Quick Compose cannot be expanded into the full calendar entry

The main issue is that there is currently no way to expand a Quick Compose meeting into the full calendar entry. Quick Compose and the full Calendar entry appear to provide two separate workflows with different capabilities, and there is no visible connection between them.

Quick Compose

From the HCL Domino Workspace homepage, selecting Quick Compose → Meeting provides the following fields:

  • Meeting Title *

  • Invitees, as one flat list

  • Location, as free text

  • Online Meeting, checkbox

  • Date *

  • Time, picker only

  • Duration, with fixed options of 15/30/45 minutes, 1/1.5/2/3/4 hours, or All day

  • Description, plain text area

  • Cancel / Create Meeting

The dialog does have an expand control in the title bar. However, its tooltip says “Full screen”, and this does not provide access to the full calendar entry. It only stretches the modal vertically. The Description field grows, but no additional calendar fields become available.

It also does not actually behave like a full-screen view. The dialog’s title bar can be pushed above the top of the viewport, while the bottom of the dialog extends beyond the viewport as well.

There is no “More options”, “Open in Calendar”, or similar action that would allow the user to continue editing the meeting in the full Calendar experience.

As a result, if a user starts creating a meeting through Quick Compose and then realizes they need something such as a recurrence, a room, a reminder, or another advanced option, the current workflow requires them to cancel the entry and start again in the Calendar application.

Full Calendar entry

The full Calendar entry provides significantly more functionality, including:

  • A separate end time with automatically calculated duration

  • Required / Optional / FYI invitee roles

  • Room and resource booking

  • Find a time with a free/busy grid

  • Suggested time slots

  • Recurring events

  • Time zone options

  • All Day Event as a dedicated event type

  • Reminders

  • Attachments and rich-text formatting

  • Sign, Encrypt, Mark Private, Request Response, Return Receipt and other advanced options

  • Show as: Busy

  • Delivery Priority

  • Delivery Report

  • Save as Draft

Several of these differences are more than just convenience features.

For example, Mark Private has no equivalent in Quick Compose. This means that a sensitive appointment created through Quick Compose cannot be explicitly marked as private, and there is no indication that the entry will need to be modified later in the full Calendar application.

The duration options also create limitations. The Quick Compose dialog only allows durations up to four hours. A five-hour appointment or a multi-day event cannot be expressed through this workflow. All day is available as an option in the Duration dropdown, but selecting it still leaves the Time field populated and marked as required, and there is no option to specify an end date.

There are also differences in the resulting data. For example, an entry created through Quick Compose came back with Request Response switched off, whereas the full Calendar form defaults this option to on.

Inconsistent defaults and entry points

The defaults also differ depending on how the user starts creating an event.

The full Calendar form opens with today’s date and the next hour already populated.

Double-clicking a time slot in the homepage’s Day at a Glance section also prepopulates the event correctly based on the selected time slot.

However, clicking the + button in the Upcoming Events widget opens Quick Compose with both Date and Time empty, even though both fields are required.

This means that the entry point that appears to be the fastest way to create an event can actually require more manual input than the other available entry points.

Inconsistent terminology

The terminology also makes the different workflows feel less connected.

For example:

  • One button says Create new event

  • The resulting dialog is titled Quick Compose

  • The active tab is Meeting

  • The confirmation button says Create Meeting

  • The widget where the action originates is called Upcoming Events

The full Calendar form also uses different terminology depending on where it is opened. In the Calendar application, the form is essentially untitled, while opening the same form from Mail displays a blue title bar saying New event. In Mail, it also appears as a floating dialog over the message list rather than being integrated into the left pane.

Overall observation

I think the main opportunity here is to make Quick Compose and the full Calendar experience feel like two levels of the same workflow rather than two separate applications.

Quick Compose is a useful concept. It makes sense to provide a lightweight way to create a simple meeting quickly. However, users should be able to start with the simple form and then seamlessly move to the full Calendar form when they need additional options.

A “More options” or “Open in Calendar” action would solve much of this. Ideally, it would preserve everything the user has already entered and open the same event in the full Calendar form for further editing.

I would also recommend reviewing the defaults and terminology across the different entry points so that the behavior feels consistent regardless of where the user starts creating an event.

The overall goal should be that users feel they are interacting with one integrated calendar experience within HCL Domino Workspace, with Quick Compose simply being the lightweight entry point rather than a separate and more limited event creation workflow.

Thank you for the comprehensive feedback as always! All very good observations. We’ll take this feedback into consideration as we continue to improve the Quick Compose experience and its integration with the full Calendar functionality.