cases, the data moved into SharePoint can even serve as a good starting point for employing Microsoft Power Apps and Flow.

Key Point: It is difficult to overstate the importance of data completeness and content fidelity. Sometimes, moving raw columnar data from Lotus Notes views to Microsoft Lists will solve a specific use case. Mostly though, preserving the entire content that originated in Lotus Notes in its original form is mandatory. In doing so, you will retain completeness of the archived information, making it accessible for future reference or eDiscovery.

Why migrating from Lotus Notes to Office 365 and SharePoint makes sense

You may be thinking: “Why should I deal with Notes data while the old system is still running?”

First, you may want to relieve users from the burden of using the Notes client. 

Second, you should evacuate your data from a platform in which your organization has ceased to invest. The sooner you make that step, the easier and less costly the process will be.

Demo

In this demo, you will see how Seascape moves the extracted Notes documents, attachments, and selected metadata into a SharePoint library in just a few clicks. If you prefer to try it for yourself, sign up for a free trial.

Data migration partners

SWING Software’s data migration tools are widely used among both IT professionals and consultants. For instance, AD7 Consulting has helped one of their clients (a leading software company) migrate various Lotus Notes databases to Microsoft SharePoint. They successfully completed the migration of over 100,000 documents (20 GB of data). The client’s IT department had always feared the Notes migration, but in the end, this was the smoothest part of the transition.

“The ability to archive our Notes databases and upload to SharePoint with all the metadata has been incredible. It is so easy to use, and much of our Notes data is even easier to access and search now. ”

— Todd D., ERP Technical Manager, Railroad Manufacturing Company