Technical information
181
Print-to-fax
Print-to-fax
Print-to-fax is a versatile way to either deliver a fax envelope to the fax server or prepare a fax envelope so that it can
be delivered by other means. You can use the print-to-fax features of VSI-FAX to send faxes from any application
where the Print option is available (Microsoft Word, Microsoft Works, Microsoft Excel, Word Perfect, StarOffice, etc.).
There are two primary ways to send faxes from any application with print-to-fax:
Use one of the VSI-FAX print drivers.
Use a normal (non-VSI-FAX) PostScript, PCL or ASCII print driver.
When facing print-to-fax issues, you should consult the troubleshooting section
below.
Using VSI-FAX print drivers (Windows only)
The easiest way to implement print-to-fax is to direct your application's print output to one of the fax print drivers
provided with VSI-FAX. A separate print driver is provided with each fax client. The VSI-FAX print drivers are printers
that allow you to send faxes from any print-capable Windows application.
Once a VSI-FAX print driver has been installed on your computer, all you have to do is print your document on this
printer in order to send it to the VSI-FAX server, on which your document will be processed and sent to its recipients.
After you have submitted your documents you will be able to track them, from submission to delivery, using VSI-FAX
Server Administration or LanFax Manager.
When printing a document, the VSI-FAX print driver rasterizes your application information session, prompts you for
essential send information (e.g., fax number, recipient name) and delivers the fax envelope to the fax server. In other
words, the VSI-FAX print drivers provide both a way to create the fax envelope and a delivery mechanism for getting
the envelope to the fax server.
Important note
This print-to-fax mode is only available on Microsoft Windows client systems. However, you can use it to send
faxes from a Windows application to an Unix VSI-FAX server.
Using a normal (non-VSI-FAX) PostScript, PCL or ASCII print driver
The second way to implement print-to-fax is to direct your application's print to a conventional (non-VSI-FAX)
PostScript, PCL or ASCII print driver and save the output to a file.
The advantage to this approach is that you can use any PostScript, PCL or ASCII print driver installed on your
system-you are not restricted to using one of the VSI-FAX print drivers.
The disadvantage to this approach is that you must get the PostScript, PCL or ASCII to the fax server-you do not
have an integrated delivery mechanism. In most cases, you will need to pass these files to the fax server using vfx
commands.
Troubleshooting print-to-fax issues
Standard print-to-fax process
The following provides an explanation of the standard print-to-fax process: