Sending
a QuickFax from the main screen
The quickest way to send a simple fax is to send it "on the fly".
In fact, its possible to create and send a fax in less than 10 seconds
with HotWire EasyFAX. To do this, simply start the HotWire program by typing
HotWire at the command line or launching the program from your graphical
desktop. Into the window labelled Fax Body / Coverpage type
the text body of your fax (there is a limit of 4,000 characters imposed).
To the left of the Fax Body window is a combo box labelled To:,
where you can select to whom this fax will be sent. Once this is
done, all you have to do is click on the SEND button in the toolbar.
You may choose to send a coversheet with this fax and can do so by simply
clicking on the Coversheet checkbox below the combobox. This
pops up a list of available coversheets from which you must choose, or
press cancel if you don't want any of them. If your coversheet permits
text to be merged into it, then you can click on the Merge Text
checkbox. This action causes any text typed into the fax body of
the QuickFax to be merged into the coversheet. The net effect is
that only a single sheet containing the coversheet and the text is transmitted.
If Merge Text is not checked, then two pages are sent; the coversheet
and a second page containing the text from the Fax Body.
Sending a word
processing document
Documents created with word processing programs can be sent in two
ways. The first method is by exporting the document into an ascii
file and attaching that file to your fax transmission. This
is not the best way since you'll loose much formatting and fonts, not to
mention any graphical inserts. A better way is to print the document
into file using Postscript level 1 output, and then attach this
file to your fax. No formatting, fonts or graphics are lost with
this second method. Any fax can have up to 20 attachments.
The attachments are sent in the order of appearance in the Attachments
list on the main screen. You can reorder them at will using the Move
Up and Move Dn buttons provided for this purpose.
The Attach button will bring up the File Select dailog
so that you can choose files to attach. To detatch a file that you
previously attached you must highlight the desired attachment and press
the Detach button. The Clr All button is used
to detach all the current attachments. The I button, for Information,
will show additional information about each attachment. Sending
other types of files - Other types of files can be attached to an
outgoing fax also. Version 1 of HotWire EasyFax supports ASCII,
PostScript and FAX file attachments. You can attach any ascii
or postscript level 1 file to an outgoing fax. You can also attach a fax
that you previously sent, or a fax that you received earlier to an outgoing
fax. Future releases will also support GIF, TIFF and other graphical formats.
HP/PCL may be supported in a future release.
Sending at a later time - Faxes can be sent at a later time
instead of immediately. This is handy if you have a lengthy fax that you
would rather send during cheaper toll times. To choose a later time, instead
of clicking on the SEND button on the toolbar to send a fax, pull
down the Send menu option and choose the priority that you
want this fax transmission to have. See Transmission Schedules
on the Admin menu to see what the different priorities mean.
Broadcasting a fax - Broadcasting
a fax can be achieved by creating a group using the Destinations->Group
Management option off the main menu. Create your group and use the Join
button to include all the destinations you want into this group. Press
OK to save your changes and choose this new group as the destination.
NOTE: Groups are listed last in the list of destinations, and will
not be included in the single-destination alphabetical sort. Groups are
designated in the To: list by a > symbol in the left margin.
All the members of this group will now receive this fax.
Sending a Coversheet - Click
on the Coversheet checkbox on the HotWire main screen and choose
a coversheet from the list that pops up. You can also preview the coversheet
if you wish. Cpversheets are Postcript files that MUST reside in
the $HO_HOME/covers directory and must have a suffux of ".ps".
Forwarding or "CC"-ing
a fax - Received and preexisiting faxes can be copied (sent) to another
destination on demand in one of two manners; by attaching the fax
to another fax and sending it, or by viewing it with the FaxVue
program and pressing the Forward button on the toolbar to the side
of the image. The FaxVue method allows a little more flexibility
in how this is done, including the removal of the original coverpage if
this was an outgoing fax, and the substitution of a new coverpage and/or
text.
Printing outgoing faxes - Printing of outgoing faxes is accomplished in the following manner: Press the VIEW/PRINT button on the toolbar (the Tortoise) or select Print option from the Fax pulldown off the main menu. Once in the FaxVue program press the OUT button on the toolbar and select the fax you wish to print.
Checking the status of a queued fax - You can check the status of any outbound fax by selecting Admin->Spooler Management from the main menu. All faxes are listed here with their status displaying either SENT, SENDING or the reason why they could not be sent along with other information.
Enabling/Disabling
automatic retry - You may or may not want the fax spooler to automatically
retry faxes that fail transmission on their first try. This can be accomplished
by setting the maximum number of retries to 1 in the Configuration screen
(bad idea) or by selecting (toggling) the Auto Retry option of the
Admin menu (better metnod). When you see the menu option
checked, it means that auto retry is enabled. The UNIX program "cron" must
be running for this to work.