setting up and sending a FAX (wired and wifi?)

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hotwheels22 Author

Level 1

106 points

setting up and sending a FAX (wired and wifi?)

ok. i have a land line now with my local service provider.

i have a phone jack outlet.

a mac pro

a mac air

an iphone

right now i have the phone jack plugged into ONE of my PRINTERS and i am trying to send a fax. however, i cannot figure out if i have this set up correctly or what.

i get that i have to ADD a FAX in the printer dialog somehow and i have gotten in some cases to the screen that asks me to enter cover page information and a telephone number and then a "prefix".

does the telephone number in the US need to be in the format XXX XXX XXXX and the prefix +1.

should i plug the line into my mac pro instead of into ONE of my all in one printers since it is connected to all my devices?

i realize this is basically ancient technology but i finally decided to get a landline since i was having a hard time sending a fax using the various software or web based options out there.

THANKS

Mac Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.5), 2012, w/ boot camp of Win 10

Posted on Oct 10, 2016 11:12 AM

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Answer 1

Eric Root

Level 10

685,293 points

Oct 10, 2016 8:32 PM in response to hotwheels22

I haven't done this in a long time, but when I had this setup, the phone jack was hooked to the printer. I THINK I had to fill in the phone with area code and the number. I don't remember needing the 1. My printer may have been different though.

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Answer 2

hotwheels22 Author

Level 1

106 points

Oct 10, 2016 9:02 PM in response to Eric Root

ok. so short story is that i have an 8630 all in one and a 8600 all in one. they are next to the mac pro.

i won't bore you with how frustrating this has been with the phone company. anyway, i now have a working line. the line goes to the 8630. it would be great to get the fax set up.

the document i am working off of is OS X Yosemite: Send a fax

the document for adding faxes i find hard to follow given the dialog in the first image https://support.apple.com/kb/PH18627?locale=en_US

maybe i should delete the all in one and add it again and see what i get?

i have gone ahead and deleted all the fax machines to try and start over because i have run out of error messages and now only repeat the earlier ones.

do you or anyone on the list happen to know if i should ADD the listing for 8630 as (FAX)/HP Fax, (FAX)@MyMacPro/Bonjour Shared or FAX/Bonjour?

i have the 8630 plugged into the mac pro via ethernet (i think) and the 8600 may be plugged in via (USB) - should this matter? i mean, the computer obviously has to send some data to the all in one printer/scanner/fax but i am not sure if i need one type of connection or another.

once i get the FAX hooked up i guess i can move on to the fax dialog and see if i am doing something wrong there.

BTW, your guess is better than my "try everything and everything five or six times" method because when you add in two or three variables (like whether to put a 1 in the prefix or whatever) this becomes 5 or 6 factorial and it is not a very good method for achieving success!

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Answer 3

hotwheels22 Author

Level 1

106 points

Oct 10, 2016 9:13 PM in response to hotwheels22

holy cow. progress.

so i deleted the extra printers and i /think/ by adding the printer that has "[8B7F3]" appended to it and is a "Bonjour Multifunction" that i am at least getting dial tones from the all in one. then in the TO i enter the fax number without any spaces. i don't enter a prefix.

OK, darn - "No answer".

looks like i need to bring in someone. off to the print shop tomorrow to do some faxing : )

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Answer 4

Oct 10, 2016 10:59 PM in response to hotwheels22

I used a zoom fax USB modem about 6 months ago with El Capitan 10.11.1.

Dialing prefix was 1.

Then I recall using the area code and the phone number after it.

To fax, you basically print the document but select the fax as the printer, if I remember correctly.

I don't recall being able to add a printer que for it.

Your all in one printer may need a print driver to add it to your mac.

Printer manufacturers have been moving away from this but perhaps they have updated it.

Good luck.

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