HOWTO: Creating coversheets with Zetafax 5.5.

ID: ZTN1044

This Zetafax technical note applies to:

• Zetafax 5.5

Summary

Zetafax 6 introduced a Coversheet editor program COVEDIT.EXE. This program provides a graphical interface to create Zetafax coversheets, including support for TrueType fonts.

This document describes the method of creating coversheets with previous versions of Zetafax (5.5 or earlier), expanding on the information in the User Guide.  Coversheets created using earlier versions of Zetafax can still be used with Zetafax 6.

More information

A Zetafax coversheet consists of two files: a foreground file that contains text, which is different for each fax (such as the name and organisation), and a background file, containing fixed information such as the company logo. The background file is optional, and can be omitted if all the fixed information is in the foreground file.

Coversheets are stored in the zfax\SYSTEM\Z-COVER directory, where 'zfax' is the name of the directory where the Zetafax server files are installed. The foreground is a FaxMerge format file with an extension of .EPN. It can be produced using any Windows word processor program. The background is a graphics file, with extension .G3F for fine mode faxing, or .G3N for standard mode. Zetafax is shipped with a standard coversheet (called COVSHEET) plus a number of example foreground files (called EXAMPLE1 etc), all in Write format. The examples are not distributed with the evaluation system due to disk space limitations.

The simplest way of personalising the coversheet is to use the standard foreground (COVSHEET), and just replace the background with your company logo or letterhead. Alternatively you can create a completely new foreground file, changing the design as required.

Foreground file

The coversheet foreground file contains the variable information that is overlaid onto the background file at sending time. Items such as addressee, sender, date, and number of pages are added by Zetafax automatically, replacing fields contained in the foreground file. These fields are called FaxMerge commands, and have the form %%[...]

You can change the layout of the foreground information on the coversheet if required. This is done by creating a file in your word processor containing a number of FaxMerge commands, which must be in a printer font (for example Zetafax Roman 10cpi). In order to see the Zetafax printer fonts you must first set the current printer to the Zetafax FaxMerge printer driver. Printer fonts can be identified by the symbol next to the font name.

When creating, editing or printing a document containing FaxMerge commands you should make sure that the Zetafax FaxMerge printer has been set as the current printer. All FaxMerge commands must appear in a Zetafax printer font.

There are several example files in the zfax\SYSTEM\Z-COVER directory in WRITE format, though you can use any Windows word processor. An example file might be:

Each %%[NOTE] field gets replaced with the next line of the coversheet note field from the addressing dialog box, which is word-wrapped automatically by Zetafax. You should ensure that there are at least 10 of these fields on the coversheet.

The steps to create a new coversheet foreground are as follows:

1. Create the document in your word processor. You should remember that a printer font is specific to a particular printer driver (not like true type fonts which are resident throughout your system) so will need to select the Zetafax FaxMerge printer to choose these. The document can also contain any other text or graphics, as required.
2. Print your document to the Zetafax FaxMerge printer. When the addressing dialog box is displayed click on the SAVE AS button. Note that you will not be able to view the file at this stage, as it is not in a graphics format.
3. Select the COVERSHEET, LETTERHEAD OR ATTACHMENT option and click OK .This will display the "Save as system file" dialog, where you should select COVERSHEET FOREGROUND. The option will be disabled if the wrong Zetafax printer driver was used.
4. Enter a file name without any extension (e.g. COVSHEET to overwrite the default file), and a short description to help users. Click OK and the coversheet will be created.
5. A number of other FaxMerge commands are available for including in the foreground file.

Command	Description
%%[Append:file]	Appends a TIFF format graphics file. Do not include the extension.
%%[CoverText]	Text entered in the NOTE field of the addressing window.
%%[Date]	Today's date.
%%[From]	Full name of the sending user.
%%[FromEmail]	E‑ mail address of the sending user.
%%[FromFax]	Fax number of the sending user.
%%[FromTelephone]	Telephone number of the sending user.
%%[FromParam]	Other details of the sending user.
%%[Insert:file]	Inserts a TIFF format graphics file at this point. Do not include the extension.
%%[Note]	Same as CoverText.
%%[Pages]	Number of pages, including the coversheet (may only be used on the coversheet).
%%[Time]	The time in the format hh:mm using the twenty-four hour clock.
%%[> file]	Same as Append.
%%[< file]	Same as Insert.

 

6. In addition, the following FaxMerge address book commands can be used, and they correspond to the fields in the address book editor:

Background file

The coversheet background file is similar to a letterhead. It is a TIFF FAX format graphics file, and contains the fixed part of the coversheet, like the logo and address of the sender. If you already have the coversheet available in a word processor or other application program, this will generally give the best result.

Note: The foreground must be created before the background.

1. Select the Zetafax printer driver and set its spool format to FINE or 200x200 resolution.
2. With the server and workstation running, print the document using the Zetafax printer driver. After a short time the Zetafax Addressing window will appear. Click the SAVE AS button to display the "Save file as" dialog box.
3. Select the COVERSHEET, LETTERHEAD OR ATTACHMENT option and click OK. This will display the "Save as system file" dialog, where you should select COVERSHEET BACKGROUND. The option will be disabled if the Zetafax printer driver was set to the wrong format before printing.
4. Enter a file name without any extension or select a coversheet from the list (e.g. "COVSHEET" to overwrite the default file), and a short description to help users. Click OK and provided a foreground file is already present, the coversheet background will be replaced.

If you do not have a word processor version of your coversheet, you can still create a new Zetafax coversheet simply by sending from another fax machine (effectively using the other fax machine as a scanner).

References

For additional information on creating coversheets, please see the following Zetafax technical notes:

ZTN1045-HOWTO: Creating coversheets under Citrix Winframe.

Last updated: 30 November 2000 (GC/GW)