WorxMail with IBM/Lotus Notes: Known Limitations

This article describes the feature and functionality limitations when using WorxMail with IBM/Lotus Notes and also provides comparisons to the IBM Verse client. This will help determine when the MDX wrapped IBM verse client would be a better option in XenMobile deployments.

XenMobile supports 2 options for deploying secure email, calendar, and contacts for IBM/Lotus Notes customers:

1. Citrix WorxMail client: WorxMail leverages the IBM/Lotus Notes Traveler server to sync email, calendar and contacts.
2. Secure MDX wrapped version of IBM’s own mail client called IBM Verse.
   • iOS – download the app from Citrix Ready: https://citrixready.citrix.com/ibm-global-services/ibm-verse-ios.html.
   • Android – contact IBM for app; details on Citrix Ready: https://citrixready.citrix.com/ibm-global-services/ibm-verse-android.html.
   • For a complete list of IBM Verse mobile features, see IBM documentation on Using IBM Verse Mobile.

1. Key Features available only on the IBM Verse client

The Traveler server does not have known APIs for the below key capabilities and thus, WorxMail is not able to support these features at this time. If these features are critical, it is recommended to deploy the MDX wrapped IBM verse client instead of WorxMail.

• Push Notifications for iOS (APNs). Note that IBM recently released this capability for their own verse client in 9.0.1: IBM - Auto Sync with APNs
• Lotus Notes Encryption

2. Additional feature limitations when using WorxMail with IBM/Lotus Notes vs. Exchange

The following features supported by WorxMail with Exchange are not available when WorxMail is used with IBM/Lotus Notes. IBM has documented some of these limitations with their Traveler platform and Verse clients (links are provided below), while others are Exchange specific capabilities in WorxMail.

Microsoft Exchange specific features in WorxMail

• S/MIME signing and encryption
• Microsoft IRM protected emails
• Certificate Based Authentication

Features not supported due to Traveler Server limitations

• Free/Busy to view invitee availability when creating meetings
• Out of Office (Lotus Notes 8.5.3 only)
• ‘Deleted Items’ folder does not sync
• Contact Categories
  • WorxMail Android will not sync Categories in Contacts
  • VIPs will not sync across devices on iOS and Android since the contact category is used to sync this information.

References from IBM on Traveler & Mobile client limitations:

• General limitations with IBM Notes
• Traveler server limitations
• iOS client issues
• Android client issues

3. Known issues when using WorxMail with IBM/Lotus Notes vs. Exchange –?? iOS and Android

WorxMail Calendar

a. All Day Events:

• ‘All Day’ cannot be removed from an Event [609768]
• An All Day event shows as 4 AM to 8 PM instead of all day [443126 & 515268]

b. ?? Viewing Meetings

• Attendee responses are not reflected for the organizer [436828 & 521160]
• Forwarded events do not display the meeting details [439335 & 515352]

c.?? Creating & Editing Meetings

• When optional attendees are removed, other attendees do not get the update in their attendee list [441706]
• “Send to All/Changed” option does not come up when editing an existing meeting [583038]
• In WorxMail, optional attendees are added as Mandatory after sync [441880]

d. Meeting Cancellations:

• The cancellation email subject has “Canceled:” prefixed twice ?? [445040]
• Meetings are automatically removed from the calendar when a cancellation is received [524422 & 515335]

e. Recurring meetings: It is not advised when using WorxMail with Lotus notes to convert a meeting to a recurring meeting or modify an existing series due to the following issues:

• When Converting a meeting with no recurrence to a recurring meeting :
  • Attendees who the original meeting was forwarded to do not get the update [446883 & 557364]
  • The meeting type cannot be changed to recurring [585994 & 441073]
• Changing the recurrence type of a meeting from weekly to daily for example, generates multiple invitations [447137 & 515347]
• When a recurring meeting has no end date, only 250 occurrences are created [440091 & 517564]
• The start date cannot be changed to an earlier date [441125]
• End Date cannot be changed – the event defaults to the number of occurrences [523058]
• When the same occurrence is edited multiple times, attendees do not receive the latest updates [441082]
• Adding an invitee to a series that is already created is not supported – the invitee does not receive the meeting [445740]

Out of Office

• Out of Office does not stay ‘ON’, gets turned off when re-syncing with server [433527]
• When different messages are set for “Inside my Organization” and “Outside my Organization”, the “Outside my Organization” message replaces “Inside my Organization [517505]
• The time period does not sync from the server to the WM client [518000]

Inline Images

• Inline images do not display on iOS with Lotus Notes 8.5.3 [631898]
• Inline images do not display when emails are forwarded [631910]