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10 Minute Guide to Microsoft Exchange 5.0

- Lesson 12 -
Working with Faxes–For Windows 95 Clients

 

In this lesson, you learn how to use the Windows 95 Microsoft Exchange Client to create a fax and send it. You also learn about some of the options available for sending and receiving faxes.

When Microsoft Exchange Client is installed on your workstation, you can use it for faxing instead of turning to the fax program that is part of the accessories package that came with your operating system. If you don't have a modem or network access to a shared modem, you probably don't have fax services installed in your Exchange system. Either ask your administrator about gaining fax services, or skip this lesson.

Composing a Fax in Exchange

To create a fax, follow these steps:

1. Choose Compose, New Fax to start the Compose New Fax Wizard (see Figure 12.1).

2.
Assuming you fax from your office computer, your location information is pre-set. Click Next in the first Fax Wizard dialog box to move on.


Locations You can configure multiple location settings if you use fax services from various locations. For example, if you travel, you might have a location setting that dials special numbers to get an outside line (as you would from a hotel). If you only fax from your office and the settings never change, select I'm Not Using a Portable Computer.

Figure 12.1 The Fax Wizard walks you through the process of sending a fax.

3. In the next wizard dialog box (shown in Figure 12.2), enter the name of the recipient in the To box and enter the phone number. (If the recipient is in your Address Book, click the Address Book button, choose an address list, and then choose a recipient. If the recipient is not in the Address Book, you can click New to add this recipient to the Address Book.) Click Next when you finish.

Figure 12.2 You enter the recipient and phone number in the Fax Wizard.

4. The next wizard dialog box asks if you want to use a cover page and gives you the opportunity to change the default options for sending faxes. These options permit you to send the fax at a later time and to include security (encryption) options. Click Options to configure these items, and then click OK to return to the wizard. When you finish this page of the Fax Wizard, click Next.

5.
Fill in the Subject text box, and then enter the text of the fax in the Note section. (If you are using a cover page, there will be an option button that allows you to begin the text on the cover page instead of starting a new page.) Click Next.

6.
If you want to attach a file to your fax, choose Add File in this wizard dialog box. Enter the file name in the Files to Send box. Then click Next.


Attaching Files You can only attach files to your fax if the fax recipient uses a computer to receive faxes and has software that can open the attached documents.


7.
The final wizard dialog box informs you that you have completed all the steps for composing and sending a fax. Click Finish. Your fax is either sent immediately or stored for later transmission (depending on the options you set in step 4).

Sending Faxes

Whether you send your fax immediately after composing it or at a later time, the process of sending a fax is the same. All the steps are performed automatically, and the Microsoft Fax Status dialog box reports each step of the process (preparing the fax format, dialing the number, and sending the pages). After the fax is sent, it's listed in the Sent Items folder in your mailbox.

Setting Options for Sending Faxes

You can configure the default options for sending fax transmissions so you can take advantage of lower phone rates, or you can set a specific time for sending all your faxes. (This is helpful if you're sharing a modem.)

To configure your fax sending options, follow these steps:

1. Open the Tools menu and point to Microsoft Fax Tools. A submenu appears.

2.
From the submenu, choose Options to access the Microsoft Fax Properties dialog box. By default, the Message tab is displayed (see Figure 12.3).

Figure 12.3 Choose a default method for sending faxes; you can change the default for any individual fax.

3. Choose from the following options for sending faxes:

  • Choose As Soon As Possible if you customarily send a fax as soon as you finish preparing it.

  • If you usually send faxes over long-distance lines, choose Discount Rates and click Set. The Set Discount Rates dialog box (shown in Figure 12.4) appears. In the Start and End text boxes, enter the times for your long-distance carrier's discount period. Then click OK to return to the Microsoft Fax Properties dialog box. Exchange will attempt to send the fax in the time period you specify.

  • To set a specific time for sending faxes, choose Specific Time and enter the time. Exchange will attempt to send the fax at the time you specify.

  • You also can establish other configuration options on this tab, including message formats, default cover pages, and whether you can change the subject line for received faxes.

4.
When you finish, click OK to return to the Exchange mailbox.

Figure 12.4 You can specify the hours during which long-distance rates are low to save money on long-distance faxes.

Receiving Faxes

Depending on your configuration options (usually established when faM›services were installed), there are several ways in which your modem can respond when someone sends you a fax:

  • The modem automatically answers an incoming call.

  • The modem never answers a call unless you force it to.

  • A dialog box appears, asking if you want the modem to answer.

By default, Exchange does not answer calls. If you have a modem attached to your computer, you'll probably want to change that option so you can receive faxes. (If faxes sent to you are received by a network modem, they're placed in your Inbox just as your e-mail is.)

Telling the Modem Whether to Answer

To set the configuration for the modem's _–avior, follow these steps:

1. Open the Tools menu, point to Microsoft Fax Tools, and select Options from the submenu.

2.
Click the Modem tab.

3.
Select your fax modem, and then choose Properties to display the Fax Modem Properties dialog box (see Figure 12.5).

Figure 12.5 Reconfigure Answer Mode to have your modem answer the phone for incoming faxes.

4. Choose one of the following answer modes:

  • Select Answer After and specify the number of rings to have the modem answer the phone at that point. This is useful if you share the modem with your voice line (and generally manage to say "hello" before the number of rings you specify for modem answering).

  • Choose Manual to tell the modem when to answer the phone. This is useful if a person generally calls you to tell you he's sending you a fax. (See the next section of this lesson for more information.)

  • Choose Don't Answer if you don't want the modem to answer the phone automatically. Note, however, that there is a way to answer if you know a fax is arriving; that is explained in the next section.

5.
When you select your option, click OK to return to the Microsoft Fax Properties dialog box. Then click OK again to return to the Exchange mailbox.

Manually Answering the Phone

If you choose Manual or Don't Answer as your configuration option, you can control whether or not the modem answers the phone each time it rings. If you know a fax is arriving, the modem answers; otherwise, it doesn't.

For the Manual answering configuration, when the phone rings, an information dialog box appears, asking if you want to receive a fax (see Figure 12.6).

Figure 12.6 The modem knows the phone is ringing and wants to know if you want to answer it.

For the Don't Answer configuration, when the phone rings and you know it's a fax, click the fax machine icon at the right end of the taskbar (next to the clock). The Fax Status dialog box appears (see Figure 12.7), and you can choose Answer Now to force the modem to receive the fax.

Figure 12.7 Open the Fax Status dialog box using the taskbar icon, and then tell the modem to answer the phone.


Quick Answer As a shortcut, you can right-click the taskbar fax icon and choose Answer Now from the shortcut menu instead of opening the Fax Status dialog box.

Viewing the Fax

After the modem answers the phone and receives the fax, the fax is placed in your Inbox. A fax icon appears in the Message Type column so you can tell it's not a regular e-mail message. Often, there's no data available for the From and Subject columns.

Double-click the fax's header to open the Fax Viewer and read the fax message. (If you receive a fax from another Microsoft Exchange Client user, you can treat it as a regular e-mail message, and the usual message window opens instead of the Fax Viewer.)

Faxes that are sent from freestanding fax machines can sometimes be difficult to read. Senders often put the fax in upside down, or it goes through the machine at an extremely crooked angle. Instead of standing on your head or tilting way over, use the tools on the Fax Viewer to rotate the fax as needed. You also can zoom in when the font is too small to read. The tools on the Fax Viewer are easy to use and are self-explanatory (but click Help if you need it).

In this lesson, you learned how you can compose, send, receive, and read faxes from a Windows 95 Microsoft Exchange Client system. In the next lesson, you'll learn how to create and use personal folders.

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