What you get is a .zip file with three files inside it. Installation is simple and archaic. It's foolproof if you read the instructions, or even if you don't. Just copy the three files to your Notes program directory. Actually you don't really need the readme.txt file, or even, in a pinch, the notespk.hlp file. You can run it from Windows Start/Run and browse to ntspk32.exe if you want, but I took the time to create a Start Programs shortcut to it.

So what do you get when you start it up? Figure A shows the initial display.

FIGURE A

Select databases by opening nodes in the left pane. Click picture for a larger image.

I'm not going to explain every little piece of this; you can read the manual in the help file, assuming you installed it. I'll just call out the more interesting pieces of how to get around NotesPeek and what it can do to help you.

Start it up
In the left side of the display is a tree structure that shows where you are. There's a hidden pane at the top of this that condenses your current position. Click the arrows next to one of the entries to open it up. The best place to start is to click the one against "Local" and start to explore there. Figure B shows the top pane and my local mail replica opened up.

FIGURE B

My Mail database is opened in the right pane. Click picture for a larger image.

Immediately you can see a couple of useful things where the database is open. See how it has separated the different things in the database--the ACL and the Design elements (all 588 of them)--and shows not only the actual data documents but also the profiles and the number of delete stubs.

Go to your own mail database and see what you can see in it. If you don't have a local replica, use the Servers entry in the left pane to open your mail server. This will show a bunch of servers. The help says that these are all the servers on your network. I think that means that it's the servers in the same NNN (Notes Named Network) as your home server. Anyway, if you don't see a server there, just open it with the File/Open Server command.

Browse around till you find your mail. Open it up. First check the various fields on the database node. Those of you who are Lotuscript programmers might compare this with the properties of a NotesDatabase object. Then open up the profiles document list (click on the plus-arrowhead). Explore all those profile documents that you probably never even knew existed in your mail. Now, if you're a developer, you've probably been in the situation where you think you've created profiles in a database, but you can't seem to get hold of them again. This might especially be true if you've used the second User Name parameter when you created them. Now, with NotesPeek, you can find and explore these. Just note, though, that profiles are kept in memory all the time that a database is open, so don't forget to close the database in your client and Designer before you explore profiles, or you may still be puzzled by what appears to be missing data items.

Dig a bit deeper
Now check out one of the delete stubs. Surprised at so many? Click on one and look at the right pane (see Figure C).