HOW TO broadcast fax in RightFax using mail merge

By Jalal Khan On October 7, 2008 · Filed Under HOW TO, RightFax

You can set up a Mail Merge when you choose to send out a broadcast fax. This mail merge process will need to utilize embedded codes to provide addressing information for your fax recipients. The benefits of a mail merge are that each individual fax can be personalized or customized to fit the recipient, in addition to or in place of a personalized cover sheet. Instead of sending 500 faxes where the coversheet is personalized but the body of the document is the same for all faxes (by using a library document or other attached file), the merge process will provide the body of each fax with contact information specific to each recipient. For example, imagine the faxes being addressed to each recipient such as “Dear Jalal” or “Dear Khan,” as opposed to each fax simply saying” Dear Valued Customer.” The drawback to using a mail merge is that each individual fax page must be converted from its native format to a .tif image, which requires the attention of the processor on the server.

You can reference the RightFax User’s Guide for assistance on properly setting up the Mail Merge Fields in your document. See the section entitled “Phonebooks and Broadcast Faxing.”

Standard Macro:

Public Sub MAIN()

Dim TotalSec, i, F$

WordBasic.EndOfDocument

TotalSec = WordBasic.SelInfo(2) - 1

For i = 1 To TotalSec

F$ = “S” + Str(i)

WordBasic.FilePrint Type:=0, NumCopies:=1, Range:=3, From:=F$, To:=F$

Next i

End Sub

Customized Macro (according to the data source)

Public Sub MAIN()

Dim TotalSec, i, F1$, F2$

WordBasic.EndOfDocument

TotalSec = WordBasic.SelInfo(2) - 1

For i = 1 To TotalSec Step 1

F1$ = “S” + Str(i)

F2$ = “S” + Str(i + 1)

WordBasic.FilePrint Type:=0, NumCopies:=1, Range:=3, From:=F1$, To:=F1$

Next i

End Sub

Modified Broadcast Macro for Word XP

Attribute VB_Name = “NewMacros”
Sub SendFax()
Attribute SendFax.VB_Description = “Macro created 1/21/2003 by Peter A. Schott”
Attribute SendFax.VB_ProcData.VB_Invoke_Func = “Normal.NewMacros.SendFax”
‘
‘Remove comments from appropriate lines for your configuration
‘Adjust FaxPrinter variable for your RightFAX Printer (without prompts)

Dim TotalSec, i, CurrentSection
Dim OldPrinter ‘Used to store old printer name
Dim FaxPrinter ‘Can be customized for RightFAX Printer (no messages) name
FaxPrinter = “\\RIGHTFAX\HPFAX”

TotalSec = Selection.Information(wdNumberOfPagesInDocument)

‘OldPrinter = ActivePrinter
‘Application.ActivePrinter = FaxPrinter

For i = 1 To TotalSec
CurrentSection = “s” + Trim(Str(i))
ActiveDocument.PrintOut Copies:=1, Range:=wdPrintFromTo, From:=CurrentSection, To:=CurrentSection
Next i

‘Application.ActivePrinter = OldPrinter
End Sub

The Fax Information popup window is designed to add the necessary fax addressing information to the documents that get sent to the queue. Normal faxes or documents printed from other applications need this information so they can be sent properly. Since the mail merged documents will already have the codes in them, you do not need the popup to happen.