Faxing Within Outlook 2003 on WIndows XP

[Peter D]

I've always enjoyed the simplicity (and non-bloatness) of the simple Windows
fax system that started back in Win95 and Windows Messaging days (or was it
even earlier than that?). Nothing realy fancy, but easy to teach anyone to
fax who knew how to e-mail. And the added benefit of storing all faxes
within an Outlook folder.

But no more. It's gone with Outlook 2003 and Windows XP. No more fax sharing
using a folder for the share either. No more fax/mail within Outlook. Or is
it gone? Does anyone know a simple way to fax within Outlook 2003 and
Windows XP? Appreciated.

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

Fax sharing went away a long time ago. That has nothing to do with Outlook.
Not much else has changed. Windows XP Fax is still a valid transport for
Outlook 2003.
What trouble are you having?

 

[Peter D]

Fax sharing went away a long time ago.

If it did, I didn't notice. Still doing it on a Win98 system with Outlook
2000.

That has nothing to do with Outlook.

My understanding is that MS stripped the functionality out of Windows XP for
whatever reason -- money, don't care, didn't realise, whatever.

Not much else has changed. Windows XP Fax is still a valid transport for

Outlook 2003.

The problem is that Windows XP Fax is pretty unreliable. I've seen several
systems that can't receive randomly. And using XP Fax is Outlook is no
longer as simple and seamless as using Wind95/8 Fax with O2K or WM was.

What trouble are you having?

Trying to come up with a Fax client/system that is simple to use, as simple
as the old system was. I found the concept of faxing as e-mailing was very
easy to learn and implement. It built on something most people are very
familiar with (e-mail). Network faxing/fax sharing would be a nice bonus.
Or, at the least Fax Printer so that can be shared.

Any suggestions for any product or setup are welcome.

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

Points all well taken (except one: Windows 95 was a long time ago--and that
was the last time a Windows OS Fax Service supported sharing).
The inescapable conclusion from what I've seen is that Microsoft has
abandoned fax without having the courtesy to tell us so. Windows XP Fax is
notoriously unreliable. I can't imagine anyone ever deploying it in a
production situation. Integration with Outlook has been reduced to a
meaningless level.
I have no idea how large the potential market for reliable faxing from
Outlook really is. I haven't the time nor the inclination to test the third
party offerings that might fill this niche. The only thing I know for sure
is that Symantec's are non-contenders.
If I were you I would take a look at one of the Internet Faxing services
that have been anointed to integrate with Outlook 2003. I've used the Venali
Service with great success and have even been able to cobble out a way to do
fax merges with it.

 

[Peter D]

Points all well taken (except one: Windows 95 was a long time ago--and that
was the last time a Windows OS Fax Service supported sharing).

Not wanting to bite the hand that's feeding me <g>, but I have a shared fax
set up on a Win98 system (or maybe it's Win98SE) and it still does what it
always did when it was Win95 system, shared the fax on a network and allowed
multiple users to send faxes over the network and trigger the fax modem to
dispatch them.

The inescapable conclusion from what I've seen is that Microsoft has
abandoned fax without having the courtesy to tell us so. Windows XP Fax is
notoriously unreliable. I can't imagine anyone ever deploying it in a
production situation. Integration with Outlook has been reduced to a
meaningless level.

Agreed. Withthe increase in e-mail, I can see how fax isn't that important,
but lots of people still use it. I don't, but I know lots fo offices that
do.

I have no idea how large the potential market for reliable faxing from
Outlook really is. I haven't the time nor the inclination to test the third
party offerings that might fill this niche. The only thing I know for sure
is that Symantec's are non-contenders.

Agreed 100%. I stripped that excuse for a fax client about an hour into
using it. Yeach!

If I were you I would take a look at one of the Internet Faxing services
that have been anointed to integrate with Outlook 2003. I've used the Venali
Service with great success and have even been able to cobble out a way to do
fax merges with it.

Will check into it.

If anyone else is reading this thread and has used WinFax (suggested by a
friend), I'd like to hear your experiences.

--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

If it did, I didn't notice. Still doing it on a Win98 system with Outlook
2000.


My understanding is that MS stripped the functionality out of Windows XP
for
whatever reason -- money, don't care, didn't realise, whatever.
for
Outlook 2003.

The problem is that Windows XP Fax is pretty unreliable. I've seen several
systems that can't receive randomly. And using XP Fax is Outlook is no
longer as simple and seamless as using Wind95/8 Fax with O2K or WM was.


Trying to come up with a Fax client/system that is simple to use, as
simple
as the old system was. I found the concept of faxing as e-mailing was very
easy to learn and implement. It built on something most people are very
familiar with (e-mail). Network faxing/fax sharing would be a nice bonus.
Or, at the least Fax Printer so that can be shared.

Any suggestions for any product or setup are welcome.
anyone
to

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

Of course. But that is still the same fax module that was designed for
Windows 95. It was only provided as an add-on with Windows 98.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Points all well taken (except one: Windows 95 was a long time ago--and that
was the last time a Windows OS Fax Service supported sharing).

Not wanting to bite the hand that's feeding me <g>, but I have a shared
fax
set up on a Win98 system (or maybe it's Win98SE) and it still does what it
always did when it was Win95 system, shared the fax on a network and
allowed
multiple users to send faxes over the network and trigger the fax modem to
dispatch them.

The inescapable conclusion from what I've seen is that Microsoft has
abandoned fax without having the courtesy to tell us so. Windows XP Fax
is
notoriously unreliable. I can't imagine anyone ever deploying it in a
production situation. Integration with Outlook has been reduced to a
meaningless level.

Agreed. Withthe increase in e-mail, I can see how fax isn't that
important,
but lots of people still use it. I don't, but I know lots fo offices that
do.

I have no idea how large the potential market for reliable faxing from
Outlook really is. I haven't the time nor the inclination to test the third
party offerings that might fill this niche. The only thing I know for
sure
is that Symantec's are non-contenders.

Agreed 100%. I stripped that excuse for a fax client about an hour into
using it. Yeach!

If I were you I would take a look at one of the Internet Faxing services
that have been anointed to integrate with Outlook 2003. I've used the Venali
Service with great success and have even been able to cobble out a way to do
fax merges with it.

Will check into it.

If anyone else is reading this thread and has used WinFax (suggested by a
friend), I'd like to hear your experiences.

--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Fax sharing went away a long time ago.

If it did, I didn't notice. Still doing it on a Win98 system with Outlook
2000.

That has nothing to do with Outlook.

My understanding is that MS stripped the functionality out of Windows
XP
for
whatever reason -- money, don't care, didn't realise, whatever.

Not much else has changed. Windows XP Fax is still a valid transport for
Outlook 2003.

The problem is that Windows XP Fax is pretty unreliable. I've seen several
systems that can't receive randomly. And using XP Fax is Outlook is no
longer as simple and seamless as using Wind95/8 Fax with O2K or WM was.

What trouble are you having?

Trying to come up with a Fax client/system that is simple to use, as
simple
as the old system was. I found the concept of faxing as e-mailing was very
easy to learn and implement. It built on something most people are very
familiar with (e-mail). Network faxing/fax sharing would be a nice bonus.
Or, at the least Fax Printer so that can be shared.

Any suggestions for any product or setup are welcome.

I've always enjoyed the simplicity (and non-bloatness) of the simple
Windows
fax system that started back in Win95 and Windows Messaging days (or
was
it
even earlier than that?). Nothing realy fancy, but easy to teach anyone
to
fax who knew how to e-mail. And the added benefit of storing all faxes
within an Outlook folder.

But no more. It's gone with Outlook 2003 and Windows XP. No more fax
sharing
using a folder for the share either. No more fax/mail within
Outlook.
Or
is
it gone? Does anyone know a simple way to fax within Outlook 2003
and
Windows XP? Appreciated.

 

[Brian Tillman]

If anyone else is reading this thread and has used WinFax (suggested
by a friend), I'd like to hear your experiences.

Reports in this and other Outlook groups indicate that most (all?) versions
of WinFax do not integrate well with Outlook 2003.

 

[Peter D]

Of course. But that is still the same fax module that was designed for
Windows 95. It was only provided as an add-on with Windows 98.

Then it was supported in Win98 and was a Fax Service that supported sharing.
Let's agree that it's a mitpick and move on.

--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Points all well taken (except one: Windows 95 was a long time ago--and that
was the last time a Windows OS Fax Service supported sharing).

Not wanting to bite the hand that's feeding me <g>, but I have a shared
fax
set up on a Win98 system (or maybe it's Win98SE) and it still does what it
always did when it was Win95 system, shared the fax on a network and
allowed
multiple users to send faxes over the network and trigger the fax modem to
dispatch them.

The inescapable conclusion from what I've seen is that Microsoft has
abandoned fax without having the courtesy to tell us so. Windows XP Fax
is
notoriously unreliable. I can't imagine anyone ever deploying it in a
production situation. Integration with Outlook has been reduced to a
meaningless level.

Agreed. Withthe increase in e-mail, I can see how fax isn't that
important,
but lots of people still use it. I don't, but I know lots fo offices that
do.

I have no idea how large the potential market for reliable faxing from
Outlook really is. I haven't the time nor the inclination to test the third
party offerings that might fill this niche. The only thing I know for
sure
is that Symantec's are non-contenders.

Agreed 100%. I stripped that excuse for a fax client about an hour into
using it. Yeach!

If I were you I would take a look at one of the Internet Faxing services
that have been anointed to integrate with Outlook 2003. I've used the Venali
Service with great success and have even been able to cobble out a way

to
do

fax merges with it.

Will check into it.

If anyone else is reading this thread and has used WinFax (suggested by a
friend), I'd like to hear your experiences.

--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
Fax sharing went away a long time ago.

If it did, I didn't notice. Still doing it on a Win98 system with Outlook
2000.

That has nothing to do with Outlook.

My understanding is that MS stripped the functionality out of Windows
XP
for
whatever reason -- money, don't care, didn't realise, whatever.

Not much else has changed. Windows XP Fax is still a valid transport for
Outlook 2003.

The problem is that Windows XP Fax is pretty unreliable. I've seen several
systems that can't receive randomly. And using XP Fax is Outlook is no
longer as simple and seamless as using Wind95/8 Fax with O2K or WM was.

What trouble are you having?

Trying to come up with a Fax client/system that is simple to use, as
simple
as the old system was. I found the concept of faxing as e-mailing was very
easy to learn and implement. It built on something most people are very
familiar with (e-mail). Network faxing/fax sharing would be a nice bonus.
Or, at the least Fax Printer so that can be shared.

Any suggestions for any product or setup are welcome.

I've always enjoyed the simplicity (and non-bloatness) of the simple
Windows
fax system that started back in Win95 and Windows Messaging days (or
was
it
even earlier than that?). Nothing realy fancy, but easy to teach anyone
to
fax who knew how to e-mail. And the added benefit of storing all faxes
within an Outlook folder.

But no more. It's gone with Outlook 2003 and Windows XP. No more fax
sharing
using a folder for the share either. No more fax/mail within
Outlook.
Or
is
it gone? Does anyone know a simple way to fax within Outlook 2003
and
Windows XP? Appreciated.

 

[Ken Slovak - [MVP - Outlook]]

I've used WinFax Pro for many years but I abandoned it recently due to its
problems with Outlook 2003 and some problems (that I've mostly overcome in
Outlook 2002). I purchased a nice networkable HP all in one fax, copier,
scanner, color inkjet for not very much money and it has a nice Ethernet
port that lets every computer on my network print/fax/scan with it. It's not
integrated with Outlook and doesn't use the Outlook address book but since
WinFax doesn't do that very well either with Outlook 2002 and 2003 it's not
much of a loss to me.