Reform Rightfax
Contents
About RightFax
The Reform RightFax plug-in will allow Reform to interact with a RightFax server in order to automatically distribute documents to your fax system.
Software & Hardware Requirements
Installation
To install the Reform Rightfax plugin to your existing Reform installation, download and run the Reform-RightfAX installation executable.
Step through the prompts, and the installation will begin. Allow the installation to complete and then read on to the next section to learn how to implement Reform Rightfax to your forms.
The default installation directory for Reform and its Plugins is C:\Program Files\Reform…\. If you have changed the path during the Reform installation routine, please refer to the appropriate path instead of the default one referenced throughout this documentation.
Plugin Registration and Licensing
When evaluating Reform, the Plugins will also be in an evaluation mode for that period of time. Once Reform has been purchased and licensed, the required plugins must also be licensed in order to continue functioning correctly.
Please see the "Reform Licensing and Registration" section of the Reform User Manual for more information on how to license Reform Plug-ins. After the license is entered, the Reform Spooler will need to be restarted to refresh the licenses. More information regarding the Reform Spooler Service can be found in the Reform User Manual.
Setting up your First RightFax-Enabled Form
In this tutorial, we are going to create a new form from an existing template, and then configure it using the Workflow Designer to send documents to a RightFax server. The RightFax Plug-in can be easily configured by using the Workflow Designer.
**This tutorial requires the Reform Variable Data Printing plug-in in order to edit a form. If you will be using this plug-in with MOST and not for Variable Data Printing, please follow the instructions in the corresponding manual for MOST integration (this tutorial may be skipped).
First, the VDP Designer must be started. To open it, go to Start > Programs > Reform… > Variable_Data_Printing > VDP Designer.
1. For the example, we will be creating a new form with an existing template. Go to File > New > New. Select the Fax template and click OK.
2. When it asks if you would like to open a text file for designing, select No.
3. Next, go to File > Save to save your form. Name it Fax.fom.
4. You can now close the VDP Designer since we have our form which we will be using alongside the Workflow Designer to route the document.
5. *Now that we have our form, we can begin to fulfill the desired RightFax workflow using the Workflow Designer. First, the Workflow Designer must be started.
6. To open it, go to Start > Programs > Reform… > Workflow Designer.
7. Once open, we must go to File > New…
8. Select "Document Automation" and click Ok.
9. You will now notice that your Inputs, Processes and Outputs have been populated by the various plug-ins you have installed (RightFax being one of the Outputs)
10. We can start adding the necessary components to the workflow. First, drag and drop a Form and File object onto the workflow by clicking and holding your mouse on Form and File and then moving your mouse over to the workflow and releasing the mouse button.
*You will be prompted with the following dialog:
11. Enter a description for the object you just added. This is done by typing in the provided box. Type "RightFax Demo" and click Finish. This will take you back to your workflow.
12. Now we are ready to configure the "RightFax Demo" form and input file. To do so, right click on the newly added object and select "Configuration…" or simply double-click on it.
13. You are now presented with the Input Setup window. First, we want to select the TextFile or data stream that our form will be using. To do so, you can simply begin typing in the box, or you can browse to find it. We want to select the Fax.out file. Click the small folder icon to bring up a window which will let us choose that file. Select the file and click Open.
14. After choosing the text file, you are taken back to the Input Setup page so that you can now select a form. Click the small folder icon to bring up a window which will let us choose the desired Fax.FOM form file. Select the FOM file and click Op'''e'''n.
15. Now that you have both your Input Text File and Reform Form selected, the setup of Form and File is complete. You can quickly double check that the correct files are selected and then click Finish.
16. You will also be prompted to add a page-break field to the forms. At this point, we want to select No.
17. To finish the Fax workflow, we want to add a RightFax Output. We use the same drag and drop procedure as with the Form and File (see step 9). Take your mouse and drag the "RightFax" object from under Output onto the workflow somewhere below your Input. Once you release your mouse, you will be prompted to describe RightFax. Type "RightFax" in the box and then click Finish.
18. Once you click Finish, you are taken back to your workflow. Your RightFax will have a Red Caption because it is not yet configured. To configure RightFax, you must first connect the Form and File object titled "RightFax Demo". To do so, first select the "Add Connector" button from the menu bar. Next, drag your mouse from the small "x" underneath "RightFax Demo" to the small "x" above "RightFax" as pictured below. When the connection is complete, the connecter will turn black (if red, connection has not been made correctly, try again) and the "RightFax Demo" caption will turn green.
19. You will be prompted to configure RightFax upon completing the connection. Click Yes. If you chose not to, you can also double click on the RightFax object or rightclick and select "Configuration…". This configuration will step you through all the settings necessary for RightFax to successfully connect to your RightFax server and send faxes. The first page will ask for the server name and the user name that will be used to connect to the RightFax server. Fill in the ServerName and the Account Type, and then click the Next button.
20. Fill in the UserName and the Password, and then click the Next button.
21. The next piece of information the configuration requires is the FaxNumber where to send the fax to. Enter in a valid fax number by typing it in the provided box and then click Next.
22. Next is the "Recipient’s Name". Here, we would like to use data that is available in the data stream instead of a static value. To do so, we first must click the "Click here to select variable information" button.
*Note-After doing so, we see that a list will appear with the different fields that you can choose for your variable data. If you want to go back to static input mode, you can do so by clicking the appropriate button for static information and you will then be able type static information.
23. We want to use the dynamic field ClientName as the "Recipient Name". Select ClientName from the list and click Next.
24. For "Recipient’s Company Name", we would like to again use variable data from the print stream. To do so, first click the button "Click here to select variable data". From the list that appears, select ShipToName (scroll down) and click Next.
25. Type in a value for the Recipient’s Phone Number, and click Next.
26. Type in "Quote Information" for the Subject and click Next.
27. For "Notes", we would like to again use variable data from the print stream. To do so, first click the button "Click here to select variable data". From the list that appears, select Description and click Finish.
28. You have completing configuring your simple RightFax workflow. Your 2 objects ("RightFax Demo" and "RightFax") should all be green meaning they have been successfully configured and the workflow is ready to be created.
29. To make all the appropriate forms and changes, the workflow must be executed. This is done by clicking the "Execute" button
on the menu bar. After execution, you will be notified of the configuration that has taken place. Click OK.
30. You can now close the Workflow Designer. Your form has been saved in your default forms directory. A backup of your original Fax.FOM file has been copied to the "Workflow Designer Original Forms" folder in your forms directory. Any permanent form changes should be made to this original form as it is used throughout the form configuration process as a template. If changes are made to this template, you will have to execute your workflow again to see the changes in the forms.
31. To test out your settings and make sure that faxes can be sent, the Spooler should be started by clicking Start > Programs > Reform… > Spooler. Once it is open, press the Start button.
*If it was already running, it will need to be stopped and restarted so that it recognizes the new forms that were created by the Workflow Designer.
32. Navigate to your \Reform…\Backups\ directory. Select the Fax.out file, right click the file, and select Copy.
33. Navigate to your \Reform…\Spooler\ directory. Paste the file into the Spooler directory. (Pasting the data stream to this folder simulates printing from Windows, AS400, Unix, etc.)
34. When the Spooler Application begins processing the file, you will notice the file name change to something similar to the image below.
35. Once the document is faxed, the demonstration is complete. If you are not getting your output, Reform Spooler might not have the correct permissions to process the file. Please see the Reform manual for more information. You can re-print the document by copying the file from the backup directory to the spooler directory again. You can also create a new form and configure it using the Workflow Designer.
*Check your RightFax server to make sure the fax was successfully sent.
*Check your RM_RightFAX_Monitor Service to see if it is running
Attachment Setup
To configure Reform to use attachments with Reform Rightfax, open your VDP Designer. Open the form you would like to adjust and go to File > Page Setup. Click on the Attachment Setup button beside the Transport Type dropdown list in Page Setup to call up the Attachment Setup dialog box. The Attachment Setup dialog allows you to choose from various file types, resolutions and color formats for your attachments.
The recommended attachment type for the RightFax plugin is a TIFF image with Group 4 compression. The Workflow Designer automatically configures this for you.
Note: You can change the Color format to Gray Scale or Color, but you will experience a noticeable speed difference.
Fax Cover Page
To use the RightFax cover page in your faxes, open your VDP Designer. Open the form you would like to adjust and select Options > Automation > Fax Cover Page. Instead of browsing for a cover page, type in the fax cover name that exists in your RightFax System. To use RightFax’s default cover page, type System Default as the Cover Page, as pictured below.
Maintenance
There are certain directories that need to be monitored for growth along with the RightFax plugin for Reform. As a system processes more and more jobs, the size of these directories can grow very quickly. Overall system performance can be affected by the large amounts of space that the files may take up. Obsolete files/database entries should be deleted according to your needs and file retention specifications.
Please see the Reform Health Monitor and Maintenance Utility section in the Reform User Manual for more information and instructions for monitoring and maintaining your server. It is recommended to monitor the following directories and SQL tables for growth:
Directories:
C:\Program Files\Reform…\Backups
C:\Program Files\Reform…\Spooler\ImageQueue
C:\Program Files\Reform…\Spooler\RightFaxQueue
SQL Tables:
Reform_RightFax_Trans
Troubleshooting
- The RightFax Client must be installed on the computer running Reform. Reform communicates with RightFax using Port 445; this port must be permitted if any firewalls or network monitors are running.
- Recommended settings when installing the RightFax Client pictured below:
- Check all RightFax server settings including username and servername.
- Make sure you are able to ping the fax server from the server running Reform.
- Verify that the RightFax FaxUtil can connect to your RightFax server properly.
Q: Nothing is happening after the form is processed. How can I determine the cause of an issue?
A: Check the Event Log for errors related to Reform or RightFax. The Event Log can be access by going to Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Event Log. This will usually give you a good idea about why the faxes might be failing.
Rightfax Service permissions:
- Go to RM_RightFAX_Monitor Service and go into the properties. In the log on tab, use an administrator account and password to run the service as.
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RightFAX Issue Ticket
*User’s Name: ___________________________________ *User’s Login Name: ______________________________
*User’s Email Address: ____________________________ User’s Building: _________________________________
User’s Department: ______________________________ Support Contact’s Name: __________________________
Support Contact’s Email: __________________________ Support Contact’s Phone: __________________________
*Severity of Issue (Please check one):
□ 0 - Test environment (non-production) | ||
□ 1 - Users are affected, but able to continue business |
□ 2 - Users are affected and it is affecting business, other functionality is working properly
□ 3 - The software is not functioning properly at all – system outage
Number of Users Affected: ________________ List Each Users Login Name _____________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
*Description of Issue: _________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
*Observations about the Issue:
Frequency of Issue: Once / Random / Every Attempt / Other (Please Describe): ________________________________
First Occurrence (Date/Time): _____________________ Latest Occurrence (Date/Time): _______________________
- *Issue is occurring at (Fill in all fields for Reform Server and RightFax Server):
- Reform Server(s)
Reform Server IP(s): _____________________________________________________________________________
- RightFax Server(s)
RightFax Server IP: _____________________________________________________________________________
*Does the affected user have a RightFax account? yes / no
*Does the RightFax FaxUtil connect to the RightFax server properly? yes / no
*When using the RightFax Connection Test Utility, are any test results un-successful? yes / no If no, which one(s)
were unsuccessful with corresponding message? _________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
If faxing speed is an issue, please list the time it takes to fax the document: __________ seconds / minutes
*Is user able to send faxes through RightFax outside of Reform/MOST? yes / no
Additional information when using the MOST plug-in with Reform
- MFP (If using the MOST Plug-in for Reform from an MFP)
Number of MFPs Affected:_______________________
MFP Java Version:______________________________ MOST Version: _________________________________
MFP Serial #:__________________________________ MFP IP: _______________________________________
MFP Model #: _________________________________ MFP Location: __________________________________
- Workstation (If using the MOST Desktop Plug-in for Reform from a workstation)
Number of Workstations Affected: ________________ Workstation OS: XP / Vista / 7
Workstation IP: ________________________________ Workstation Name: _____________________________
*Is the user able to search contacts when logged into MOST? yes / no
*Is the user able to add a PhoneBook contact? yes / no
*Is the user able to see status results on the RightFax MOST screen? yes / no
* Fields are required