WD97: "Merge to Electronic Fax" Unavailable with WinFax Pro (196844)

SYMPTOMS

In a Word for Windows mail merge operation, the Merge To Electronic Fax option is unavailable when you are using WinFax Pro. (To locate the Merge To: Electronic Fax option, open a mail merge main document, click Mail Merge on the Tools menu, and then click the Merge button.)

CAUSE

WinFax Pro versions 3.0 and 4.0 are not compatible with the Messaging Application Programming Interface (MAPI) or Vendor-Independent Messaging (VIM) standards. Word requires MAPI or VIM compliance to perform a mail merge operation to an electronic fax. As a result, if your electronic fax software is not MAPI or VIM compliant, Word removes the Electronic Fax list item from the Merge To list.

With WinFax Pro, you can fax to only one phone number at a time. To perform a mail merge to an electronic fax machine from Word, your fax software must be able to fax to multiple phone numbers in the same operation.

WORKAROUND

Method 1: Use a macro to fax

Create a macro that merges and faxes one record at a time.

NOTE: You cannot work around this problem by merging your document to the printer, because Word sends all the merged documents to a single fax number.

Method 2: Use Microsoft Fax

Microsoft Windows 95:

Install Microsoft Fax.

Microsoft Windows for Workgroups 3.11:

Use Microsoft At Work PC Fax instead to merge your Word document to electronic fax.

NOTE: If you have installed WinFax Pro 4.0 on Windows for Workgroups 3.11, WinFax Setup will disable Microsoft At Work PC Fax. For more information on what WinFax Setup does, see the additional notes in the WinFax Readme.doc.

Method 3: Use the WinFax Pro macro to merge to fax

WinFax Pro 3.0 contains a Word for Windows macro that allows you to merge to the fax driver. The macro is described in the Ddemerg.doc file. The macro can be found in Winfax.dot. This macro may be incompatible with Microsoft Word 97. Contact Delrina for information about an updated macro.

MORE INFORMATION

The third-party products discussed here are manufactured by vendors independent of Microsoft; we make no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding these products' performance or reliability.

For more information about WinFax Pro, please see the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

116376 Delrina WinFax Pro 3.0 for Networks and WFWG 3.11

For information about how to contact Delrina, query in the Knowledge Base for one of the following articles:

65416 Hardware and Software Third-Party Vendor Contact List, A-K

60781 Hardware and Software Third-Party Vendor Contact List, L-P

60782 Hardware and Software Third-Party Vendor Contact List, Q-Z