WINFAX PRO VERSION 3.0

Overview of Package

WinFax Pro is a fax software package only, it does not include a terminal or answering machine options.

Evaluation

Installation

WinFax Pro gave us no problems installing. The program came on three disks and a full installation consumed 6.4 megs of hard-disk space. The user is asked to register the software on-line and thankfully there is the option to skip that step. The modem was automatically detected and like the rest of the programs reviewed this one could get an exact manufacturer match. Unlike ProComm and Bitware this program does not need to reboot the system once the installation is complete.

Screen Layout

WinFax Pro had a very nice uncluttered screen layout, which was easy to understand. All buttons were marked with crisp graphics and accompanying text. In some cases abbreviations were used, for example 'CvPg Lib' for 'Cover Page Library' but for the most part the meaning was clear.

WinFax incorporated some advanced interface features not found in any of the other packages. For instance, both the send and receive logs allow the user to customize which fax information fields are show in the log display.

Receiving Faxes

Setting up for the receiving of faxes is almost trivial and makes WinFax one of the easiest to use in this respect. Faxes may be manually received or the program can be placed into an auto-answer mode. We certainly appreciated the fact that the auto-answer option was found under the 'receive setup' menu. Like most of the other packages there is an option to print and/or view incoming faxes. What sets WinFax apart is that the view option takes place while the fax is still being received. This gives the user a better opportunity to abort any incoming transmissions. The quality of all faxes received tended to be very good.

The receive log keeps track of all incoming connections including those which fail. A very nice feature of this log is that WinFax also attempts to give a reason as to why a fax did not come through. There are extensive log utilities such as log archiving, review of log archives, exporting the logs to dBase files, printing, and viewing. The log has a function to forward received faxes to other fax numbers. This is not true fax forwarding as it does not automatically forward incoming faxes. All it does is allow the user to manually select a few faxes and have them send to the user's choice of recipients.

The fax viewer allow received faxes to be saved in a standard bitmap format such as TIFF or BMP. In addition to standard fax viewer features such as rotate fax and zoom, the WinFax viewer has the optical character recognition capabilities. The OCR software is easy to use and it produces adequate results depending on the quality of the received fax. The software produces text only output in the standard ASCII format.

Phone Book Capabilities

The phone book allows for regular creation of phone numbers, and the user can enter information like name, company, address, fax number, voice number, etc. Enough fields are stored by this program that a separate address & telephone tracker program is no longer needed. WinFax will let the user create several phone books for better organization. The phone book has the ability to search through all 14 fields of a fax entry.

Like most of the other programs, WinFax allows for the creation of groups of fax numbers. We did run into a few problems added fax numbers to a group. For instance, attempting to add a number would actually add the next number, or attempting to remove a number would in remove the group name! We suspect these are simply programming bugs and are not a reflection of the program's intended functionality.

Cover Page Composition

WinFax Pro has the most flexible cover page editor of all the packages tested. This full WYSIWYG editor has a large number of features including: Import any number of graphic formats; Drawing primitives such as line, circle, and rectangle; Support for TrueType fonts including any size or style; and finally the ability to insert 'mail merge' fields for both sender and recipient.

When sending quick faxes that consist of just a cover page and some filler text, WinFax has a nice feature where the user enters their message directly onto the cover page sheet. The only problem is that the font size and type are unchangeable and the only format tools are spaces and the carriage return. The program comes with six pre-built cover pages.

Sending Faxes

WinFax Pro includes a fax driver that allows faxes to be sent directly from any Windows application that has printing features. Simple single page faxes can be created within WinFax using the cover page features. Of course, since you can create fax groups, you can fax to groups of individuals in WinFax Pro. Like Quick Link II you can only send fax files, with extension of .fx. One downfall is that binary files cannot be sent. Another is that the program does not automatically convert attachments into the proper fax format. Instead only previously created fax documents may be attached to an outgoing fax. The process required to create fax attachments is not well laid out and is all but impossible to figure out from the on-line help or from the available menu and button options.

Faxes may be sent immediately or may be scheduled for a later time and date. Like most of the fax programs review, WinFax allows a single fax with attachments to be sent to multiple groups of fax numbers. Rescheduling is a simple process and is done from the main window. Faxes that fail to transmit can only be reschedule through the send log. There the user must select the 'resubmit' button. This does give the user the option of changing the recipients.

The send log is exactly like the receive log except the different between the 'forward' and 'resubmit' buttons. Once one window is mastered then so is the other.

While not tested, WinFax is capable of scanning documents in from attached scanners which are TWAIN compatible.

Help System

The help system is fairly good. It features some context sensitive areas and many links to associated topics. The system does have one major flaw. Certain important details are left out and in their place a message stating that the information is on certain pages of the manual. Presumably this is done to reduce piracy, but it ends up being an annoyance for those willing to purchase the product.

Extra Features & Cost

The average Canadian retail price for WinFax Pro is $95.40.