mailmerge to electronic fax problem

[biff]

I need to fax a customized letter that has been mail merged using Word 2000
and Access. For example, I have the following fields in Access: "faxnumber"
"firstname" "lastname".
Mailmerge is easy if I want to print, but I need to fax each individual
letter to a different fax number. I do not have the fax numbers or names in
Outlook. I just want to use the information found in the Access table. I
understand that I probably need a "MAPI compatible" fax program to get the
"electronic fax" option to come up under the mail merge setup box. However,
I am unsure if this will let me send the indiviualized faxes to individual
numbers, or will it simply send the fax to the fax software and then I have
to put in the number?
I have the following software/hardware:
Microsoft Word 2000
Windows 98
Microsoft Access
Hayes Fax Modem
1. What further software do I need? I guess I need fax software but what
one?
2. How do I do it?
Thanks!

 

[Peter Jamieson]

Well, Win98 does come with the old Microsoft "Fax at Work" software that was
in Win95,. But
a. it's not installed by default. (As far as I can tell, it's not even
supplied with later versions of Win98, but I think it is in a folder called
\tools\oldwin95\message\ on the CD).
b. it can be tricky to get it to work. To do what you are attempting, you
probably need to have the old MS Exchange client software, or Outlook (not
Outlook Express) installed.
c. Personally, I would be a bit reluctant to jeopardise a stable, working
system by installing it.

In your situation, I'd probably consider getting a copy of Symantec WinFax
Pro 10 (a quick look for "mail merge" in their support database suggests
that it can at least do the job). But it's a very long time since I've used
WinFax.

 

[biff]

I took a chance and purchased Win Fax Pro and it worked. The problem is
solved!

 

[Peter Jamieson]

Glad it worked, and thanks for the very useful feedback.