WinFax Pro 3.0

BY
DONALD JENNER

SPECIAL TO 
COREL MAGAZINE


Sending a fax directly from the computer in which it is composed 
is no longer a novelty.  Modems with both fax and data transmission 
capability are ubiquitous and many models are available for right around 
$100..  Most of these fax/data modems come with fax software that makes 
faxing from Windows just like printing to a local printer; by virtue of 
some very good marketing, a version of Delrina's WinFax is often the 
supplied software.  For a modest sum (using a card included with your 
modem's software bundle, or if you got something else, by making a trip 
to the cheap-software store) you can have the top-of-the-line, full-
featured version, WinFax Pro 3.0.  Do the deal; you won't regret it.

WinFax Pro 3.0 is bigger than version 2.0 -- anywhere from two to 
five times bigger, depending on the options you choose to install.  The 
greater size in the basic program (the twice-the-size installation 
option) does not make for a better fax -- the 2.0 version does that very 
nicely.  Version 3.0 enhances the interface dramatically, offers 
improved "phone book" management using standard dBase-format data files, 
creates more elegant cover sheet and manages them visually, and 
generally makes computer-based faxing more business-like.  The big add-
on is Delrina's implementation of the Caere optical character 
recognition (OCR) engine, for converting faxed text bitmaps to machine-
readable form.  And just for fun, Delrina has capitalized on its 
improved cover sheet management capability by including a set of 
professionally designed, rather whimsical electronic overshoots.

I tested WinFax Pro 3.0 on two different machines, both of them 
386-based; mostly for timing reasons, many 286-based PCs don't work well 
with Windows fax software, in my experience.  I used three different 
modems, a Macronix MaxLite 24/96 data/fax pocket-sized fax modem, a GVC 
24/96 data/fax pocket-sized modem, and the 24/96 data/fax modem built 
into Acer's Acros 386SX notebook computer.  The first two modems are 
"class 2" fax modems; the notebook built-in is a "class 1" fax modem; 
the MaxLite and Acer built-in worked flawlessly, but the GVC product 
consistently failed to successfully complete fax transactions, in 
several test installations over the period a month.  Delrina attributes 
this to firmware peculiarities in the GVC modem's firmware (mildly 
embarrassing, as Delrina supplied the GVC modem...); GVC's technical 
director ducked the issue.  By the time this story hits print, Delrina 
will have shipped a modified release of 3.0, compensating for the 
firmware problems GVC modems -- and other products based on the same 
part -- present.

Delrina's installation program for WinFax Pro 3.0 is generally 
more automated than the 2.0 installer.  Among other things, it tests 
serial ports to see where your modem is connected.  This was no problem 
when I used a mouse connected to the PS/2-type mouse ports on both 
machines.  But my preferred pointing device on my Model 80 (which is my 
do-everything workhorse) is a CalComp DrawingPad, sitting on COM2:; the 
WinFax installer killed that driver with its tests, so I had to complete 
the installation using keyboard commands -- do-able, but not fun.  

With that exception, I found the installation very 
straightforward.  There is a do-everything option; I tried that once, so 
I could play with the OCR program.  In the final installation (the one I 
used on both machines once I was finished playing around for testing 
purposes), I used the "custom" option, which let me adjust things the 
way I wanted them.  I chose to omit the OCR segment (I have a shortage 
of hard disk space...) and I decided I preferred my own cover page 
designs to those in Delrina's Cover Your Fax package, so I left those 
out, too.  The installer converted my version 2.0 phone books to the new 
dBase-compatible format; they still needed editing, but Delrina's phone 
book editor is very good, and even sports the ability to drag chunks of 
text from one field to another, which speeds up the editing 
substantially.  A pleasant discovery:  WinFax Pro 3.0 is aware of 
international dialing conventions -- I fax to the Far East a lot.

I spent some time with the new cover page editor -- effectively, a 
graphics design program.  There were some frustrations:  I store my 
various logos in Windows clipboard (.CLP) format (load the .CLP file and 
paste as needed); Delrina's drawing program has problems reading the 
clipboard.  The simple solution:  Make a .WMF of the graphic, create a 
space for the graphic in the cover page design, then insert it.  A bit 
complex, but not excessive.  Once the cover page is designed, add it to 
the cover page library using the cover page manager in WinFax Pro 3.0 
proper.

The new look for WinFax Pro includes a button bar across the top; 
the buttons a a bit on the large side, but they do speed things up.  
Just about every function is accessible from the button bar.
For example, to send a fax, click on the Send button.  The new 
send dialogue pops up.  It looks different, but functions more or less 
the same:  You choose a name from the phone book window, or add in the 
data directly.  You choose to add a cover page; clicking the Select 
button pops open the full cover page manager, along with thumbnails of 
the designs in your library.  Attach a document.  Send the fax.  As a 
mark of the new, whimsical Delrina programming style, the fax dialogue 
no longer just reports the percentage of the document being faxed, but 
has a picture of a fax machine, with a sheet of paper feeding it through 
it.

Of course, more often than not, the send-a-fax procedure will be 
initiated from within a different program -- a word processor, or Corel 
Draw or whatever.  WinFax Pro 3.0 comes with macros to add fax 
capability to several Windows word processing programs and Excel; this 
is lily-gilding, as "printing" to WinFax is simple and straightforward.  
Print-to-fax pops open the same Send dialogue, with the same options, 
and then proceeds to manage the fax process in the background.

Where does this fit in the graphics studio?  Of course, it is a 
god-send to folks like me who lose pices of paper; I can get things 
stored on disk (and even set WinFax to delete the fax after a given 
period of time).  Business correspondence by fax is cheap and fast -- a 
reasonable alternative to electronic mail for those who aren't otherwise 
electronically connected, and the fax output is more completely 
"professional" in appearance than regular faxes.  As a tool for shipping 
a quick preliminary sketch to a client, faxing direct from Corel Draw or 
other Windows graphics programs is an unbeatable strategy.  Other people 
play in this arena; the competition is good.  But Delrina's WinFax Pro 
seems to offer a range of options that make it the current industry 
leader.  

Approximately 1200 words

Press contact: Joseph Zankowicz, Delrina, 416-441-3676