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WinXP how to receive fax with PC wakeup and auto forward as email

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Ok – here’s a challenge for you all: How do I set up my Win XP Pro SP3 PC at home so that when a fax comes in on my fax phone line that goes to a modem card in the PC, it wakes up the PC, the PC receives the fax and then the PC forwards it automatically by email to two or three pre-designated email recipients?

To make this worse, I’m not sure what I mean by “wake up” the PC. I understand there are varied levels of reduced power consumption, and I’m not sure how low I can go so that the PC is still “wakeable” fast enough to receive the fax. On this score, I might be a bit ahead of the game because the PC is a newish Dell Optiplex 755 with built-in ASF and (if I turn it back on) AMT. (I don’t know what ASF or AMT mean, although they sort of sound like a cup of coffee for a PC at rest.)

On this PC, I use MS Outlook Express for email although I could turn on my Outlook if strictly necessary or install a different email program.

Can you tell I’m somewhere between a newbie and a home intermediate? Please do throw technical lingo at me, but I’ll need it translated into English and then granular step-by-step instructions.

Thanks!

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Clarifications

In reply to WinXP how to receive fax with PC wakeup and auto forward as email

Clarifications

Not sure it can be done with XP….

In reply to WinXP how to receive fax with PC wakeup and auto forward as email

Whew! You don’t want much, do you? 😉

I think the biggest roadblock will be the fact that you want the fax service to send faxes as email AND, not just to one recipient, but several.

Windows XP can send and receive faxes if the fax service is installed and the modem has that capability. And, there’s a ‘Microsoft Mail Gateway to Fax’ module which exists (not sure if it’s free). But, it [b]appears[/b] as if that can only be installed on Windows Small Business Server. I say ‘appears’ because I’m having difficulties find that out for sure and it MAY not even be supported any longer. It also appears to require some sort of fax ‘board’, because it lists ‘boards’ which are supported.

So, if I’m not mistaken, the only way you would be able to accomplish what you want to do would be to purchase another computer and put Small Business Server on it, creating a home network, and install some sort of fax ‘board’.

Now, I haven’t investigated buying a regular fax machine which has email capabilities. That’s another possibility, if they indeed make such a thing. If they’re available, this might be a cheaper solution.

And, there’s always the possibility of paying for one of the services which do exactly what you want. You get a toll free number to receive faxes through and the service sends them to up to several email addresses where you can either printer or discard them. You send faxes by emailing them to the service which then sends them out through your toll free line.

try this out to see if it helps!

In reply to Not sure it can be done with XP….

If you can get your hands on a copy of Office 2000. You can try using the Symantec fax starter edition to send and recieve faxes. see the bottom of this page here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/196272 , if you run into issues it explains how to set it up and trouble shoot some of the issues.

AJ2

What if only to one email recipient?

In reply to Not sure it can be done with XP….

Dear Thumbs: Would this be easier if the email were only to one automatic recipient? Interesting question, yes? You’d think MS would have some way to link its own fax console with its own Outlook express or Outlook. By the way, I have Outlook Express 6 and Outlook 2003. Thanks again.

It will still require either a server…

In reply to What if only to one email recipient?

… or 3rd party software, which isn’t free, to do it. Windows XP in its native form alone can not do it.

A simple web search brought up several potential solutions, none of which I’ve heard of or tested myself and most of which are old software that appears to not be maintained by the creators.

One of the more recent programs which popped up in a search however, is FaxTools eXPert 8, Shareware from 2004 and the company was later purchased by Avanquest. It appears as if the software is still at the same version at the new owner’s site and claims to work with Windows XP and Outlook. I’ve never heard of it, so I can’t give you a review of the software. It’s $49.00 (US).

http://www.avanquest.com/USA/pc-utilities/communication-tools-network-tools/fax-telephony-sms/FaxTools_eXPert_8.html

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What if only to one email recipient?

In reply to Not sure it can be done with XP….

[Repeats prior response – sorry]

FaxTools

In reply to Not sure it can be done with XP….

So far I know, it deoes not depends of XP or other MS-OS. I used FaxTools before with a modem without any kind of problems (suspend or hibernation mode).

But, as I switched to a router it does not worked anymore, because you need a VoIP service.

And, I do not know any free VoIP service… 🙁

[Author]

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