Requirement to enter fax nos for Outlook contacts in "canonical" format - absurd!

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mike
  • Start date Start date
M

Mike

I could not believe what difficulty I had trying to fax a Word document
using Microsoft's Fax driver! I am a 20+ year programmer, so can only
imagine the frustration and wasted time of less technical folks as they
try to diagnose why their attempts to fax using Windows XP and Outlook
fail.

Long story made short: Using XP Professional, I enter all my Outlook
2003 contacts using a number format like 111-222-3333. Outlook then
reformats it to (111) 222-3333. Great, so Outlook "pretties" up the
format for us automatically. Then I try to send a fax from Word 2003
using the Microsoft Fax "wizard". I checked off the box to "Use Dialing
Rules", which I thought would end up inserting a 1 before the (111)
222-3333 since my 111 number was NOT in my local area code. WRONG - it
does NOT dial the 1 required for making long distance calls in all the
USA! Through some magical osmosis, you have to "know" to enter your
Outlook/Address Book phone numbers in what Microsoft calls "canonical
format", so instead of entering 111-222-3333 in my Outlook contact's
fax field, I have to enter the absurd format of +1 (111) 222-3333.
Whatever Microsoft engineer came up with this system should be shot :)
I guarantee that if we surveyed 100 people, not one of them would know
what "canonical" means! Now get this Microsoft logic: On the Send Fax
Wizard - Recipient Information screen if you *manually* enter the Fax
Number(e.g. 111-222-3333), then the wizard DOES insert a 1 for you
before the area code. Why are we penalized for using the address
book????

Come on Microsoft, make your fax and dialing software intelligent, and
CONSISTENT. Why isn't there a setting in the Area Code Rules to
address this? How come manually entered fax nos do get the 1 prefix
added? Where does that "intelligence" come from?

In the mean time, I hope Microsoft enjoys all the confusion this must
be causing users :)

I am always amazed at how Microsoft gets 99% of things right, but the
1% "wrong" include some real winners - like long distance dialing...
 
It's even worse than that.
Let's say, for example, that you wanted to do a mail merge to fax. In that
case, international format for phone numbers will not work. Instead the fax
numbers have to be in one-off format [FAX:nnnnnnn].

FWIW, international format has been a requirement for processing dialing
rules forever, so at least it's consistent. And it is a simple matter to
configure Outlook to add country codes automatically when you enter phone
numbers.
 
I have never been able to get the dialer to switch automatically from rules
for local calls to rules for long distance calls (which I use a prepaid
card for) when using the address book.
I have tried to use canonical and normal formats and none work.

I am forced to use the manual entry and manually switch from local to long
distance rules.

I also use my prepaid card for local toll calls. It would be nice to have
the dialer use local rules when an area code is not present and long
distance rules when the area code is present even if the area code is the
local area code. I would then omit the area code for local calls and insert
the area code for all calls using the prepaid card.

Russ Valentine said:
It's even worse than that.
Let's say, for example, that you wanted to do a mail merge to fax. In that
case, international format for phone numbers will not work. Instead the
fax numbers have to be in one-off format [FAX:nnnnnnn].

FWIW, international format has been a requirement for processing dialing
rules forever, so at least it's consistent. And it is a simple matter to
configure Outlook to add country codes automatically when you enter phone
numbers.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
Mike said:
I could not believe what difficulty I had trying to fax a Word document
using Microsoft's Fax driver! I am a 20+ year programmer, so can only
imagine the frustration and wasted time of less technical folks as they
try to diagnose why their attempts to fax using Windows XP and Outlook
fail.

Long story made short: Using XP Professional, I enter all my Outlook
2003 contacts using a number format like 111-222-3333. Outlook then
reformats it to (111) 222-3333. Great, so Outlook "pretties" up the
format for us automatically. Then I try to send a fax from Word 2003
using the Microsoft Fax "wizard". I checked off the box to "Use Dialing
Rules", which I thought would end up inserting a 1 before the (111)
222-3333 since my 111 number was NOT in my local area code. WRONG - it
does NOT dial the 1 required for making long distance calls in all the
USA! Through some magical osmosis, you have to "know" to enter your
Outlook/Address Book phone numbers in what Microsoft calls "canonical
format", so instead of entering 111-222-3333 in my Outlook contact's
fax field, I have to enter the absurd format of +1 (111) 222-3333.
Whatever Microsoft engineer came up with this system should be shot :)
I guarantee that if we surveyed 100 people, not one of them would know
what "canonical" means! Now get this Microsoft logic: On the Send Fax
Wizard - Recipient Information screen if you *manually* enter the Fax
Number(e.g. 111-222-3333), then the wizard DOES insert a 1 for you
before the area code. Why are we penalized for using the address
book????

Come on Microsoft, make your fax and dialing software intelligent, and
CONSISTENT. Why isn't there a setting in the Area Code Rules to
address this? How come manually entered fax nos do get the 1 prefix
added? Where does that "intelligence" come from?

In the mean time, I hope Microsoft enjoys all the confusion this must
be causing users :)

I am always amazed at how Microsoft gets 99% of things right, but the
1% "wrong" include some real winners - like long distance dialing...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Calling cards that are based on individual user settings are not possible
with Windows XP Fax. It can only log on to the localsystem account.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
Dennis M. Marks said:
I have never been able to get the dialer to switch automatically from rules
for local calls to rules for long distance calls (which I use a prepaid
card for) when using the address book.
I have tried to use canonical and normal formats and none work.

I am forced to use the manual entry and manually switch from local to long
distance rules.

I also use my prepaid card for local toll calls. It would be nice to have
the dialer use local rules when an area code is not present and long
distance rules when the area code is present even if the area code is the
local area code. I would then omit the area code for local calls and
insert the area code for all calls using the prepaid card.

Russ Valentine said:
It's even worse than that.
Let's say, for example, that you wanted to do a mail merge to fax. In
that case, international format for phone numbers will not work. Instead
the fax numbers have to be in one-off format [FAX:nnnnnnn].

FWIW, international format has been a requirement for processing dialing
rules forever, so at least it's consistent. And it is a simple matter to
configure Outlook to add country codes automatically when you enter phone
numbers.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
Mike said:
I could not believe what difficulty I had trying to fax a Word document
using Microsoft's Fax driver! I am a 20+ year programmer, so can only
imagine the frustration and wasted time of less technical folks as they
try to diagnose why their attempts to fax using Windows XP and Outlook
fail.

Long story made short: Using XP Professional, I enter all my Outlook
2003 contacts using a number format like 111-222-3333. Outlook then
reformats it to (111) 222-3333. Great, so Outlook "pretties" up the
format for us automatically. Then I try to send a fax from Word 2003
using the Microsoft Fax "wizard". I checked off the box to "Use Dialing
Rules", which I thought would end up inserting a 1 before the (111)
222-3333 since my 111 number was NOT in my local area code. WRONG - it
does NOT dial the 1 required for making long distance calls in all the
USA! Through some magical osmosis, you have to "know" to enter your
Outlook/Address Book phone numbers in what Microsoft calls "canonical
format", so instead of entering 111-222-3333 in my Outlook contact's
fax field, I have to enter the absurd format of +1 (111) 222-3333.
Whatever Microsoft engineer came up with this system should be shot :)
I guarantee that if we surveyed 100 people, not one of them would know
what "canonical" means! Now get this Microsoft logic: On the Send Fax
Wizard - Recipient Information screen if you *manually* enter the Fax
Number(e.g. 111-222-3333), then the wizard DOES insert a 1 for you
before the area code. Why are we penalized for using the address
book????

Come on Microsoft, make your fax and dialing software intelligent, and
CONSISTENT. Why isn't there a setting in the Area Code Rules to
address this? How come manually entered fax nos do get the 1 prefix
added? Where does that "intelligence" come from?

In the mean time, I hope Microsoft enjoys all the confusion this must
be causing users :)

I am always amazed at how Microsoft gets 99% of things right, but the
1% "wrong" include some real winners - like long distance dialing...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Not sure I understand the rest of your question. Since this thread is
about Outlook, how could an area code not be present?
Seems to me you need to be looking at creating rules based on the area
code with different rules for the local area code than you have for the
others. Creating the proper dialing rule can be complicated, but it's
usually possible to accommodate any option you need, including pauses
and passwords.
------
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
I have never been able to get the dialer to switch automatically from rules
for local calls to rules for long distance calls (which I use a prepaid
card for) when using the address book.
I have tried to use canonical and normal formats and none work.

I am forced to use the manual entry and manually switch from local to long
distance rules.

I also use my prepaid card for local toll calls. It would be nice to have
the dialer use local rules when an area code is not present and long
distance rules when the area code is present even if the area code is the
local area code. I would then omit the area code for local calls and insert
the area code for all calls using the prepaid card.

It's even worse than that.
Let's say, for example, that you wanted to do a mail merge to fax. In that
case, international format for phone numbers will not work. Instead the
fax numbers have to be in one-off format [FAX:nnnnnnn].

FWIW, international format has been a requirement for processing dialing
rules forever, so at least it's consistent. And it is a simple matter to
configure Outlook to add country codes automatically when you enter phone
numbers.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
I could not believe what difficulty I had trying to fax a Word document
using Microsoft's Fax driver! I am a 20+ year programmer, so can only
imagine the frustration and wasted time of less technical folks as they
try to diagnose why their attempts to fax using Windows XP and Outlook
fail.

Long story made short: Using XP Professional, I enter all my Outlook
2003 contacts using a number format like 111-222-3333. Outlook then
reformats it to (111) 222-3333. Great, so Outlook "pretties" up the
format for us automatically. Then I try to send a fax from Word 2003
using the Microsoft Fax "wizard". I checked off the box to "Use Dialing
Rules", which I thought would end up inserting a 1 before the (111)
222-3333 since my 111 number was NOT in my local area code. WRONG - it
does NOT dial the 1 required for making long distance calls in all the
USA! Through some magical osmosis, you have to "know" to enter your
Outlook/Address Book phone numbers in what Microsoft calls "canonical
format", so instead of entering 111-222-3333 in my Outlook contact's
fax field, I have to enter the absurd format of +1 (111) 222-3333.
Whatever Microsoft engineer came up with this system should be shot :)
I guarantee that if we surveyed 100 people, not one of them would know
what "canonical" means! Now get this Microsoft logic: On the Send Fax
Wizard - Recipient Information screen if you *manually* enter the Fax
Number(e.g. 111-222-3333), then the wizard DOES insert a 1 for you
before the area code. Why are we penalized for using the address
book????

Come on Microsoft, make your fax and dialing software intelligent, and
CONSISTENT. Why isn't there a setting in the Area Code Rules to
address this? How come manually entered fax nos do get the 1 prefix
added? Where does that "intelligence" come from?

In the mean time, I hope Microsoft enjoys all the confusion this must
be causing users :)

I am always amazed at how Microsoft gets 99% of things right, but the
1% "wrong" include some real winners - like long distance dialing...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Thanks for the feedback Russ, but I beg to differ about being
consistent: ie. one can enter (111)222-3333 manually in the fax wizard
- and the wizard DOES prefix the number with a 1 for long distance.
Manually entered numbers "magically" get prefixed with a 1, but address
book numbers do not. What's consistent about that?

-Mike
 
WHERE does the Send Fax wizard get the instructions to prefix manually
entered fax nos with a 1? I do not recall seeing anything in the
Dialing Rules. The Dialing Rules need to be enhanced: on the Edit
Location->General tab there needs to be a "Prefix long distance calls
with:" field - where most people in the US would place a "1". Maybe
this will help others: I checked the box "To disable call waiting,
dial" and filled in a 1. Now the old wizard of wizards always dials a
1 in front of fax numbers. YES, I know - it will even do it on local
numbers. Fortunately Verizon allows dialing a 1 in front of local 10
digit numbers (we are using 10 digit dialing in NJ), so no problem for
me...

-Mike
 
Want to see just how buggy this whole Fax "Wizard" is? When using the
Send Fax Wizard, click on the [Address Book...] button. Look for some
contacts where you have entered fax nos in the NON-canonical format of
(111) 222-3333. Look at the "E-Mail Address" column - you'll see
something like "contact name@+1 (111) 222-3333". So, the Address Book
screen DOES know about long distance prefixing with a "1" - it just
doesn't returning the "1" prefix back to the Send Fax Wizard's
Recipient screen! And speaking of crappy code - why isn't there a
column labeled FAX NUMBER??????? Instead we see an E-MAIL ADDRESS
column? Duh, I thought we were sending a fax :)

You know, the more I look at this Send Fax "Wizard", the more it stinks
of a sloppy third party job. My guess is that Microsoft paid somebody
(Symantec?) to develop a limited fax interface. Limited doesn't have
to equal poorly designed and untested, does it?

OK, being a programmer I've finally vented all my complaints about the
faxing abilities of XP and Office. Nuf said :)
 
You have not provided enough information for a response. I do not know
which address book the Fax Wizard is using because you did not tell me.

I was talking about the need to use international format to process
dialing rules by the Fax Service. That has been very consistent since
the dawn of Microsoft Fax in Windows 95 and has been very well
documented in the KB for 10 years.
 
Being "consistent", just for the sake of being consistent is not
necessarily a good thing :) Especially when the code is as flawed as I
point out. I'd rather the next version NOT be consistent with the last
10 years... If software remained consistent, bugs would never leave us
:)

Just out of curiousity, how do you think the typical, non techy, user
of XP and Office find out about the "canonical", or as you call it
"international" format required for entering fax nos (phone nos for
dialing I presume too?) so that Dialing Rules work as one would expect?
Outlook 2003 has never popped up any suggestions to this effect, and
always accepted my phone/fax number entries without complaining. And,
the fact that it formats the numbers by adding parentheses and hyphens
led me to believe it fully understood my numbers. I guess that was a
bad assumption on my part...

Lastly, why isn't the Fax wizard fully aware of what country I'm
calling from? I've set up Dialing Rules, a time zone and numerous
other settings that should make Windows and all applications aware of
where I am calling from. Am I missing something here?

Russ, I do appreciate you telling us all the solution to working around
this awfully unintuitive Fax Wizard. But I just want to ask: you don't
applaud its inner workings - do you?

Cheers,

-Mike
 
In XP's Fax Wizard, I simply click on the [Address Book...] button in
upper right. That pops up a window titled "Address Book". On the
Address Book screen I click on the dropdown labeled Show Names From:
and select any of my Outlook 2003 Contact folders from the dropdown
list - then pick a contact from one of them... So I am working with
Outlook type address books...
 
You will find no more severe critic of the Windows XP Fax Service and
its integration with Outlook than I.
Nevertheless, the shortcomings are not quite as great as you allege. I
still suspect you have simply not configured your Outlook installation
to add the country code automatically to your phone numbers and have not
paid sufficient attention to the construction of your dialing rules.
Dialing rules are not an Outlook issue. I don't have to use them and
cannot help you with them. But I'm sure there are users in the Windows
XP telephony groups who can help you with their construction if you post
the details of the trouble you are having.
Finally, very few users find Microsoft Fax products acceptable. Most
have moved on to third party products--as they should.
 
I'll search Outlook and try to find the place where I can configure it
to auto-insert the country code (1). Why am I trying to insert a
country code when I am simply dialing within my country? Hmmm, I guess
I never thought of the long distance 1 prefix as a country code. I
thought country codes only applied to international calls. Your
solution sounds similiar to the trick I found, where I checked "To
disable call waiting, dial ..." in the Dialing Rules. Either way we're
using a band-aid approach :)

I've looked at the Control Panel's Phone and Modem Options applet,
Dialing Rules, Locations etc. and find no place where one can indicate
to dial a 1 for long distance calls. The closest is the "to access an
outside line for long distance calls, dial ..." located on the Edit
Location screen's General tab. But that setting, if enabled, dials the
specified digit(s) then *waits* for a dial tone, then dials the number.
We need it to first wait for a dialtone, then dial the long distance
prefix, then the number. This setting is really meant for business or
hotel PBX systems where you have to enter a code to get an outside
line/dialtone...

So my original criticisms remain - why isn't Windows smart enough to
provision for dialing of the standard 1 prefix that 99% of US folks
have to dial? It should be easy to find, configure etc. - instead this
feature is entirely missing or so ridiculously hidden somewhere as to
be essentially useless. Folks should not have to research how to do
this - it should be so blatantly obvious that even the most nimble
novice can figure out how to make calls. Now I know how my computer
consulting client's feel when Windows doesn't work intuitively :) God
help me if I have to explain this silliness to them :) :)
 
I did find the setting you described in Outlook: highlight your
Contacts folder, then Actions->Call Contact->New Call->[Dialing
Properties...]. Put a check next to "Automatically add country code to
local phone numbers". But it seems this only works on new contacts
that you add to Outlook. Your existing contacts do not get updated
with the +1 country code (USA). So with hundreds of entries this
doesn't help me much. So back to using my band-aid: just edit my
Location to always dial 1 in the field "To disable call waiting, dial
___". Not elegant - but then again neither is this crazy Send Fax
wizard.

The frustrating part is that the underlying fax engine is quite solid -
it''s the GUI that is lacking. It would just go against my grain to
purchase a 3rd party product when XP is so close to having it all right
there. They just need to fire the original programmer(s) and have
someone else clean up these remaining details...
 
Not sure how many times I need to explain that International format is
required to trigger dialing rules.
It has been documented countless times over the years.
Details on how to use international format to invoke dialing rules are
available here:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q318575


The KB is also replete with information on how to create dialing rules.
 
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