An NSF file is a Notes database. One file holds the data, the design and the access rules for a Notes application or a mailbox.
An NSF file is a Notes database. One file holds the data, the design and the access rules for a Notes application or a mailbox. NSF stands for Notes Storage Facility, and the files live in the data directory on the Domino server or locally on the user's PC.
What does an NSF file contain?
- Documents: The data itself. A document loosely corresponds to a row in a database, but can have different fields from document to document.
- Design: Forms, views, agents and code built in Domino Designer.
- ACL: The access control list that decides who may read, write and delete.
- Attachments: Files stored in the documents, or in DAOS, where large files are stored outside the NSF file.
- Replication history: Information about when the database last synchronised with other copies.
A document database before it was modern
Notes was a NoSQL document database 20 years before MongoDB. There are no tables and no fixed schema. That is flexible, but it also makes migration to SQL based systems hard, because the data must be normalised first. In a Notes migration, the analysis of the NSF files is therefore the first and most important step.
Size and maintenance
An NSF file can be up to 64 GB. Mailboxes of 10 to 20 GB are common in old installations. The files must be compacted regularly, and view indexes must be rebuilt. That is part of ordinary Domino operations. If maintenance lapses, databases become slow and may become corrupt.
Common questions about NSF files
Can you open an NSF file without Notes?
Not directly. You need the Notes client, Nomad or Domino REST API. Third party tools exist that can read mail from NSF, but they are not reliable for applications.
What is the difference between NSF and NTF?
An NTF file is a template. It contains only design and is used to create new NSF databases and to update the design in existing ones.
Can NSF files be converted to PST?
Yes, mail archives can be converted to Outlook PST with migration tools. We use Transend and our own scripts for that.
Help with NSF
We analyse NSF files before a migration and clean up old databases, so you know what you have before you decide anything.