Well, that works sometimes/occationally; however, good luck trying that on your desktop6.ndk or names.nsf files though. It never seems to work. Seems like our only option for such files is to manually copy them to a Domino server and then use the server’s console … I was hoping someone knew a better/easier way.

You should never copy local files to the Domino server.

You can use the fixup and compact on local files with the nfixup and ncompact commands.

1. close Lotus Notes before doing so.
2. It’s a good idea to put your Notes program directory in the path statement of Windows.
3. The following command assumes that your Notes program directory is c:program fileslotusnotes

Open a command prompt window in Windows XP and type the following commands.

c:
cdprogram fileslotusnotes
nfixup names.nsf
ncompact names.nsf

nfixup desktop6.ndk
ncompact desktop6.ndk

nfixup mailmailfile.nsf
ncompact mailmailfile.nsf

In some configuration (such as shared), or if you are executing the command from a directory other than the program directory, you may need to specify the location of your notes.ini file as below.
c:
cdprogram fileslotusnotesdata
c:program fileslotusnotesnfixup names.nsf =c:program fileslotusnotesnotes.ini

Davidkillingsworth: Excellent answer. Too bad the editor removes your backslashes so it is less clear than it could be, but that’s not your problem.

Kesevan: Look for more information in the Admin Client Help related to nfixup and ncompact. These utilities can be used on server databases as well as on user’s local machines. You will also find command switches to force additional cleanup with these tools.

Another way to address problems with local mail databases is to create a new local replica and replace the old one. Something like this.

In Notes, select the Mail.nsf.
Choose File > Replication > New Replica.
Give the new replica a new name, like mailnew.nsf.
When replication is complete, shut down Notes.
Move mail.nsf outside the \data directory.
rename mailnew.nsf to mail.nsf.
Start Notes.
Open mail. It should find the new replica.
You may have a stacked icon for the new replica with the old name that needs to be deleted.

~~

re: Brooklyegg’s new replica answer:
Or, you could simply delete the local mail replica before creating a new one to avoid any confusion as to which copy was which and save disk space locally.

If you do not move the old local replica out of the data directory, when you replicate with the server, you will end up replicating both local copies with the server.

In response to the “new replica” idea. True this may work, however, in order to delete the older one you will likely need to issue a “dbcache flush” command at the server console (sometimes more than once, I usually issue it 3 times in a row for good measure), then the old file can be deleted and the new file renamed. Whatever you chose to do, there are options here that should clear it up.

Mike Kinder
mkinder@acadiasolutions.com

Just to clarify one point, this discussion is referring to a local database.

You would only need to flush the dbcache if you are trying to delete, move or rename the file on a server with the Domino server running.

It isn’t required on your local workstation. Just make sure the database isn’t open in your Notes client.