Wcdulanyjr Jun 2, 2010   5:58 PM GMT

I have run into this question only in a couple of situations:

1. User is trying to open a NSF file and has either an older version of the Notes client or the NSF file was created with a newer version of Notes than is installed on the local machine
2. Company has stop using Lotus Notes and won't install it on any (new) workstations, but someone decided to keep the NSF instead of exporting the content to a supported platform. Six months later, they urgently have to read the file, but no Notes client.

In the past I would have said "Too bad, too sad". However, there are a couple of options.

A C++ developer could go build an application to access the data via the C API
Someone with dev skills could use COM to access the NSF via MS Office VBA.
Find a third party database tool that can also read NSF files
Get a copy of the Notes installation disk and upgrade the instance of Lotus Notes client on the machine
Download a 90 day version of the Lotus Notes client from the IBM site and install it on your machine.
Download the free 8.5x Designer from the IBM site and install that to your machine, you should be able to open any NSF you have rights to access

If the Notes client is what is corrupted, then one of the last three options is probably your best bet to get access to the files. Sicne you don't clarify in your question what "archive" means, there could be another issue that may come up even if you do get the client running again. Do you have a valid Notes ID with access in the ACL for the "nsf archive files"? I have seen organizations decide to "archive" Notes data by just burning it to a CD-ROM and then chucking the client software and ID files and then they wonder why they can't access the files later. Also, the ID file has to have a valid certificate. Even for local work, you will get an alert from the Notes client when you try to login with the old ID file that is has expired. In addition, some Lotus Notes applications are designed to work with multiple NSF files, just because you have one of the files, does not mean you have all that you need in order to open and access another. Key resource lookups could be involved and you may not get all the data you are looking for in the NSF file. Funny, this seemed like a shorter answer in my head when I first logged in to the site. 8-D

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SlikTool May 30, 2012   1:32 PM GMT

@Wcdulanyjr did an awesome job giving you details an options, there is only one other I can think of that might help - NotesSQL

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Subhendu Sen Nov 1, 2017   10:32 AM GMT

From where did you get this .nsf file? Why there is no Lotus Notes installed? This is a database file using by IBM lotus and which stores data in document like information such as mail and calendar data. If anyone can open this file or has unauthorized access, s/he may get information about other mails etc. This is a security issue. However, you can try with 3rd party tools, but they are not free.

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ToddN2000 Mar 16, 2018   6:27 PM GMT

This site list a few other programs than may let you convert the file into a usable format. 

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