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Faxing How-Tos

General Notes About Faxing

1. Beginning in version 0.9.11, you must first start the hp-sendfax dialog in order to send a fax. (The hp-sendfax dialog will not automatically run as it did in earlier versions. This change was made due to technical problems.)

In order to start the hp-sendfax dialog, do one of the following:

  1. Run the HP Device Manager from the GNOME, KDE, etc. menu. Select the device that you want to send faxes on. Click "Send Fax..."

or

  1. Run the HP Device Manager from the shell by executing:
$ hp-toolbox

Then, select the device that you want to send faxes on. Click "Send Fax..."

2. Faxes are sent by "attaching" the documents in the hp-sendfax interface to a fax job, and then by sending the fax job. The files that are to be sent in a fax job are listed in the fax interface in the list that appears on the "Items" tab. There are three ways to attach documents to the fax interface:

  1. By directly adding selected files into the hp-sendfax list by invoking "Add to List" in the "File" area of the "Items" tab. The types of files that may be added this way is listed by clicking on the "Show Types..." button.
  2. By printing through the appropriate CUPS printer that is associated with the fax device. The appropriate printer to print with is shown at the bottom of the "Items" tab (under "Application Document") and on the "Device" tab under "Name". This is the required method to add files that do not appear on the "Show Types" list. (Note: hp-sendfax must already be running before printing the files.)
  3. By adding a pre-formatted coverpage. Currently, there is only 1 coverpage design. A coverpage allows for the "Regarding"/"Re" field and a comment field of up to 2000 characters. You may only add 1 coverpage to a fax job and it will automatically be placed into the first position in the file list so that it will be sent first. Each fax recipient will receive a dynamically generated coverpage with the appropriate information on it.

3. If you attempt to send a fax (by printing to the CUPS printer) when the hp-sendfax interface is not running, the following things will happen:

  1. The CUPS printer will be stopped.
  2. The CUPS printer will report an error.
  3. The toolbox will report an error.
  4. The fax will not be processed further.

In order to clear this situation, perform the following steps:

  1. Run the hp-sendfax interface (see #1 above)
  2. Re-start the CUPS printer using a web browser and http://localhost:631 or by using the printer management tool that comes with your distribution.

If you follow these steps, you should not have to re-print your document.

How to fax from OpenOffice.org.

  1. Run the hp-sendfax interface as described in the above steps.
  2. Print the document from OpenOffice.org using a standard print command to the fax print queue in CUPS. Do not use the "Fax" feature that appears on the "Printer Options" dialog off the "Print" dialog. This method will not work.

Information about HPLIP .g3 files

When HPLIP renders documents for faxing, it uses an intermediate file format. This format has fax device ready data and can contain multiple pages. The data format used in the file is either MH, MMR, or JPEG, depending on the device that the fax will be sent on. In some cases, the KFax viewer can be used to view the contents of these files (but not always, as the HPLIP files contain non-standard headers to support various HPLIP functionality).

When you add files/documents into the hp-sendfax interface, the generated .g3 files are saved in the user's home directory under the "hpfax" directory. These files may be re-added into the interface for future sending if desired (using the "File" "Add to List" functionality). (At a later date, a fax viewer will be provided that will allow for the viewing of these files).

Adding documents from the ADF to a fax

Currently, there is no specific feature to be able to add ADF documents directly to a fax. Instead, use xsane, kooka, or another scanning program to save the pages as JPG, PNG, etc. format and then add them into the fax job using the "File" "Add to List" feature.