Lotus Notes is known as a very secure collaborative software for email, calendar and much more. But, it is also known for its closeness. For instance it is not possible to synchronize Lotus Notes with other applications or hardware with standard features. This is a problem if you would like to access your calendar on your Android based mobile phone or iPhone. With Microsoft Outlook or the Microsoft Exchange Server system the calendar and email synchronization is much easier and partly possible directly with the existing system.
With Lotus Notes it gets a bit more complicated as you have to use Google Calendar as an intermediary. So basically, you are synchronizing Lotus with Google and Google with your Phone.
You will need two things. First, of course, you need a Google Calendar account. Secondly, you will need a software with enables your computer to synchronize Lotus with Google. There a several software packages available - some are paid ones, some are free and open source.
Here is an overview over existing software tools. I will start this list with the basic programs and scripts first (often command-line based with no GUI) and the most promising, sophisticated tools (with GUI and also two-way synchronization - but not for free) last.
If you don't have the time reading the whole article and then trying to find a tool which is working with your configuration, then just try GooCalSync Professional. It worked for me.
Free software
iNotes To Google Sync v1.4.1
This tool tries to sync the Lotus Notes "webmail (iNotes) with Google Calendar. Unfortunately, it only works with Lotus Notes/Domino Server 7 or lower.
Syncnotes2google v.0.0.5
This program is based on the GooCalSync project. The latest version is from April, 8 2010. It is basically written in Java and uses a .bat-file for execution. All options need to be written into a text-file and there is no graphic user interface. I don't care much about the interface as long as the software is working. But regarding my case, I wasn't able to get the software working. (Error message: Notes.jar or NCSO.jar have to be in the classpath).
GooCalSync (version from September 13, 2010)
This "GooCalSync" tries to add a Lotus Notes application (.ntf) to the Notes installation. So basically there is the Java-part of the program (with a .bat for execution) and you will have to create a new "application" in Lotus with the Template GooCalSync.ntf. In my case, I had problems to create the new application as the Template files wasn't found. And on the other hand, there were several error messages, probably because I am operating on a AMD 64-bit platform and the program was written for 32-bit (Exception in thread "main" java.lang.UnsatisfiedLinkError: .... \nlsxbe.dll: Can't load IA 32-bit .dll on a AMD 64-bit platform)
ncal2gcal v.0.1.6 (June 23, 2010)
This software requires you to have a local copy (replica) of your mail database stored in the data-folder of your lotus notes installation. The program is written in Ruby. But also here, I get an error message when trying to synchronize: "Failed to create WIN32OLE object from Lotus Notes".
CalSync v1.6 (August 31, 2010) also nown as "lntogoogle" Lotus Notes to Google Calendar tool
When trying to execute several error messages pop up. I guess it is because of the missing Lotus.ini.
LNGoogleCalSync 1.7 (September 9, 2010) also known as LotusNotes-Google Calendar Synchronizer
This software is one of the few with a graphic user interface (GUI). Start the lngsync.vbs (Visual Basic Script) to run the application with the GUI. But in my case synchronization failed because of a so called "dll/so/dylib" error. Although the FAQ section provides good documentation and also a program for resolving (LT connectivity test), I wasn't able to solve my connection problem. This may be because a notes.ini wasn't found in the Java Library Path. And also the Lotus Notes Java interface file (Notes.jar) could not be found.
Paid software
Awesync 4.1 (current version: 4.2)
I tested Awesync in version 4.1. There is a trial version available, but the full version costs $19.99 which would be ok if the software would actually work. But I wasn't able to install the trial version because of an installation error "Lotus Notes is not properly installed". This may be caused by a missing "Notes.ini" - but I'm using a pre-configured notebook + Notes installation, so I don't want to mess up anything and create a new Notes.ini.
CompanionLink Express
Another paid software is CompanionLink ($69.95). Although CompanionLink Express is quite expensive ($69.95) the major advantages is the ability to sync several systems (Outlook, Lotus Notes, Exchange, ...) with several devices (Android, iPhone, ...). But similar to Awesync there seems to be a problem with my missing Notes.ini. Although it is possible to install the software (with an error message), synchronization is not possible.
My recommendation: GooCalSync Professional
This is probably the easiest tool for synchronizing Lotus Notes with Google. The software is available as a trial version (only 4 syncs possible), the full version costs $37 (28 EUR). The application comes in only one file, just double-click to open this Lotus Notes database and it's automatically integrated into your Lotus Notes Home screen. All data (login information, ...) can be entered directly in Lotus Notes. This is the only software which worked in my office environment with my Lotus Notes configuration.
Watch out: To my knowledge, most basic applications only provide Lotus-to-Google synchronization. Only the more sophisticated tools (paid) allow Google-to-Lotus sync or both directions as well. (at least GooCalSync Professional can do it)