Monday, December 22, 2014

How to fix ‘File Does Not Exist’ error in Lotus Notes

IBM Lotus Notes is among the most preferred email client in today’s business world, but it doesn’t mean Lotus Notes is always error free and totally robust email platform. Sometime, due to random causes an IBM Lotus Notes user may come across a critical situation where he/she may get the following error code on their Lotus Notes screen:

                             ‘File XXX.nsf does not exist’ 

As a Lotus Notes user when you come across this error, you become unable to locate the data stored in ‘xxx.nsf’ file. That results in the total isolation from all the data stored in Lotus Notes mailbox.  There is lot of causes responsible for occurring the error code in your Lotus Notes email client. However, mentioned below are the most frequently causes behind occurring the error. Check below the scenarios, and solution to fix this issue from Lotus Notes-

Situation 1: When one particular user who installs either Notes 8.5.2 Fix Pack 3 or Interim Fix 1 for Notes 8.5.2 Fix Pack is not the same user who has installed the prior version.

Solution: In order to prevent the error, it is recommended to execute the installation process while being logged in as the same user who has installed the previous release.  The best method after you have performed the installation is just restarting the Notes client as soon as the error comes.  By doing this, you will completely resolve the problem from occurring regularly.

Situation 2: If you have deleted the Autosave.ntf file by disabling the Autosave option while editing an attached file in mail simultaneously, then you may also get the same error but with a bit different format:

                   ‘File does not exist: C:\Lotus\Notes\data\autosave.ntf

Error Description:
              1)   Please disable the ‘Autosave every xx minutes’ in User preference setting and delete the autosave.nsf       files in data directory.
              2)   Open mail database and a memo with a attachment.
              3)    Right click to edit the attachment.
              4)    After editing just close and save.        
              5)    In the notes document hit send you will come across the above mentioned error.

The main cause for getting this error message is default error in programming that has not been corrected.

Solution:There are some inbuilt methods of Lotus Notes or Domino Server to resolve this error but these ways can be too technical and not understandable for a non-techie guy. In addition, these inbuilt methods don’t recover your mailbox data, as they just make your mailbox ready for reuse.


As it is one of the permanent restrictions that cannot be resolved easily, so in order to come out from such a severe situation; use a trusted and professional third party software which not only recover Lotus Notes from errors but also smoothly repairs the inaccessible mail items by analyzing the corruption level. For more technical specification about the software, click here.