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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.
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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).
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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).
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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.
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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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