General Procedures
Troubleshooting Microsoft Fax errors can be tricky because modems and phone lines are added to the possible causes. Problems can occur both in sending and in receiving faxes. Here is a general sequence of steps to follow to try to isolate the trouble:
Put Microsoft Fax in a profile by itself with a new Personal Folders file.
Check with your modem vendor to see whether they have an updated .inf file with new setup strings for your modem.
Disable high speed transmission and error correction, as described below.
Lower the modem transmit and receive buffers, as described below.
Experiment with a different phone line to try to eliminate line noise as a possible cause.
To disable high speed transmission and error correction, follow these steps:
On Outlook’s main menu, choose Tools, Microsoft Fax Tools, Options, then switch to the Modem tab on the Microsoft Fax Properties dialog box.
Select the active fax modem, then click the Properties button.
On the Fax Modem Properties dialog box, click the Advanced button.
On the Advanced dialog box (Figure 13.22), check Disable High Speed Transmission and Disable Error Correction Mode.
Click OK three times to return to the Information Viewer.
Note that in the Advanced dialog box, you can also adjust the threshold for rejecting faxes with errors.
To lower the modem transmit and receive buffers, follow these steps:
Click the Start button, then choose Settings, Control Panel.
Double-click the Modems applet.
In the Modems Properties dialog box, select the modem being used for Microsoft Fax, then click the Properties button.
In the properties dialog box for the modem, switch to the Connection tab, then click the Port Settings button.
In the Advanced Port Settings dialog box (Figure 13.23), move the sliders for both the Receive Buffer and the Transmit Buffer down a notch.
Click OK as needed to save the new settings and return to Control Panel.
Troubleshooting Phone Number Problems
If a fax number doesn’t dial as you expect it, see “Entering Phone Numbers” in Chapter 15 for common issues related to numbers entered in Outlook Contacts or the Personal Address Book. You also have the option of entering a number to “dial as entered,” as described under “Using the Fax Addressing Wizard” earlier in this chapter. Most of the time, though, you should take care to enter numbers in “international” format.
A common problem in North America is that you may need to dial some numbers with the area code, but without the 1 customarily used for long distance calls. The dialing function in Windows 95 is not designed to handle this situation, but you can trick the function into doing what you need.
For example, if you live in Atlanta and have an area code 404 number, and you need to send a fax to someone in local area code 770, enter the area code for that person as 404, but put the whole 770-xxx-xxxx number in the box for the local number. (See Figure 13.24.) Microsoft Fax will think you’re making a local call — because of the 404 area code — but will dial the entire 10-digit number. This works both in the Compose New Fax Wizard and for numbers that you enter in Contacts or the Personal Address Book.
Another way to get around this problem is to enter the fax name and number in the To box as [FAX:name@xxx-xxx-xxxx], where name is the recipient’s name and xxx-xxx-xxxx is the phone number, exactly as you want it to be dialed. One drawback to this method is that you won’t get any company or other information about the recipient on the cover page.
Installing the Fax Cover Page Fixl
Under certain conditions — most often if you regularly back up your files — you may not be able to specify a cover page to use with Microsoft Fax. The cover pages are listed, but you can’t select one. Microsoft has provided a patch that fixes this problem — called the Fax Cover Page Fix. You can download it from http://www.microsoft.com/windows95/info/coverpg.htm. Just run the file you download to install the patch, which replaces the Awfxcg32.dll file.
If you use Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0, you need a different update for the Awfxcg32.dll file to avoid an error message when you close Outlook. This file is available in the Microsoft Software Library at ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/Softlib/mslfiles/awfxcg32.exe.
Avoiding the “General Error” Message
If you get the message “General Error” when you try to send a fax, the quick fix is to leave the Subject field of your faxes blank. Include information about the subject in the cover page note instead.
A more complex solution is to reinstall Outlook, Microsoft Fax, and several other Windows components in a particular order. Details can be found at http://www.slipstick.com/exchange/faxfix.htm.
Manually Removing the Faxes from the Queue
If you have a fax stuck in the Outbox that doesn’t seem to be queuing to the modem, try this technique to clear the queue:
Choose File, Exit and Log Off to quit Outlook.
In Windows Explorer, switch to the Windows\Spool\Fax folder.
Delete any .efx and .mg3 files.
When you restart Outlook, any faxes that were in the Outbox will be requeued.
Testing the Microsoft Fax Printer Driver
If modem or phone line problems don’t seem to be causing your fax problems, try to confirm that the Microsoft Fax printer driver is working. Follow the instructions under “Getting a Rendered Copy of a Fax or Cover Page” (below). If it fails to deliver a good fax to your Inbox, delete the Microsoft Fax printer driver from the Printers folder in the Control Panel, then run Awadpr32.exe to reinstall the driver.
Sending at a Specific Time
If you receive an “undeliverable” message when you try to schedule a fax delivery for a specific time, try changing the beginning of the discount rates period to the time you want the fax delivered. Then, resend the fax with the “Time to send” set for “Discount rates.”
TIPS AND TRICKS
Our tips section for this chapter concentrates on some additional pointers for using the Microsoft Fax service.
Getting a Rendered Copy of a Fax or Cover Page
Unlike most fax applications, Microsoft Fax does not keep complete copies of the versions of faxes sent to paper fax machines — in other words, the “rendered” or facsimile version. All you see in Sent Items is the text of any cover page note and icons for any attached files. Or if you send a document by printing it to the Microsoft Fax printer driver, you see the document pages but not the cover page.
However, there is a trick for seeing exactly what your recipients will get. You can use this procedure to test your cover pages, as well as to preview documents that you want to send. This is also an essential troubleshooting technique to determine whether the Microsoft Fax printer driver is operating properly. With this procedure, you actually send a fax to yourself without using a modem. First, you need to create a special address, called “FaxMe” to send faxes to yourself. To create a FaxMe address in your Contacts folder entry:
Create a new Contact, giving it the name FaxMe (or any other name you want to use for this special address).
In the E-mail field, enter [FAX:me].
Choose Save and Close to save the record.
If you plan to use the FaxMe address to test cover pages, you should create it in the Personal Address Book. Follow these steps:
Choose Tools, Address Book to display the Address Book window.
Choose File, New Entry.
In the New Entry dialog box, choose the entry type Other Address, then click OK.
For Display Name, enter FaxMe or whatever name you’d like to use.
Under E-mail Address, enter me.
For E-mail Type, enter FAX.
To use this address to test cover page fields, switch to the Business tab and enter sample information there.
Click OK to save the new address.
Now you’re ready to send a test fax directly to your Inbox:
Make sure that the default message format is set for “Not editable” (see “Message Format” in Chapter 7).
From Outlook, choose Compose, New Fax to start the Compose New Fax wizard. (Or print to the Microsoft Fax printer driver to start the wizard if you’re working in an application.)
In the To box, enter FaxMe or click the To button and pick FaxMe from the Address Book.
Click Next to continue with the other screens of the wizard.
After you complete the wizard, a copy of the rendered fax will appear in your Inbox. When you open this document, you see exactly what a fax recipient would get.
An alternative method, if you don’t need to see the cover page with the note on it, is to use Compose, New Mail Message to display the normal New Message window and enter the address FaxMe in the To box.
Using Fax Viewer on Windows NT
Microsoft Fax uses an .awd file format, which isn’t supported by Imaging for Windows NT. This makes it impossible for a Windows 95 user to receive a fax, then forward it to a Windows NT user. However, there are a couple of ways around this problem. One is to open the Microsoft Fax .awd files in Imaging for Windows 95 and save them as .tif images.
Another solution is to use the Fax Viewer that comes with Windows 95, which will run on a Windows NT Intel computer (but not on an Alpha). You need to copy Faxview.exe to any convenient location on the Windows NT system, then copy the following eight files from the Windows 95 machine to the System32 subfolder in the Windows folder on the Windows NT machine:
The aw*.dll files are specific to the Fax Viewer program. The mfc*.dll files may already be present on your system, because they are used by many programs. If any of these files do already exist on the target system, do not copy the Windows 95 version; keep the one you already have.
Also copy the Faxview.* files from Windows\Help to Winnt\Help, so the context-sensitive help will be available.
Once you have copied all the files, you need to register the .awd file type. Here’s how:
In Windows NT Explorer, choose View, Options, and switch to the File Types tab.
On the File Types tab, click the New Type button.
Under “Description of type,” enter Microsoft Fax fax.
Under “Associated extension,” enter awd.
Click the New button to display the New Action dialog box.
In the New Action dialog box, under Action, enter open.
Under “Application used to perform action,” enter
C:\Winnt\Faxview.exe "%1"
using the exact path to the folder where you copied Faxview.exe. Note the quotation marks; be sure to include them.
Click OK to close the New Action dialog box, then click Close twice to close the Add New File Type dialog box and the Options dialog box, returning you to Explorer.
Now you can double-click faxes forwarded to an NT user by a Windows 95 machine as .awd file attachments and view them in Fax Viewer.
Using Footers to Avoid Short Pages
If you send a fax to a fax machine that uses thermal paper, the machine cuts off the page after the bottom of the text on the page. This is by design, to avoid wasting paper, but it can be very annoying to get these short pages.
To force all your faxes to use a full page, make sure you have a footer of some kind at the bottom of your cover page — perhaps a company motto or other tag line, or maybe a border graphic. Also include a footer on any documents you fax. The date, page number, and name of the document are good choices for information to include, in case the document gets separated from the cover page.
Setting the Font for Cover Page Notes
The font used for fax cover page notes depends on the way you compose the note. If you use the Compose New Fax Wizard and choose to include the note on the cover page, the note uses the font you select for the {Note} text box in the Cover Page Editor. If you use the Compose New Fax Wizard and decide not to include the note on the cover page, the note appears on a separate page in 10-point Arial. There is no way to change this.
If you want to use RTF (such as bullets, indents, and a mixture of bold, underlined, italic, and normal text with different fonts), create your message as a regular e-mail message, using Compose, New Mail Message. The note will appear on a separate page, but it will appear as you composed it.
Controlling the Order of Attachments
If you send more than one attachment using Compose, New Fax from the Outlook menu, those attachments are attached to your fax in alphabetical order according to the full path name of the file (e.g., C:\My Documents\myfile.doc). To control the order in which attachments appear in your fax, use Compose, New Message instead and insert the files in the order you want them to appear.
SUMMARY
We’ve covered a lot of ground about faxing in general and Microsoft Fax in particular. You should now be equipped to adapt to any fax software that is compatible with Microsoft Outlook. Some key points to remember:
Sending a fax can be just like sending a message.
You can send a fax from any Windows program by printing to a fax printer driver.
You must load Outlook before you can receive a fax with Microsoft Fax.
Imaging for Windows provides a rich collection of annotation tools.
Order Your SQL Fundamentals CD Today! Learn how to use SQL Server, understand Office integration techniques and dive into the essentials of SQL Express and Visual Basic with this free SQL Fundamentals CD.
You've Deployed SharePoint...Now What? This one-day free online conference delivers the technical knowledge needed to kick MOSS up a notch. In one information-packed day, independent SharePoint experts will present practical, real-world information and provide take-away, ready-to-use solutions
What Would You Do If You Ran Microsoft? ITTV's 2008 inaugural video contest, "If I Ran Microsoft..." is your chance to tell it like it is. Be goofy or be serious, but don"t miss this chance to have fun, win prizes, and go viral in a major way.
Maximize Your SharePoint Investment This web seminar discusses how true bi-directional replication of SharePoint content from one server to another enables branch offices to maintain access to current SharePoint content.
Windows IT Pro
Register
