Is Lotus Notes the same as HCL Notes?
Yes, HCL Notes is the current name for Lotus Notes. IBM sold the product to HCL in 2019, and the server side, once called Lotus Domino, is now HCL Domino. The migration steps in this guide apply whichever name your team still uses.
Notes is different from most email systems. It stores mail, calendars, and custom applications in database files, and many organizations built important workflows on it over the years. That makes a Notes move closer to a platform change than a mailbox copy. Our email migration guide shows how it compares with Exchange and IMAP moves.
What moves from Notes to Gmail?
Mail, calendar entries, and contacts move from Notes to Gmail, using specialist tools that read Notes databases and convert them into Google Workspace data. Each user's mail sits in its own database file, and the tool converts it message by message.
Conversion needs testing, because Notes and Gmail store things differently:
- Folders become Gmail labels.
- Rich text formatting may look different, especially tables and embedded objects.
- Doclinks, which point to other Notes documents, cannot open once Notes is gone.
- Recurring meetings should be checked closely in a pilot.
Run a pilot with users who have the most complex mail, not the simplest. If their mail looks right, everyone else's usually will too.
What happens to Notes applications?
Notes applications do not move to Google Workspace. Each one needs its own decision, and that decision is often the longest part of the project. Start with an inventory: list every application, its owner, what it does, and when it was last used.
Then sort each one into a group:
- Retire. Applications nobody has used in a long time, or whose purpose has ended.
- Archive. Applications with records you must keep but no longer change. Export the records to a read-only format and store them in a restricted shared drive. Our guide to My Drive vs shared drives explains why shared drives suit this.
- Rebuild. Applications people still use every day. Simple forms often become Google Forms and Sheets. Workflow apps may be rebuilt with Google's AppSheet no-code platform or a custom tool.
Involve the people who use each application. They know which features matter and which were never used.
How do you handle encrypted mail and local archives?
Encrypted Notes mail can only be read with the right Notes ID, so it has to be decrypted during or before migration. Find ID files early, including those of people who have left. If your organization uses an ID vault, your Notes administrator may be able to recover IDs from it. Mail that cannot be decrypted will not be readable in Gmail.
Local archives are the other trap. Some users keep archive databases on their own computers, outside the server. Like Outlook PST files, these are invisible to server-based tools. Our guide to migrating PST archives describes the same find, check, and import approach, and our list of what does not migrate automatically covers other gaps.
How long should Notes and Google Workspace run side by side?
Plan to run them side by side until every Notes application has a decision and a replacement, which often takes longer than the mail move. Mail switches in one cutover when MX records change. Applications retire on their own schedule. Keep the Notes server available, ideally read-only, for the applications that still need it.
This is a natural fit for a staged plan. Our comparison of staged migration vs single cutover helps you choose.
Next step
Our HCL Notes migration service covers mail conversion and the application inventory. Start there to plan your move.
Frequently asked questions
Can we read old Notes mail after the migration?
Yes, if it was migrated. Converted messages live in Gmail with your other mail and are searchable like any message. Mail you chose not to migrate stays in Notes databases, so plan how to read or archive it before the Notes server is retired.
What happens to links between Notes documents?
They stop working. A doclink points to a document inside a Notes database, so it cannot open once Notes is gone. Some migration tools convert the link into text in the message. Archive important linked documents somewhere people can find them.
