What type of documents can I upload?
Currently we are able to process the following document types: Microsoft Office 2000 Documents (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher), Text, JPEG, PNG, Windows Bitmap, TIFF, Adobe Acrobat, HTML, and RTF. If you have a specific document type that is not on this list, contact us and request it. You can also upload Microsoft Word merge documents. See "How do I create a merge document" below.
How do I optimize my document?
Optimized documents will save time and money during transmission. As a general rule, you can assume that the smaller file size will yield faster transmit times. To accomplish smaller document sizes you should employ one or more of the following steps.
- Remove colored or shaded backgrounds and gray scale images. Documents with black on white images are easier to read and transmit the fastest.
- Replace colored text with black text. Your document should be sent to us in black and white only. Any colors left in your document will be converted to a gray scale representation and therefore increases transmit times.
- Consolidate your message into fewer printed characters. The more complex your document is, the more time it will take to transmit.
My uploaded Word/Excel documents do not look the way they do on my workstation.
Your document is loaded into our system and then converted to a static image that can be transmitted to other fax machines. Consequently, there are things to avoid when creating documents used for transmission. Here are some recommendations for successful document processing:
- Do not use advanced formatting features in Word and Excel such as WordArt. We specifically do not support documents that contain WordArt.
- Do not set any of your margins less than 0.5". Preferably, you should allow for 1" margins around the page to prevent text from shifting during conversion.
- With merge documents, you need to keep in mind that merged data can and will cause text in your document to shift down the page. Always provide enough room to compensate for this occurrence. If you do not, you may find that your document is transmitted with extra blank pages. The extra pages are result of Word allowing for sizable merge fields.
- Make sure your document is formatted for portrait output. This means the page will be 7.5" wide or less and 10" tall or less.
I just can't get the uploaded document to look the way I want.
One way to solve formatting issues is to convert your document to an Adobe Acrobat PDF file or a static graphic image such as GIF or JPEG. By doing the conversion on your own workstation, you are assured of output exactly as it is on your workstation. However, static images are not supported for document merging.
How do I create a merge document?
Merge documents allow you to customize your document for each recipient by inserting merge fields which are replaced with information from the recipient list (such as name, address, etc.) at fax time. In order to help our clients have a trouble free experience with merge documents, we have created a new application to walk you through the process. To start this process, download and run the Merge Document Creation Utility (requires Microsoft Windows 95 or higher and Microsoft Word 97 or higher). This application will guide you through creation of a Microsoft Word Merge document on your workstation. We now require all documents to be created using either the Merge Document Creation Utility or the downloaded template for non Windows users.
I want to create a merge document but can't run the Merge Document Creation Utility.
For those users that cannot run the utility, we have provided a downloadable document and data file. Follow these steps to make a merge document:
- Download this document to your workstation: MergeDocumentCreationTemplate.doc
- Download this data file to your workstation: mrgdata.csv
- Open the document you downloaded and when prompted for a data file, point to the mrgdata.csv file that you downloaded.
- Modify the word document as needed with your content and data fields. Keep in mind that you should only use the merge fields that are available from the "Insert Merge Fields" option in Word. Other merge fields will be removed from your document when it is uploaded to our system. Also, make sure that you provide enough space at the bottom of the document for data to shift down as data is merged. Long names and addresses can result in your document spilling over to 2 or more pages and costing you money.
- After you have the document prepared, save it and upload to the site on the Document Manager page making sure that you indicate this document is of type FaxMerge.
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