This form demonstrates how to use a custom action in VBScript to create a fax from an existing Microsoft Outlook contact. (Outlook does not include a New Fax to Contact function.) While it has a few mildly useful features, there unfortunately seems to be no way to invoke the Compose New Fax wizard and enter data in it programmatically. This means that the form has to create the fax as an e-mail message, which has some significant limitations.
This form works by adding a new custom action on the (Actions) tab with corresponding code for the Item_CustomAction function.
Download the Olconfax.zip file (10kb), then unzip it. Open the Contact with Fax Action.oft file, and choose Enable Macros when prompted. You will probably want to use File | Publish Form As to put the form either in your Personal Forms Library or in the Contacts folder.
If you want to make it the default form for the Contacts folder, right-click on the Contact folder or its Outlook Bar icon. Choose Properties. Then, select the form from the When posting to this folder list. If you want to convert the data in existing items to this new form, use the Update Message Class Form, or use Helen Feddema's VBScript method.
Open a blank Contact with Fax Action form, enter the normal data on the General tab, then switch to the Fax tab, where you will find several new settings:
Save the contact record, then open it again. You should now see a Fax to Contact button on the toolbar and, on the Contact menu, a Fax to Contact choice at the bottom.
A well known quirk of Windows is that there is no straightforward way to both use Windows dialing properties (dial 9 for outside line, call waiting disable, etc.) and dial a local number with a different area code without dialing the 1 used for long distance in the U.S. and Canada. Instead, the user needs to enter the phone number in a quirky fashion. See When to Lie about Phone Numbers.
This form provides a better workaround, by allowing you to specify whether 10-digit dialing should be used. The form properly builds the phone number so that Windows will dial any prefix codes, then the full 10-digit local number.
So far, I have coded this only for numbers in the U.S. and Canada. Adding this feature for other countries with a similar dialing issue is on my enhancements list.
Suggestion: If you travel outside your local calling area, just select No 10-digit dialing on the Fax tab to turn off this feature while you're away. Numbers entered in international format will be dialed properly, as long distance numbers with Windows dialing properties applied.
When you compose a fax as an e-mail message, any text entered in the body of the message is sent as a separate page after the cover page. There is no way to include a note on the cover page. The good news, though, is that any formatting you add to the message body is included in the fax. Note, though, that the default text format when you begin writing the fax is the reply font set on the Tools | Options | Reading tab.
As noted above, the 10-digit dialing feature works only for the U.S. and Canada.