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Windows Forum / Windows XP / Printing and Faxing / May 2005

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Faxing from Mail Merge in Microsoft Word

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Ray B. - 27 May 2005 16:56 GMT
I'm running Windows XP and Office 2000 Small Business.  I want to fax a
series of letters created in Word, each of which has a unique fax number,
name, address, etc.  I've done mail merge before and everything works fine if
I just want to PRINT the documents, but I want to FAX them.  So . . . I
loaded Windows XP Fax and thought I was ready to go.  BUT - the Fax option
does not appear in the Merge To drop-down box.  My only choices are Document,
Printer, and Electronic Mail.

What did I miss?
Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook] - 27 May 2005 23:13 GMT
You missed the fact that Office applications are unaware of and do not
recognize Windows XP Fax. If you really want to, you can use a very
convoluted workaround to merge to email instead.  To my knowledge it has
never been tested with an Office version this far outdated:
http://www.slipstick.com/addins/services/winxpfax.htm#limitations
Signature

Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

> I'm running Windows XP and Office 2000 Small Business.  I want to fax a
> series of letters created in Word, each of which has a unique fax number,
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
>
> What did I miss?
Joe Blogs - 28 May 2005 07:58 GMT
>You missed the fact that Office applications are unaware of and do not
>recognize Windows XP Fax. If you really want to, you can use a very
>convoluted workaround to merge to email instead.  To my knowledge it has
>never been tested with an Office version this far outdated:
>http://www.slipstick.com/addins/services/winxpfax.htm#limitations

Hi Russ,

We have much the same problem, were using Win XP and Office 2003.

All that we need to do is add the contact name to our faxes.  are you
saying that we should merge to email then by some way or other fax the
emails or are you saying that we should the send the emails to a 3rd
party service that faxes these emails out? the "Email - Fax"
companies?

JB
Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook] - 28 May 2005 11:54 GMT
Not at all.
I'm saying you should use the method I posted to do a fax merge.
Signature

Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

>
>>You missed the fact that Office applications are unaware of and do not
[quoted text clipped - 14 lines]
>
> JB
Joe Blogs - 28 May 2005 14:51 GMT
>Not at all.
>I'm saying you should use the method I posted to do a fax merge.

I must have missed this thread? would you please send it again or
explain how to do it?
Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook] - 28 May 2005 15:26 GMT
http://www.slipstick.com/addins/services/winxpfax.htm#limitations
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=289532 (applies equally to Windows XP Fax
and Outlook 2003)

Signature

Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

>
>>Not at all.
>>I'm saying you should use the method I posted to do a fax merge.
>
> I must have missed this thread? would you please send it again or
> explain how to do it?
Joe Blogs - 28 May 2005 15:37 GMT
>http://www.slipstick.com/addins/services/winxpfax.htm#limitations
>http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=289532 (applies equally to Windows XP Fax
>and Outlook 2003)

Thanks Russ,

I think that I've finally got it!
Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook] - 28 May 2005 15:40 GMT
Good luck. Fax merges can be a real chore.
Signature

Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

>
>>http://www.slipstick.com/addins/services/winxpfax.htm#limitations
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
>
> I think that I've finally got it!
Ray B. - 31 May 2005 16:41 GMT
Thanks for the info.  Amazing that one Microsoft product does not recognize
another!  Way ta' go Bill!  

The workaround you referenced truly is convoluted and I think I'll pass on
it.  Are you aware of any other Fax programs that might provide the
functionality I seek.

Ray

> You missed the fact that Office applications are unaware of and do not
> recognize Windows XP Fax. If you really want to, you can use a very
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
> >
> > What did I miss?
Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook] - 01 Jun 2005 00:46 GMT
No I am not, but I have neither the time nor the inclination to test third
party fax solutions. Most seem to be even worse than Microsoft's. Years ago
WinFax Pro filled this void, but Symantec dropped that ball completely long
ago (without having the simple courtesy to acknowledge that fact).

I suspect the reason that no one has stepped up to this plate is that
everyone is still trying to figure out whether they can still make a profit
from modem faxing software. The need for faxing refuses to die despite all
the predictions to the contrary. But whether it remains high enough for a
developer to profit from it mystifies everyone, Microsoft included. That is
why Microsoft's modem faxing products remain barely functional and totally
separated from (and ignored by) their flagship applications like Office.

My own uneducated opinion is to look for Internet Fax companies to fill this
void. In the US, most users are moving to broadband connections and would
prefer to abandon their analog fax modems and decrepit modem fax software
completely. It never worked well in the first place. They might, however, be
willing to pay a small fee to email their data to an Internet Service who
could do their occasional faxing for them.

Look at the handwriting on the wall in Outlook 2003. As is obvious from this
thread, integration with modem faxing is a joke. But Outlook 2003 has a new
module to allow integration with a number of Internet Fax Services that look
very promising. Whether these services will be robust enough to permit fax
merges and faxing of attachments remains to be seen. I've only tried one of
these services (Venali--because they did all of the legwork to develop
Internet Fax for Outlook 2003). The folks at Venali seem committed to
providing a robust service. Whether their service will include faxing of
various attachments and can accommodate fax merges remains to be seen, but
I've been able to do both--so far (with a few tweaks and workarounds).

NB: Opinions are my own. I do not represent Microsoft in any way
(obviously). Comments and dissenting opinions welcome. --
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
> Thanks for the info.  Amazing that one Microsoft product does not
> recognize
[quoted text clipped - 25 lines]
>> >
>> > What did I miss?
Stefan Engelbert - 29 May 2005 05:02 GMT
Hi,
have a closer look at the Aloaha PDF Suite. It contains a XP/2003 FAX
Connector and allows to embed commands like a FAX Number inside the original
document.
(http://www.aloaha.com/wi-software-en/aloaha-fax-connector.php)

So you could simple create your Mail Merge Document, embed the FAX Number
inside the print and and print it to any Aloaha Monitored Printer.

Have fun.
Stefan

> I'm running Windows XP and Office 2000 Small Business.  I want to fax a
> series of letters created in Word, each of which has a unique fax number,
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
>
> What did I miss?
 
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