Building a Multipage Fax with Imaging
With Imaging, you can combine scanned images of paper documents with faxes you’ve received in your Inbox or sent to yourself with [FAX: me], then save the result as an image file (either Microsoft Fax’s .awd format or a more generic .tif format) that can be stored in Exchange or on your hard drive. For information about how to obtain and set up Imaging, see “Imaging for Windows,” in Chapter 7.
Special Note: For another method of building a fax, check out the Scan and Fax Wizard on the CD accompanying this book.
Plan your fax before you start. Here are a couple key points to consider:
Make sure any existing faxes or other image documents you want to include are stored on your system as files, rather than as Exchange documents. To copy a file from Exchange to your system, select the file in the Exchange viewer, then choose File, Save As and specify the location.
You can’t reorder pages in Imaging (though you can insert pages anywhere in the fax). Therefore, you’ll want to plan the order in which you want the pages to appear.
To create a new multipage fax that starts with a scanned document,
Click the Start button and choose Programs, Accessories, then Imaging.
Choose File, New, Scan.
In the Scan New dialog box (shown in Figure 14.9), under Scan To, choose Display and File.
Give your fax a Name (with a full path), or use the Browse button to select the folder and specify the name.
Select TIF Image Document (TIFF) under File Type. (The .tif format will let you convert any color images to grayscale before faxing them. The Fax Viewer (.awd) format puts everything in black and white, with no grays.)
(Optional) Click the Setup button to check your scanner’s settings and preview the scan using your scanner’s software. Close the scanner software to return to Imaging.
In the Scan New dialog box, click the Scan button.
If you want to place another scanned page immediately after the first one, put the next document in your scanner, then click Scan again.
Repeat step 8 until you have scanned all the pages that you want to appear in this first sequence. Then click the Close button to return to the main Imaging window, where you can continue to add pages either from new scans or from existing image documents or faxes.
Here are two more ways to start a new fax document in Imaging:
In Imaging, choose File, New, Blank Document. You’ll get a blank page, which you’ll probably want to delete before you save the fax.
Modify a fax you’ve received in Exchange. Start by double-clicking on that fax to open it in Imaging.
Once you have placed an initial sequence of pages in Imaging, choose View, Page and Thumbnails to display a thumbnail list of your pages next to the current page (see Figure 14.10 for an example). This view will make it much easier to navigate as you prepare the rest of the fax, adding and removing pages with the techniques described next.
To add a scanned page or pages before the current page,
Choose Page, Insert, Scan Page.
Scan one or more pages following steps 6 and 7 above.
Click the Close button when you’re done scanning.
To add a scanned page or pages after the current page,
Choose Page, Append, Scan Page.
Scan one or more pages following steps 6 and 7 above.
Click the Close button when you’re done scanning.
If a scanned page doesn’t look right, follow these steps to replace it with a new version:
Choose Page, Rescan.
In the Scan Page dialog box, click the Setup button to re-adjust your scanner settings. Then return to the Scan New dialog box.
Click the Scan button to replace the old image with a new version.
Repeat steps 2 and 3 as needed to get just the image you want.
When you’re satisfied with the new image, click the Close button to close the Scan Page dialog box.
To add a page or pages from a fax or other image document before the current page,
Choose Page, Insert, Existing Page.
In the Insert dialog box, select the file you want to use, then click Open.
If the file contains more than one page, indicate the page range in the second Insert dialog box, then click OK.
To add a page or pages from a fax or other image document after the current page,
Choose Page, Append, Existing Page.
In the Append dialog box, select the file you want to use, then click Open.
If the file contains more than one page, indicate the page range in the second Append dialog box, then click OK.
If you add a page from a color document, it will fax better if you convert it to grayscale first (this option is available only if you’re saving the document as a .tif file). To convert a page,
Click on the page in the thumbnail list to select and display it.
Choose Page, Convert.
On the Color tab of the Convert dialog box, choose 16 or 256 Shades of Gray.
Click OK to close the Convert dialog box.
To delete the current page, choose Edit, Delete Page.
When you’re done building this fax, save it on your hard drive if you want to fax it as an attachment, or put it in an Exchange folder so you can easily forward it whenever you need to.
To save the fax document to your hard drive (or a network drive),
If you started by opening a fax from Exchange, choose File, Save Copy As and provide a filename.
If you started with a new file, choose File, Save.
To save the fax document to an Exchange folder,
If you started by opening a fax from Exchange, then choose File, Exit.
If you started with a new file, choose File, Save. Then, to put that file in an Exchange folder, drag it from an Explorer or My Computer folder into the Exchange Viewer.
For more information about Imaging, including how to add annotations to your faxes, see the next chapter, “Receiving Faxes.”
Sending Stored Faxes
When you want to send one of the faxes you’ve stored in an Exchange folder, select the fax, then forward it by clicking the Forward button; by choosing Compose, Forward; or by pressing Ctrl+F. The original document will remain in its folder. To make these stored faxes available to other Exchange users, copy them to either a Microsoft Mail shared folder or a Microsoft Exchange public folder (see Chapter 16, “Working with Messages and Folders”).
USING THIRD-PARTY FAX SERVICES
Microsoft Fax isn’t the only fax service that integrates with Exchange. We’ll look at WinFax PRO 7.0, which has so many features that it’s by far the most popular Windows fax solution. We’ll also look at some of the fax services that require Microsoft Exchange Server.
Using WinFax PRO 7.0
Unlike Microsoft Fax, WinFax PRO 7.0 is not an Exchange service; it’s a separate program. When you use WinFax with Exchange, a built-in Exchange component called MAPI (Mail Application Programming Interface) helps the two programs communicate.
WinFax’s integration with Exchange is a two-way street. Exchange’s capability to send faxes comes from WinFax, and Exchange accesses WinFax features through several new menu choices. From within WinFax, you can access your Exchange folders. You can send e-mail as well as faxes, mixing and matching recipients from your Exchange address books (not just from the Personal Address Book, but from any enterprise-wide address books as well) and from the separate fax address book that WinFax maintains. You can also view and print your Exchange Personal Address Book, picking which fields you want to include.
It’s essential to set up WinFax correctly if you want to use it with Exchange. See Chapter 9, “Setting up Other Information Services,” for details.
Sending a Fax with WinFax PRO 7.0
To use WinFax PRO 7.0 from within Exchange, choose Compose, New WinFax. You’ll see the Delrina WinFax PRO Send dialog box (Figure 14.11), where you can enter recipients and type in a cover page note. To attach files, either from WinFax’s Attachments library or from elsewhere on your system, click the Attach button.
Notice that you have access to the Exchange address books so you can include e-mail addresses as well as fax recipients. However, if you include a Microsoft Fax recipient from your Personal Address Book, the message will be rendered and sent to that person via Microsoft Fax, not via WinFax.
Click the Send button when you’re ready to send the fax. Once the fax has been sent, it will appear in the Delrina WinFax Fax Logs Outbox (see Figure 14.12); and if there were any recipients from your Exchange address books, the fax also will appear in the Exchange Outbox. Similarly, once the fax has been sent, it will be listed in the Sent Items folder in Exchange and in the Send Log folder under the Delrina WinFax Fax Logs. Faxes created with WinFax appear with an icon that resembles a torn piece of paper with the word Fax on it.
WinFax PRO 7.0 Menu Options in Exchange
In addition to the Compose, New WinFax function, the WinFax PRO 7.0 installation adds an entirely new WinFax menu to Exchange to switch you quickly to the various WinFax functions listed in Table 14.3.
Binary File Transfer with WinFax PRO 7.0
Like Microsoft Fax, WinFax PRO 7.0 supports sending editable files with BFT. However, whereas Microsoft Fax automatically detects whether a fax recipient supports BFT, with WinFax you must specify the BFT option for each WinFax recipient.
To specify BFT for a recipient of a message you’re composing,
In the Delrina WinFax PRO Send dialog box, select a recipient from the Recipient List.
Click the Delivery button to display the Delivery Properties dialog box.
From the Send By list, choose BFT.
Special Note: In the Send By list, you’ll also see a choice for Compressed BFT. This option works only when you’re sending to another WinFax recipient.
Click OK to close the Delivery Properties dialog box, then send your message as usual.
To specify that BFT should be always be used with a recipient, you can work either in the Delrina WinFax PRO Send dialog box or in the Phonebooks window:
Double-click the recipient name to bring up the Recipient Properties dialog box.
For the primary fax, select a Type of BFT.
Switch to the Programs tab.
Check the Recipient’s Programs list for applications that you know the other user doesn’t have. Remove any such applications from the list with the Remove button. Otherwise, you might send the recipient a document that can’t be opened because (s)he doesn’t have the right application.
Click OK to close the Properties dialog box.
If a WinFax recipient turns out to be incapable of handling BFT, WinFax will automatically update the send type for that recipient to send fax images in the future.
Using Fax Connectors in Exchange Server
Microsoft Fax is not the only fax solution for Exchange. Several companies also offer fax connectors or gateways that plug into the Exchange Server environment. Whether a particular product is a connector or gateway depends on the way it’s integrated with Exchange. I’m going to call them all connectors, to keep it simple. In many cases, these fax connectors support features not found in Microsoft Fax, such as
Faxing messages containing embedded objects
Routing of incoming faxes to individual users, to Exchange folders, or to printers
Confirmation of transmission successes and failures
Detailed reporting on fax usage and costs
Least-cost routing for organizations with several fax servers in different cities, to transmit faxes from the fax server closest to the recipient
Appendix B, “Exchange Resources,” includes a list of companies offering fax connectors for Exchange Server. Not all fax connectors let you print to a fax printer driver, but you can count on being able to create faxes as e-mail messages. In many cases, you’ll be able to attach in a variety of formats and depend on the fax server to convert them to fax images.
TIPS AND TRICKS
Most of the tips and tricks in this chapter refer to Microsoft Fax. However, even if you’re using a different fax transport in Exchange, I’d suggest you take a look at the “What Is TAPI?” sidebar for information about this new communications interface, which applies to most 32-bit Windows communications programs. Also highlighted in this section are notes about problems you might encounter when you send faxes from specific Windows applications.
Previewing a Document Before Faxing
Sometimes, because of the resolution difference between a fax and a printed document, fax pages won’t break in the same places as on the printed document, or graphics may be shifted. Many applications have a Print Preview function built in, either on the File menu or in the Print dialog box. You can use this to see how your fax will look before you send it — just make sure the default printer is set to Microsoft Fax. You can also preview a document with the technique described in the earlier section “Sending a Fax to Yourself.”
Sending a Group of Faxes at a Specific Time
The easiest way to schedule a group of faxes for a particular time is to change the default scheduling parameters for Microsoft Fax, send the faxes, then reset the default. To change the default scheduling parameters,
Choose Tools, Microsoft Fax Tools, Options to view the Microsoft Fax Properties dialog box.
Under “Time to send,” click “Specific time.”
In the “Specific time” box, specify the time you want your faxes to be transmitted.
After you’ve sent the faxes, use step 1 to return to the Microsoft Fax Properties dialog box and reset the Time to Send to its previous value (probably “As soon as possible” or “Discount rates”).
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