Even in this fast-paced world of e-mail and instantmessaging, fax still reigns supreme for manycommunications tasks. Perhaps people just like the feeling of paper in hand,but in many organizations, the fax service won't be going away any time soon. Asa part of both the standard and premium editions of Windows Small BusinessServer 2003 (SBS 2003), Microsoft continues to include support for this older,but heavily relied-upon technology. Here's how to install and configure thisservice in Windows Small Business Server 2003 and how to send and receive afax.

Requirements and installation

To use the SBS 2003 fax service, your server must have aclass 1 fax modem dedicated to the faxing task. Of course, you also need tomake sure that this modem is connected to a suitable outside telephone linecapable of both placing and receiving calls.
If you didn't install the fax service during the serverinstallation, do so now. To install the fax service, go to the Add/RemoveWindows Components option available from the Add OrRemove Programs Control Panel applet. From the list of components, select FaxServices and click Next. (See Figure A.)
Figure A
Install the faxing service.
When you click Next, you're askedwhether or not you want to share the fax service's printer. Microsoft's SBS2003 fax service works by installing a fax printer on the server, which is thenshared out to selected users. Users install this printer and when someone wantsto print a fax, he just prints to this shared printer and is then prompted forthe fax information.
On the next screen of the fax service installation wizard,as shown in Figure B, you should optto share the fax printer. If you decide not to, you can share it later on justlike any normal printer.
Figure B
Share the new fax printer so people can use the service.
The appropriate files are then copied from the SBS 2003 CDROM (you'll need the SBS CDs to install the fax service) to the server. Theseeasy steps complete the installation of the fax service. No reboot is required.

Managing the fax service

The fax service is managed by a utility found at Start | AllPrograms | Accessories | Communications | Fax | Fax Service Manager. Figure C gives an idea of what it lookslike.
Figure C
The Fax Service Manager
The Fax Service Manager is broken down into four sections:Devices And Providers, Incoming Routing, OutgoingRouting, and Cover Pages.

Devices And Providers

The Devices And Providers componentallows you to configure your fax devices and determine whether and how theywill answer incoming calls and whether they can make outgoing calls. Forexample, the modem that I have configured in my lab SBS 2003 machine isconfigured by default to just be able to send faxes. There are a couple ways toconfigure it to be able to receive faxes as well.
The first way is to use a shortcut menu. Just right-clickyour modem device (under Devices) and select either Auto Receive or ManualReceive. Auto Receive lets your fax modem answer every incoming call, whereas ManualReceive means you'll have to manually initiate the fax receive process. This isuseful if you use a voice line to occasionally receive faxes.
You can accomplish the same thing by right-clicking the faxmodem and selecting Properties from the shortcut menu, as shown in Figure D.
Figure D
Fax modem properties screen
You can also enable Adaptive Answering, if your fax modemsupports this feature. Adaptive Answering allows your fax modem to determinewhether or not an incoming call is a fax call or a voice call and to actaccordingly. Not all modems support this feature, though. If your modem does,you can allow your fax modem to automatically answer calls and still share theline with voice services.
Until a modem is enabled for sending or receiving faxes,your fax service is a little useless.

Incoming routing

When a fax comes in, you can do one of three things with it:
  1. Send it to someone via e-mail.
  2. Store it in a folder on the server.
  3. Print it to a network printer for someone to pick up.
Option 3 is the way that fax machines usually work and, inthis case, you turn your server, network, and printer into an integrateddelivery system. The order listed above is the order of priority for incomingfaxes.
To change the routing order, open Incoming Routing | GlobalMethods and use the up and down arrows on the toolbar to move the options upand down the list, a shown in Figure E.(What you can do with this once you have selected the order is discussed alittle later in this article.)
Figure E
Change the routing order for incoming faxes.

Outgoing routing

Outgoing routing is generally ready to go, since most of youwill only have a single modem in your server. This option determines the orderin which the modems will be used. Open Outgoing Routing | All Devices and lookin the right-hand pane to get a list of available devices. If you have morethan one device, you can change the order in which they are used by selectingthe device and using the up and down buttons on the toolbar. This can be usefulif you have multiple modems, with the first modem dedicated to faxing and asecond modem connected to a line it shares with voice calls.

Cover pages

A lot of businesses use standard cover pages for faxing. Youcan configure your own specific cover pages for faxing by using the Cover Pagesoption in the Fax Services Manager. Alternatively, you can just use one of thefour samples that is supplied with the service.
You can create a new cover page in two ways: Start fromscratch, or create a new cover page using an existing page as a template. To start from scratch, right-click Cover Pages and select New fromthe shortcut menu. To use a current cover page as a template,right-click Cover Pages and select Copy From... from the shortcut menu. Next,choose the fax cover page you'd like to copy and click Open.
You can also edit an existing cover page by selecting CoverPages. Right-click the cover page you'd like to edit and choose Edit from the resultingshortcut menu.
In any case, the Cover Page Editor opens. This program letsyou create custom cover pages with fields available that are appropriate for afax cover page. This program is a lot like WordPad, but includes an Insert menuthat has a number of different fields, such as recipient name, sender name,date, etc. In Figure F, you can seea screen shot from this utility with the Insert menu opened up.
When you're finished with your changes, save them and exitthe utility. You'll be able to use this cover page later when you send a fax.
Figure F
You can create custom cover pages.

Sending a fax

How can you easily send a fax using your new fax server? Simple!First, make sure that you are sharing the Fax printer device on your SBS 2003server. Next, add this "printer" to each client machine from whichyou would like to be able to send faxes.
With that done, open up a document you'd like to send andprint it to the fax device. The first time you do this, a client-based faxconfiguration wizard is launched. The first screen of the wizard asks for somepersonal information, such as your name, company name, address, etc. Thesefields are used later on to automatically fill out fax cover pages, so it'sbest to fill them out as completely as possible.
Figure G
The Fax Configuration Wizard sender information request page
On subsequent sends, the Send Fax Wizard is automaticallylaunched and asks for recipient information, such as recipient name and faxnumber. Figure H shows a sample ofthis screen.
Figure H
The Send Fax Wizard recipient information page
There are a couple methods for adding recipients to yourfax. If the recipient exists in your address book, you can look him up and addhim directly from there. Alternatively, you can manually type the recipient'sname and fax number, then click the Add button. In anycase, just click Next when you're done.
On the next page, you can select a cover page to use for thefax. If you opt to include a cover page, type a subject and note to be added tothe page. If you want to modify your personal information, click the Senderbutton and make the appropriate changes. When you're done, click Next.
Figure I
Would you like a cover page with that?
Next, you can schedule your fax to be sent either now or atsome point in the future, such as when rates are lower or at some specifictime. Further, you can specify whether this fax should go first by indicatingits priority. Your options are high, medium, and low.
Figure J
Schedule your fax and select a priority.
When you're finished making these selections, you can see apreview of your fax, if you like. In FigureK below, I chose to modify my sender information so that the fields wouldbe filled out.
Figure K
A preview of a fax

Receiving a fax

Earlier, you set up a number of fax routing methods todetermine how incoming faxes are handled. Now, you need to be a little morespecific and tell the fax service exactlywhere to send this stuff. If you don't, incoming faxes are just lost. That'sbad.
Open the Fax Service Manager and select Devices AndProviders | Devices | { your device } | Incoming Methods. In theright pane, a list of the available incoming options opens up. Notice in Figure L that each one is marked asdisabled by default.
Figure L
Each incoming method is disabled by default.
To enable a method, open up its properties page (right-clickthe method and select Properties from the shortcut menu) and click the secondtab from the left in the resulting window. For each method, a specificproperties window lets you select the appropriate option. For example, if youopen the Print method properties page and select the Print tab, you get a drop-downbox that lets you choose an installed printer to which all incoming faxes willbe automatically printed. (See Figure M.)
Figure M
Choose a printer to which incoming faxes will print.
For the E-mail Incoming method, you need to provide a valide-mail address. Incoming faxes are then sent as TIF files to this address. Forthe Store In A Folder method, you need to provide afolder on the network to which incoming faxes will be stored as TIF files.