File Conversion Service

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The FaxPress Plus file conversion service is designed to convert users' source documents to the faxable TIF format for the FaxPress Premier. For the FaxPress Premier to send attachments, attached files must be converted from their native format to TIF format, either on the client side or the server side. On machines with FaxPress Plus installed, file conversion is performed on the client side. If Premier services other than FaxPress Plus are used to send faxes, file conversion is performed on the FaxPress Premier server.

Installing Applications for the File Conversion Service

Castelle recommends keeping the FaxPress Premier a dedicated network fax server, and only installing the applications required to support the Premier’s fax transactions. Server side file conversion is performed, and application installation is required, if the following FaxPress Premier services are used:

For these services to work, the applications associated with the file formats your organization typically uses for faxing must be installed on the FaxPress Premier. When faxes are sent and received through the Email Gateway, Web Services Interface or DropFax/Drop Directory, the FaxPress Premier uses the installed native applications to support file conversion to and from faxable format.

To use these services, install any of the applications your organization might fax, e.g., the Microsoft Office suite, Adobe Acrobat etc, onto the FaxPress Premier. If the application associated with the file type does not exist on the Premier, the attached file will not be faxed and a file conversion error will be generated for that particular job. Applications can be installed either by attaching a monitor, mouse, and keyboard directly to the Premier, or by using Remote Desktop. See Using Remote Desktop for more information.

When installing applications, always log in as Administrator with password castelle, all lower case. This is the local Administrator account name and password. If the password is changed from the default, the Conversion Services’s local Administrator account password must also be changed to match, or fax transmissions will be interrupted. See Important! The FaxPress Premier’s Local Administrator Account for more information. After installing, open all applications at least once. With Outlook, a user profile must also be created and configured on the Premier.

The Microsoft Office Document Imaging interferes with the Castelle print drivers. Make sure the Document Imaging component is not installed if/when Microsoft Office is installed.

FaxPress Premier Users and the File Conversion Service

FaxPress Premier users are responsible for providing the source file name with the correct file extension (i.e., .doc, .pdf, etc.). If the file extension does not match the source file, unexpected fax output or file conversion errors may occur. Users should NOT submit "non-convertible" source files (i.e., .exe, .bin, etc.) to the FaxPress Premier server. Instead of generating garbage fax output, FaxPress Premier will reject the file and generate a file conversion error for that particular job.