FAQ #: 132
Some of our customers/vendors can not open the TIFF files, is there a way to send quotes, purchase orders, and other forms as a PDF file?
There sure is. You can setup users to send emails through Vsi-Fax. And that is the default since that was the only way at one time to send emails from Answers years ago. However emails sent through Vsi-Fax are limited to TIFF files because that is what faxes are believe it or not, so given it is a faxing program, it can only handle sending TIFF’s. TIFF files have been around since Windows 95B, and the default viewer included with Windows does a fine job of displaying TIFF’s but the problem is that often users (customers/vendors) install sub-par TIFF viewers on their P/C unknowingly when they install other imaging devices such as cameras, scanners, etc. These less than great TIFF viewing programs often have problems opening some types of TIFF’s or viewing multiple page TIFF files, etc.
But, you can also tell Answers to send emails through Outlook or Outlook Express. And even the replacements for Outlook Express called Windows Mail (included with Vista), and the newest of all Windows Live Mail (available as a separate free down-load for Windows 7) are all compatible with the Outlook Express (MAPI) interface. And when using one of these email client programs, you also have the option of sending attachments as PDF’s instead of TIFF’s.
If you are interested in using one of these other email programs with Answers so that you can send PDF’s, all you need to do is determine if you are using Outlook or Outlook Express (or one of its newer variants as mentioned above).
Then go that user’s P/C and click on System Management-->Answers Software Maintenance-->User Settings-->User Profiles Maintenance. Find the user’s name in the list and then double-click on them to change them. Then go to the “User Information” tab. Look at options # 2 and # 3. Option # 2 is where you tell Answers which email program you want to send emails out of Answers through. Option # 3 lets you control the format of sent emails.
Note that if you are setting the user to use the Outlook Express (MAPI) option and are asked to verify their MAPI settings, agree to let the computer do this to make sure that the necessary files are present on the P/C for the interfacing between Answers and Outlook Express.
Then send a co-worker a test email out of Answers such as a Quote, P/O, etc. If you don’t get any error messages then check in your Sent Items folder of your email program and it should show up in there with the attachment as a PDF (if you picked that as your file type).