More tips on faxing directly from your personal computer<\/p>\n
By Zatni Arbi<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): It is always sad to bid farewell to a good
\nfriend if you don't know how long it will be until you can see
\neach other again.<\/p>\n
That is why I felt so desolate as I stared at the closed
\nstores in Computer City in Glodok Plaza last week. They were dark
\nand there was very little, if anything, left in their store
\ndisplay and on their shelves.<\/p>\n
Computer City was the barometer for the level of computer
\ntechnology adoption in Indonesia. If you couldn't find the piece
\nof hardware you wanted in Computer City, chances were you
\nwouldn't be able to find it anywhere in Indonesia. Quiet and bare
\nComputer City today no longer has the high-tech ardor that we
\nstill felt only a few months back.<\/p>\n
So, when I learned that Hewlett-Packard Indonesia was
\norganizing a special event in Glodok Plaza beginning last Friday
\n-- and starting today in Pondok Indah Mall -- it gave me a
\nsomewhat soothing feeling. At least one major vendor showed it
\nstill cared for its dealers who were in trouble.<\/p>\n
Hopefully, these HP Discount Parties will be able to bring
\nback some life to this place, albeit only for a very short time.
\nI was informed that HP dealers would be selling printers and
\nVectra PCs at discounted prices (this may be a good chance to
\nfind bargains if you really cannot put off buying new hardware).<\/p>\n
Signature<\/p>\n
With the activities in Computer City screeching to a halt and
\nHP trying to change the mood a little, we should continue
\noptimizing the use of whatever we have and cut expenses wherever
\nwe can. Faxing directly from the computer is, as I wrote in last
\nweek's article in this column, something that most of us must
\nlearn, particularly if we already have a modem attached to our
\ncomputer.<\/p>\n
Last Monday, right after reading that piece, a good friend of
\nmine, Jim Tilley from Bank Papan, e-mailed me. He shared with me
\nhow he added his signature in his faxes. Back in 1991, when he
\ndidn't have access to a scanner, he asked somebody to fax him a
\nsheet of paper that had his own signature. This fax was received
\ndirectly into his computer as an image file (remember that your
\nfax\/modem can also receive faxes). The saved file was then
\ncropped. Everything outside the signature was cut off, and he has
\npasted this signature in all his faxes ever since.<\/p>\n
Today, with scanners everywhere, we shouldn't have much
\ndifficulty getting our signature in a file. Just create a couple
\nof your John Hancocks on a clean piece of paper so that you can
\nchoose the one that meets your demanding specifications.<\/p>\n
Then, place the paper on the scanner and load the scanning
\nprogram. In the accompanying picture, see the zoomed image of a
\nsignature. All you have to do is select it with the borders as
\nclose as possible to its edges. The smaller the area, the smaller
\nthe size of the file and the faster you can paste it on your
\ndocument. Don't scan the signature as a line drawing, though.
\nSome of your pen strokes may be too vague for the scanner to
\ncapture. Scan it as a black and white photo so that you have the
\nentire signature scanned.<\/p>\n
My seven-year-old HP ScanJet IIC has only a limited number of
\nfile formats into which it can save a scanned image. Usually I
\nsave it in the .TIF format. If you use Winword and your scanner
\ncan save in the .WMF format, it is better to choose this one. By
\nthe way, if you want to use the signature in your e-mails as
\nwell, you will have to convert the file into a .GIF or .JPG
\nformat.<\/p>\n
What you have to do now is compose your fax in Winword, Ami
\nPro, WordPerfect or any other word processing program, and insert
\nthe signature file under "Sincerely yours,". In Winword, for
\nexample, it is a good idea to save the file in its Clipart
\nsubdirectory. All you to do then is click on Insert, then Picture
\nand From file, and then you select the name of your signature
\nfile.<\/p>\n
However, since the signature will be a raster image, the
\nfaxing time will be longer. It is be advisable that you not put
\nyour signature unless it is really necessary to do so. Internal
\noffice memos, in general, do not really require your signature.<\/p>\n
More tips<\/p>\n
Last week I told you that you could fax a document from inside
\nyour word processor by printing to WinFax Pro. If you have closed
\nthe document and the program already, you can also fax it
\ndirectly from Windows explorer.<\/p>\n
What you have to do is start Windows Explorer, go to the
\nsubdirectory where you keep your files (in Winword it's usually
\nMy Documents), and select with the mouse the particular document
\nyou want to fax. Then you click on it with the right mouse
\nbutton. As usual, a menu will appear. You click on Sent to and
\nchoose WinFax Pro. This will call up the fax program.<\/p>\n
As the fax\/modem is also capable of receiving faxes and
\nstoring them as computer files, you can also fill in a form that
\nhas been faxed to you and fax it back without having to print it
\nout. To do this, you have to open the stored fax file in Fax
\nViewer, found under the Tools menu item in WinFax Pro. You have
\nto enable the Annotate feature in the View menu item in Fax
\nViewer, and then you can start filling in the form. When you're
\ndone, you can save it back and fax it to the sender.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, if you want to convert a fax file, which is
\nessentially an image file, into a text file, you can run the
\noptical character recognition (OCR) utility that comes with
\nWinFax Pro. Again, you have to open the file in Fax Viewer and
\nrun the utility, which is found under the Tools menu item.<\/p>\n
Finally, you can save more on your phone bills by delaying the
\nfax transmission to a later time when the phone rate is lower,
\nfor instance, at midnight. In WinFax Pro, this is very easy to
\ndo. After you specify the recipient fax number, click on the
\nDelivery button. In the dialog box that will appear, you'll be
\nable to set the time you want WinFax Pro to start faxing.<\/p>",
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