Get your Fax right

Many of you who have attended my seminars across the country will be very surprised seeing an article by me that actually acknowledges faxes. My (opiniated??) stand about faxing seems to be legendary - I don't like faxes, and I don't hesitate in saying so.

Yet I must accept the fact that faxing is a way of life, especially in India, where the concept of electronic mail is yet to get widespread acceptance.

And as my job is to make you more productive, I must show you how to get the most out of faxing.

The first step is to junk your fax machine.

Ha ! Gottcha !

The Fax of the case

There is a lot to be said about faxing, and if you don't pull the reigns on me now, not much of it is going to be complimentary. [Whoa! - Ed]

Well, let me do a Keith Timmons (of Santa Barbara fame) and state the facts of the case:

Dig out one of the more recent faxes you have received. Look at it closely. Does it look very nice? Is it at all legible ? No ? Well, there you have the first problem. Unless you are using one of those phenomenally expensive plain paper fax machines, you are looking a fading image. The thermal paper that is used by your fax machine over time loses its image, fading to a point of oblivion.

Next, look at the image itself (if you can). See those dropouts, those blurs, those smudges ? Well, that's what you can expect with a fax machine. You see, the fax machine is really WISIWYG. Yep, no spell goof there - WISIWYG stands for "What IT sees is what YOU get". The fax scans your printed page, and anything it "sees" is sent as part of the image - including the dirt on the scanning element, the fingerprint on the page, the ink smear in the typed matter, etc.

Then dig out the reception report that your fax machine generated after the page was received. You mean you can't find it ? Well, go on and look for it, I'll wait....

Got it ? OK, look at the column that tells you how long it took to receive that page. Hmmmm, almost 90 seconds ? For that single sheet of paper that didn't have much matter on it in first place? Seems a bit much, doesn't it ? Oh, you say it isn't your problem, since you weren't paying for the call ! How nice. Keep that in mind next time you send a fax.

You see, since the fax machine picked up everything that wasn't white on the original page, it also sent a whole lot of things the sender didn't want to send (the smudges, the stains, the dirt on the scan element, etc.) Sending all that takes time, and that is why it took so long to send the page. Add to that the fact that most fax machines only work at 9600 bps, and the seconds add up. If you are doing the sending, seconds=money.

There has to be a better way.

Enter the Fax Modem

A modem is really meant for sending data (like text, files, programs, ZIPs, etc.), but most modems today can send and receive faxes too. As a matter of fact - if you haven't been careful, you may be the proud owner of a modem that is useless for anything else but faxing.

Fax Modems come in a variety of flavours (internal/external, cheap/expensive, good/bad), but that is a point we will discuss some other time. For the moment we will assume that you have a working fax modem.

The fax modem is effectively the same thing as your fax machine, except that it doesn't have a scan unit, and it doesn't print on that flimsy thermal paper.

Consider for a moment where your original printed page came from. From your word processor, right ? OK, in that case, why print it on paper, then run it through the fax machine, where the scanner's quality can really muck things up ? Why not send the text itself ?

That's what fax software does. It takes your text (or graphics), turns it into a fax image, then sends it on its way. Since the scanning step is bypassed altogether, there is no chance of any smudges, fingerprints or dirt on the scanner ruining the page, or adding extra overhead to the transmission time. Just because all the "scanning errors" are eliminated, you may cut your transmission time by almost 30% !

And, because of this speed increase, you will be more tempted to send high resolution faxes (which normally take more time), resulting in much better output at the far end, which is much more likely to make your customer release the payment that you asked for in the fax message.

Anyway, to look further into the case of fax modem v/s fax machine, consider the fact that most fax modems today can transmit and receive faxes at 14400 bps, which is 50% faster than most fax machines can handle. That adds up to quite a lot if you are a frequent faxer. The page that takes 90 seconds to send via a fax machine may go out in under 60 seconds if both ends are equipped with 14400 bps fax modems. If you send on an average 10 faxes a day from Bangalore to Delhi, that could mean savings of 30x10 seconds, or about Rs.150 a day !

Finally, if you receive faxes using a fax modem, then the received image isn't printed on flimsy fax paper, but lands on your hard disk in the form of a file. This file can be printed out on just about anything capable of graphics printing, including your laser printer, ink jet printer or plain old dot matrix printer. More savings ! With the added advantage that you don't have to print it out at all - you can view it on your screen, anytime you want. Or print it out - any number of copies, anytime you need them.

Naturally, the quality of your fax software is very important - there is good and bad stuff out there. Make sure that you choose the right fax software. Bad fax software can make even your fax machine look good and cheap.

Fax Software

Over the past two years, I have used a variety of fax software packages. And I have generally arrived at the conclusion that DOS based fax software is simply not good enough. These packages (such as QL2FAX, BITFAX, DOSFAX, etc.) simply don't have what it takes in the modern world of fonts, italics, graphics, etc. Sure, they are quick and convenient, but there is more to life than just sending text - you want to give the message a touch of class.

Thankfully, we are not stuck with that - nowadays we have Microsoft Windows, which makes faxing a delight (if you like faxes).

Windows based fax software (such as Winfax Pro, Winfax Lite, Bitfax for Windows, etc.) treat the faxmodem as a printer, and supply printer drivers to make the job easy. You simply fire up your copy of Word for Windows (or even better, Q&A Write for Windows) or Windows Write or Ami Pro or even PageMaker or Ventura, create a document (with fonts, italics, underlines, drop caps, flourishes, kerning and what not), add graphics (such as letter heads, signatures, logos), then tell your application to print, after selecting the fax software's printer driver. Voila ! What you see is actually what you get ! The fax software (disguised as a Windows printer driver) takes it from there - it asks you for the phone number to send it to, and the document goes out crystal clear and faster than you can say "Department of Telecommunications".

The Fax of Life

Now that we have you sending faxes with abandon, we can look into more important things - like managing your faxing.

If you own a fax machine, then you must have used the "delayed send" feature at some time, in order to send a fax message late at night in order to save on costs. But the drawback is that you can set up only one message like that. What if you want to send a number of messages, to different people, all in the middle of the night ?

Well, fax software does that for you. You can schedule fax transmissions (any number of them to any number of destinations) so that they go out after 9 pm (so that you pay 25% of the long distance costs). And no fancy stacking of pages required, either - the fax software will do all that for you.

And then there is this problem of fax numbers - can you really recollect every fax number you need without looking at that directory of yours ? Well, fax software lets you maintain phonebooks, so that when you are ready to send a fax, you simply point at the number it should go to - the software will pick up that number and get to work.

Good fax software (like Winfax Pro) also have a "failed pages" feature, meaning that if in the middle of a multi-page transmission the line goes chop, the software will call right back and continue from that page onwards, instead of sending everything all over again.

Even better, all fax software packages will allow you to produce reports of fax transmissions and receipts, so that you can use the data in another packages (say, your accounting system) to analyse the costs.

And if you need to quickly find that fax you sent to someone a few months back, with the keyword "PAYMENT" - well, good fax software will let you find and view the desired fax document in a jiffy.

Getting under the Covers

Windows based fax software will also let you do something more - you can send "intelligent" fax cover pages, which will have all the required data automatically filled in (such as name of sender, addresseem date, time, number of pages to follow, etc.). Winfax Pro even lets you create "designer covers", which lets you choose a cover page with some fancy graphic most suitable to the occasion (such as a guy with boxing gloves, with a message below it "Pay up, before we get tough").

Cover pages can actually replace the need for a separate message - you can simply fill in your message on the cover sheet, and send it, rather than going the multi-page way with a cover page, followed by a page with the message on it.

Some tips and tricks

The biggest complaint about fax modems is that you can't get your signature on the sheet.

Sez who ?

Two years ago, I simply signed on a sheet of paper using a black sketchpen, then used a scanner to get that image onto disk. After that, all I have to do in my word processor is to add the signature graphic in the right place. I have been using this signature file (which I have heavily encrypted using a custom crypt program to avoid misuse) ever since. No one knows the difference.

You say you don't have a scanner. Heck, that's no problem ! Just set up your fax modem for reception, then hoof it over to a place where you can use a fax machine. Fax your letter head with signature to your fax modem, then save the received image. Next time you need your letterhead/signature, just dig up this file !

Another tip is to avoid "Standard Resolution" faxes. If a bit of noise on the way junks part of the line, a standard resolution fax (100 DPI) is almost impossible to read. On the other hand, a High resolution fax message (200 DPI) sends more info about the line, increasing the chances of the page being readable even if the line is very noisy. Naturally, a HighRes fax takes a wee bit longer to send, but if it saves you from having to retransmit the message because of "line hits", it will pay for itself.

If you are buying a new fax modem, make sure that you get good fax software along with it. If you are offered Bitfax or QL2FAX (or any other DOS based fax software), look for another modem or vendor - nothing less than a true Windows based fax package will do.

When using a Windows based fax software, always use TrueType fonts in your document, since they usually turn out best in the final fax image.

Some of you are still using pre-historic computers (like 8088/80286 based machines) which cannot run Windows properly (or at all). In such a case, try various DOS based fax software packages before you decide which to use. Look for a well known name (such as Delrina, who produce DOSfax) or at least good references from existing users. Don't even consider clunkers like BitFax or QL2FAX, which are outdated and unreliable.

Though I do not want to make faxmodem selection a point in this article, I should tell you that there are four kinds of faxmodems:

1. Fax Only cards : The JTFax card is a typical one. Since it isn't a real modem, you cannot use it with software like WinFax Pro. Avoid these cards.

2. Class 1 FaxModems : These are true modems with fax capabilities. But because the Class 1 fax operations depend on a really fast machine (80386 preferred), and is a pain to implement. Because of its timing-sensitive nature, the Class 1 standard tends to produce more failed faxes than others. Not all Fax software packages support Class 1.

3. Class 2 FaxModems : Again, these are true modems. The Class 2 implementation is very sturdy and is widely accepted. 99% of all fax software packages support Class 2. It is excellent when working in an environment like Windows, because the modem does most of the work.

4. Class 2.0 FaxModems : A true modem, but with a fatal flaw. The Class 2.0 "standard" is in reality completely unsupported at this time. No Class 2.0 fax software exists. Until some appears, lay off such modems.

Finally, consider abandoning faxes altogether. E-Mail is much better, faster, more convenient, more secure, cheaper, widely accepted, etc. etc.

There - I did it again.

Cheerio !