I had to get a fax out to the Social Security Administration. They had expired my PIN which I need to enter W2/W3 data online. The screen told me to re-register but wouldn't let me do it. I finally called the SSA and Gloria said I needed to send her a fax asking for the PIN on company stationary. I decided this was as good a time as any to check out the Shared Fax feature of SBS. There is very little to configure on the server and Harry's book says all that is needed. It is a different story on the W2K and Windows XP clients.

1. The shared fax driver is installed from the client disk on W2K so everything is cool as long as you have your outlook contacts. This is where I found out that I needed to go into Outlook 2002 and right click on the public contact list and select Properties. Go to the Outlook Address Book tab and make sure there is check mark to show this folder as an e-mail address folder. To view the queue you need to go the Shared Fax console which is located under Programs-Microsoft Shared Fax Client.
2. The Microsoft Shared Fax Client is not installed on Windows XP since you should use the fax client provided by XP. So if you have the fax client already installed, all you need to do is search the Active directory for printers that start with the word “shared” and then double click on it to connect. This creates a shared fax object in the Printers and Faxes screen. To check the fax queue and archive you can double click on this object. To view old faxes along with the new faxes you need to move the files over to the server if you want everyone to view them. You should put them in the sent items directory for “All Users”. I thought the import feature in the XP fax console would do the job but it does not move the files to the server.