Re: flexfax: Using Hylafax with Winword mail merge

[David Woolley <david@djwhome.demon.co.uk>]

> The Winword mail merge feature can send emails with an DOC-type file
> attachment to email addresses taken from the mail merge database table. I
> could encode the fax number in the email address. The unix side mail server
> then could decode the fax number and pass the file attachment on to
> HylaFax. However, the DOC must be translated to PS or TIFF first.=20
> 
> Is there a know solution for this?=20
> Or is there a totally different approach to solve this application?

This is a second level FAQ.  Microsoft have very little interest in
supporting Unix or in batch mode programs.  A freeware implementor
would probably find this a major undertaking, assuming that they could
obtain the file format information for Word.  Nobody has yet reported
a commercial option, and it is probably the case that there is an
insufficient market, or it is too difficult to track the file format
(unless Microsoft cooperates, it is always going to be several months
behind the latest Microsoft Word format).

I know it is a hopeless task convincing people of this, but for a large
mailmerge run, it probably doesn't take long to prepare a troff master
pattern and use Perl to do the substitution, as maintaining the list
will be the main cost.