Setting
Up and Configuring Windows XP Fax
The
fax service isn't automatically installed in Windows XP. To install the fax
component:
|
1. |
Open
Control Panel, and click Add or Remove Programs. |
|
2. |
Click
Add/Remove Windows Components. Select the Fax Services check
box, and then click Next. The Windows Component Wizard takes
care of the rest. Note: If
you don't have a modem already installed, take care of that now. Make sure
the modem is connected to a phone line and the phone line is connected to a
working jack. (You'd be surprised how often folks overlook these details.) |
After
the fax component is installed, the next step is configuring it. You configure
the Fax service in the Fax Console, the center for faxing tasks. To
configure the Fax Console:
|
1. |
Click
Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories,
point to Communications, point to Fax, and then click Fax
Console.
|
|
2. |
On
the Tools menu in Fax Console, click Configure Fax, which
starts the Fax Configuration Wizard. Click Next to start configuring
your fax information. |
|
3. |
On
the Sender Information page, include your name or your business name
and your fax number. Everything else on the page is optional. |
|
4. |
On
the Select Device for Sending or Receiving Faxes page, your modem will
be selected, unless you have more than one, in which case, select the right
one. Specify send and receive options, and whether you'll manually answer
incoming faxes or answer automatically when received. |
|
5. |
On
the Transmitting Subscriber Identification (TSID) and Called
Subscriber Identification (CSID) pages, enter your business name and fax
number. These fields really matter when you're running special fax routing
software. Most software of this kind depends on TSIDs to determine where to
direct an incoming fax. See How
to Enable and Configure the Fax Service in Windows XP for more
information. |
|
6. |
On
the Routing Options page, specify how incoming faxes will be handled.
All faxes are stored automatically in the Fax Console, but you can also print
a copy or store a copy in a local folder or on your network. |
When
you want to change or verify any of these settings, simply run the Fax
Configuration Wizard again. To open the wizard, on the Tools menu of the
Fax Console, click Configure Fax.
Sending Faxes from Your Computer
You
can fax a document that's stored on your computer or you can scan a document
and fax it by sending to your fax printer. In this section, I'll explain how to
fax a document from your computer. If you can print a document, you can fax it.
The
Windows XP Fax service uses the Windows Address Book (WAB) as its default
address book for fax numbers. When you install Outlook 2000 or Outlook 2002,
the fax service switches to the Outlook Address Book (OAB) as its source for
fax addresses. So you don't need to maintain two address books—just one will
do.
To
fax a document stored on your computer:
|
1. |
On
the File menu of the document, click Print. |
|
2. |
In
the Print or Print Setup dialog box, in the Printer name
box, click Fax to open the Send Fax Wizard. (When faxing from
an Office program, on the File menu, point to Send To, and then
click Fax Recipient. An Office Fax Wizard asks for specific
information and then hands the process over to the Send Fax Wizard.)
|
|
3. |
To
supply the recipient's fax number, click Address Book, and select one
or more recipients just as if you were sending them an e-mail message. |
|
4. |
If
you've already set up Dialing Rules, skip ahead. If you haven't, click Dialing
Rules. If you need to dial an extra digit to get an outside line, or use
a special carrier code, or dial an area code even for local numbers, add
those settings here, and then click OK to return to the fax sending.
|
|
5. |
Select
a cover page. Choose from the list or specify no cover page at all.
Personally, I forego cover sheets unless I'm sending to a big corporation
where it might get lost or the document needs some clarification. If you're
into cover sheets, you can download additional fax and transmission covers
from the Office
Template Gallery. |
|
6. |
Specify
when the fax should be sent as well as the fax's priority. Priority only
matters if you're stacking up a number of faxes to be sent at a particular
time. In that case, the order of sending will be determined by the priority
you set. |
|
7. |
Finally,
you're presented with a screen recapping the details of the fax and offering
a chance to preview it. If the fax is a multi-page one, you'll be able to
preview only the first page. |
If
you're sending the fax right away, the Fax Monitor, shown below, will start
when the dialing does.
The
second way to send a fax is to scan a document and then send it to your fax
printer. The software that came with your scanner can help you set up this kind
of fax and send it directly to your fax printer. However, you can also fax from
a scanner using the tools in Windows XP:
|
1. |
Open
Control Panel, click Printers and Other Hardware, click Scanners
and Cameras, and then double-click the icon for your scanner to start the
Scanner and Camera Wizard. |
|
2. |
On
the Choose Scanning Preferences page, click Grayscale picture,
and then click Preview to start the scanner.
|
|
3. |
Provide
a name and location for the scanned document. |
|
4. |
Open
the folder that contains the image file, right-click the image, and then
click Print. The Photo Printing Wizard opens. |
|
5. |
Select
the check box for the image to be faxed. |
|
6. |
Select
Fax as the printer you want to use. |
When
you finish the Photo Printing Wizard, the Send Fax Wizard opens and you
proceed as described in the procedure for sending a fax from your computer.
To
send faxes from Outlook, you have to add the Fax Transport Service as an e-mail
account. To add Fax Transport Services in Outlook 2002, follow these steps:
|
1. |
On
the Tools menu, click E-mail Accounts. |
|
2. |
Click
Add a new e-mail account, and then click Next. |
|
3. |
On
the Server Type page, click Additional Server Types. |
|
4. |
On
the next page, Fax Mail Transport is selected. Click Next to
finish adding the account. |
(For
Outlook 2000, on the Tools menu, click Services, and add Fax Mail Transport
there.)
To
send a fax from Outlook, follow these steps:
|
1. |
On
the Standard toolbar, click New. |
|
2. |
In
the blank message form, on the Standard toolbar, click Accounts,
and then click Fax Mail Transport. |
|
3. |
Enter
your message, click Send, and the fax modem will connect and transmit
the fax message. |
You
can't automatically have incoming faxes transferred to your Outlook Inbox when
you're using Windows XP. Received faxes can go only to the inbox of the Fax
Console and to another folder, if you specify one. (See the Knowledge Base
article, Windows
XP-Based Fax Service Does Not Transfer Incoming Faxes to Your Inbox in Outlook
2000 or Outlook 2002, for more information.) However, if you copy incoming
faxes to a folder, you can send them as attachments to e-mail messages just as
you would any other file.
Troubleshooting Fax Transmissions
Sometimes
the fax doesn't make it. When that happens, you'll want to try again. You can
specify how many times to retry, how many minutes apart the attempts should be,
and request notification of the success or failure of the transmission. These
settings are amazingly well hidden, so just follow me:
|
1. |
Open
Printers and Faxes, right-click the Fax printer, and then click
Properties. |
|
2. |
On
the Devices tab, click Properties. |
|
3. |
On
the Send tab, specify the number of times to retry sending a fax and
how long the program should wait between each try. |
|
4. |
On
the Tracking tab, set options for notifications and when the Fax
Monitor should open. |
On
the Tracking tab, there's also a Configure Sound Settings button.
No point in going there because it doesn't matter what those settings are. The
settings for fax events in Sounds in Control Panel take precedence.
After
you've installed and configured the fax services, receiving faxes is as easy as
falling off a log. Easier.
When
you configured the Fax service, you specified how you wanted the faxes answered
and where they should be deposited. By default, the Fax Monitor opens
automatically when the modem detects an incoming fax. You can change when and
why it opens on the Tracking tab of the Fax Properties dialog box
(mentioned in the procedure for troubleshooting fax transmissions).
To
view an incoming fax, go to the Fax Console, and click Inbox.
Double-click an entry to see the fax in Windows Picture and Fax Viewer.
Faxes are image files in the TIFF format, so they can't be edited as a text
file can be. But you can view, rotate, and perform basic tasks with your fax
document without opening an image-editing program. To print a fax, right-click
it, and click Print. To send a fax as an e-mail attachment, right-click
it, point to Send To, and then click Mail Recipient.
Faxing Options for DSL or Cable Modems
You
can't use your DSL or cable connection for faxing. A new technology, Voice over
IP (VoIP) will undoubtedly make this possible in the future. VoIP is an
inexpensive alternative to traditional telephone communication that operates
over the public switched telephone network (PSTN). VoIP covers
computer-to-computer, computer-to-telephone, and telephone-based
communications. For more information about VoIP, read the Voice-over-IP
Overview and the VoIP FAQ
from DSL Reports.
If
you're without a modem or you don't want to tie up your phone line, an
Internet-based fax service might work best for you. Visit the sites of Internet
faxing services, among them eFax, and Faxaway and read their FAQs. Which service
you choose depends on your pattern of fax usage. Some have excellent
international rates, for example, but if you don't send faxes to other
countries that probably doesn't matter to you. Also some services require that
you use their software to read incoming faxes.
Sharon
Crawford is a former editor now engaged in writing books and magazine articles.
Since 1993, she has written or co–written two dozen books on computer topics.
Her books include Windows 2000 Pro: The Missing Manual,
Windows 98: No Experience Required, and Windows 2000 Professional for
Dummies (with Andy Rathbone).