Chapter 14: Printing and Faxing

Sending and Receiving Faxes

Windows XP contains a Fax Console accessory for sending and receiving faxes. Fax Console is not part of the default installation of Windows XP, so you may need to add it from the Windows XP CD-ROM. Choose Start | Control Panel, click Add Or Remove Programs, click Add/Remove Windows Components, and choose Fax Services from the list of components. If Fax Console is installed, run it by selecting Start | All Programs | Accessories | Communications | Fax | Fax Console.

In order to use Fax Console, you need to have hardware capable of sending and receiving faxes. Most dial-up modems have this capability, so you may already have a fax device without realizing it. Fax Console automatically detects such hardware during installation and configures itself to send faxes via these devices. Fax Console does not automatically configure the devices to receive faxes.

Configuring Fax Console

The first time you run Fax Console, the Fax Configuration Wizard starts. It asks you to fill out the information (name, address, phone number, and so on) that you want to appear on the cover sheet of any faxes you send. If the Wizard detects that Fax Console has upgraded Personal Fax for Windows, it offers you the option of importing your fax archives.

After the Fax Configuration Wizard has run, the Fax Console window appears, as shown here:

The Fax Console Window resembles Outlook Express, which is not surprising, because both programs are designed to send, receive, and keep track of messages. The Fax Console contains four folders by default: Incoming, which contains faxes that are arriving; Inbox for received faxes; Outbox for faxes that you have scheduled to be sent, but have not yet been transmitted successfully; and Sent Items for sent faxes.

Windows treats a fax device as a kind of printer and creates an icon for it in the Printers And Faxes folder. Opening this icon opens Fax Console. Right-clicking this icon and selecting Properties is equivalent to choosing Tools | Fax Printer Configuration from the Fax Console menu bar. Either action produces the Fax Properties dialog box. From here you can do the following:

• Adjust the size and quality of the fax images you send. From the General tab, click Printing Preferences and make your choices from the Fax Printing Preferences dialog box.
• Share your fax printer over a network. This option is not supported for all fax devices, and Windows XP Home Edition doesn't support it. Make your choices from the Sharing tab of the Fax Properties dialog box.
• Set the properties of your fax devices. Use the Devices tab. This is where you configure a device to receive faxes. The options available here depend on the particular device.
• Set the discount rate times. One option for sending faxes is for the fax to be held until the phone rates go down. Specify the discount rate times by clicking the Properties button on the devices tab. The Properties box for your fax device appears; set the discount times there.
• Choose where sent and received faxes are filed. Use the Archives tab.
• Decide how you will be notified about faxes that are sent or received. Use the Track tab. An icon can appear in the Notification Area or the Fax Monitor window can open, as show here:

Sending a Fax

You can send a fax from within Fax Console or from within an application by selecting File | Print and choosing a fax printer from the drop-down printer list in the Print dialog box (see Figure 14-3).

Sending a Cover-Page Fax from Fax Console

You can send a cover-page fax (consisting of a cover page with a subject line and a text note) from within Fax Console by selecting File | Send a Fax from the menu. The Send Fax Wizard opens to collect the recipient information, the subject line, and the text of your note. To send a longer fax, create the document you want to send with another application and send it from that application

The final page of the Send Fax Wizard is the Schedule page. Here you can choose to send the fax immediately, when discount rates apply, or during a specific time window (within the next 24 hours) that you set.

Sending a Fax from an Application

If you have a document open in an application (like Microsoft Word or Adobe Photoshop, for example) you can fax that document to someone by selecting File | Print and choosing a fax printer from the drop-down printer list in the Print dialog box (see Figure 14-3). The Send Fax Wizard appears and collects the information necessary to send the fax, such as the fax number of the recipient and the information you want to appear on the cover page of the fax. You can schedule the fax just as you would if had started the Send Fax Wizard from within Fax Console

Receiving Faxes

Fax Console does not automatically configure devices to receive faxes. In order to receive a fax using a particular device, do the following:

1. Open Fax Console.
2. Select Tools | Fax Printer Configuration from the menu. The Fax Properties dialog box appears.
3. Click the Devices tab.
4. Select from the list on the Devices tab the device you want to use to receive faxes. The list tells you whether the device is already set up to receive. (If it says Yes, there is no need to continue.)
5. Click the Properties button on the Devices tab of the Fax Properties dialog box. The Properties dialog box for the device appears.
6. Click the Receive tab of the device's Properties dialog box.
7. Check the Enable Device To Receive check box.
8. Enter your called subscriber identification number into the CSID box.
9. You can make additional choices from this dialog box: You set whether the fax line should be answered automatically or manually, and whether faxes should automatically be printed or stored somewhere in addition to the Inbox folder of Fax Console.
10. Click OK in all open dialog boxes.

If you configured your fax device to receive faxes automatically, you need do nothing to receive an incoming fax. If you configured the fax device for manual receiving, select File | Receive Fax Now when a fax call is coming in.

Archiving Your Faxes

The faxes you send accumulate in the Sent Items folder and the faxes you receive accumulate in the Inbox. If you have a local fax device, the faxes stay in these folders until you delete them. For network fax devices, they may disappear after a period of time specified by the network administrator.

You cannot create additional folders for your faxes inside Fax Console, so if you want to organize your stored faxes you will have to translate them into some other format. To do this, select the Inbox (for received faxes) or Sent Items (for sent faxes) folder in the Fax Console window, then choose a message from the message list and right-click it. The shortcut menu gives you several choices. You can

• Save the fax as a file. Select Save As from the shortcut menu, then choose a file name and a folder in which to save your fax from the Browse window that appears.
• Print it.
• Delete it.
• View it. Selecting View from the shortcut menu opens the fax in a new window.
• E-mail it. Select Mail To from the shortcut menu. The fax appears in a message window of the default e-mail program. You can address it and send it as you would any e-mail message.

Windows stores your faxes as images, with the extension .tif. You use Windows Explorer to copy these files from the Fax Console's folders into other folders. The Fax Console keeps its files in the C:\Documents And Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\Windows NT\MSFax\Inbox (if Windows is installed on C). The fax file names are cryptic: to determine which fax is which, double-click to view the fax.