Generating Fax output

It is possible to generate Fax output from PlanetPress Connect through the use of PDF/VT output. Here are the details on how to implement such a process.

Required Components

The following components are required in order to output to Fax:

  • A PlanetPress Image license which includes PlanetPress Fax.
  • A Job Preset adding the appropriate metadata fields
  • An Output preset generating a PDF/VT file.
  • A PlanetPress Workflow process outputting to the PlanetPress Fax task.

Job Preset Configuration

The following metadata fields must be added to the Metadata Options page:

  • FaxNumber: The phone number where the fax will be sent. Often part of the data.
  • FaxInfo: The description of the fax in both the PlanetPress Fax dialog box and the fax log file.

Output Preset Configuration

The following settings must be used in the Output Preset:

  • In the Print Options, a PDF type should be selected, such as Generic PDF.
  • In the PDF Options, the PDF Type should be set to PDF/VT

PlanetPress Workflow Process

Using a Print template

The following Workflow process will produce output from a Print template and fax it.

  • The four regular OL Connect tasks to generate print output:
    • Execute Data Mapping
    • Create Print Content
    • Create Job using the above Job Preset.
    • Create Output using the above Output Preset. The task's Output Management must be set to be Through Workflow.
  • The PlanetPress Fax connector task set to Passthrough (the first "Document" on the list).

Faxing a PDF (as-is)

If the original data file is a PDF that should be faxed as-is (without any changes to its content), the following Workflow process will do that.

  • Execute Data Mapping.
    • Make sure your data mapping configuration extracts the FaxNumber and Faxinfo values for the document.
    • Set the Output Type to Output IDs in Metadata.
    • Tick the option to "Bypass content creation". In this case, the Create Print Content task is not needed.
  • Create Job.
    • In the Job Preset, make sure to create both FaxNumber and FaxOption metadata tags at the Document level, and set them to the corresponding fields from your data mapping configuration.
  • Create Output.
    • Make sure your Output Preset is set to output PDF/VT.
    • The task's Output Management must be set to be Through Workflow.
  • The PlanetPress Fax connector task.
    • Set the document to None (the first "Document" on the list) to run in Passthrough mode.