How often do we have our e-mail application open, then a word editor, perhaps a spreadsheet, and lastly we may be preparing a presentation? We may also want to convert several of these documents to PDF which means we will need PDF conversion software. Typically this would require five applications to be open and we would need to be licensed to use these five programs.

Wouldn't it be easier if all these applications were contained into the one interface? Well, with Lotus Notes we do as we have all these applications combined into one. Within Lotus Notes there is an integrated version of Lotus Symphony, which is IBM's award winning office productivity software that allows us to create documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and it even has a PDF creator.

Lotus Symphony supports the Open Document Format (ODF). ODF is important and valuable because it provides choice, cost effectiveness, and control over the use of our documents and the intellectual property they contain. ODF enables efficient interchange of information between various parts of an organization and between organizations. This is a great asset as we no longer need to worry that a recipient of our documents won't be able to open them.

Obviously in one chapter we cannot explain how to use a word processor, a spreadsheet application, and a presentation application. Instead we will focus on using these applications within Lotus Notes. If we require further information, we can visit the Symphony website by going to http://symphony.lotus.com/software/lotus/symphony/home.nsf/home.

The Symphony version, integrated within Lotus Notes, may be a different version than the version that is currently available. IBM has plans to be able to update Symphony within Lotus Notes; however, at the moment it is not possible. If we require the latest version of Symphony, we can download it from the above website and install it separately. Remember it is free, so we have nothing to lose!

In this chapter we will explore:

What is Lotus Symphony

Lotus Symphony is an office productivity suite that allows us to create, edit, and share documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. It is provided free of charge by IBM and can be downloaded and installed as a standalone product; however, we will be exploring the integrated version of Symphony, which is within Lotus Notes. When we install Lotus Notes, we can select to install the productivity tools called Lotus Symphony.

If Symphony has been installed, we will see the options to create Documents, Presentations, and Spreadsheets on the Home page as shown here:

As Symphony provides support for Open Document Format, we can import and edit Microsoft® Office documents and export those documents to ODF for sharing with ODF-compliant applications and solutions. The advantage of this feature is that we are not locked-in to any one vendor's proprietary technology. There are several office suite applications that support ODF, which is important in moving forward as this ensures accessibility and compatibility of our documents.