Over the past few weeks I've had a lot of enquiries about making the Standard Lotus Notes client revert to the Basic client. Good news it a simple "operation". This works on 8.0.2 clients and above.

Open the notes.ini file on the client machine in question and add the line:
UseBasicNotes=1


When you want to revert that client back to Standard simply comment out (precede with a "#") or remove the line.

Note, there is a know issue (fixed in 8.5.1) where adding this line on a multi-user install prior to Notes installation can cause issues. See Technote 1318037 for further details.
Darren Duke   |   March 23 2010 12:38:54 PM   |     lotus notes  802  851  8.0.2  8.5  8.5.1    |  
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Comments (4)

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1 - David Schaffer    http://bloginprogress.us    03/23/2010 2:41:42 PM

I prefer to install the full standard client then set the user's shortcut to start Notes to "notes.exe -sa". That way it runs in basic mode but standard mode is readily available when needed for administration, or when the user is ready to take off the training wheels.

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2 - Darren Duke    http://blog.darrenduke.net    03/24/2010 7:58:45 AM

Yep, David makes a good point. However, the notes.ini setting has a hidden advantage of being able to be pushed out via a Domino policy to users (so, no need to hit their desktops to add the setting). BUT, I don't think it can be removed that way.... doh!

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3 - Tony Frazier    www.tonyfrazier.com    03/24/2010 9:07:36 AM

While I'm not sure how policies will update an existing notes.ini entry, UseBasicNotes=0 will launch in standard mode.

Another advantage of using the notes.ini approach: it is not dependent on which shortcut or url was used to start Notes.

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4 - Tony Frazier    http://www.tonyfrazier.com    03/24/2010 9:08:16 AM

While I'm not sure how policies will update an existing notes.ini entry, UseBasicNotes=0 will launch in standard mode.

Another advantage of using the notes.ini approach: it is not dependent on which shortcut or url was used to start Notes.