In order to use a phone card (one of those cards with either pre-paid or cheap long distance) to fax something, I had to think up this workaround. When using a phone card, you often have to wait for prompts before you can both enter your pin number and dial the desired number. Here's how I worked around that problem...
Start by setting up the fax by clicking Print... from the File menu while viewing the document you want to fax. In the bottom left corner of the Print dialog, select "Fax PDF..." from the PDF popup menu. Select an Address Book entry that has the fax number as your phone card would like it. If you don't have one already set up, you may need to switch to the Address Book and do just that.
Next select Modem from the third pop-up in the center of the dialog (Modem is the second item in the pop-up, which is itself unlabeled, but located below the Presets pop-up). Uncheck "Wait for dial tone before dialing," but don't click the Fax button just yet.
Now pick up your handset. Dial your phone card's number. Wait for it to answer. Go through its menu system and enter your pin number, etc. When it prompts you for the number you want to dial, click the Fax button on the Mac. After a few seconds, your Mac should dial the rest of the number and begin faxing. Now I remember older fax programs that let you install a pause, just for such purposes ... however, there does not seem to be a way to do this using OS X's built-in fax feature. If any one knows a better way to do this, please post it in the comments...
[robg adds: I've searched for any info on adding delays to OS X's fax dialing feature -- in both Address Book's help, and the general system help. A little work on Google wasn't much help, though I did find Jon's Phone Tool, which looks like it might ease the manual dialing stage.]
Start by setting up the fax by clicking Print... from the File menu while viewing the document you want to fax. In the bottom left corner of the Print dialog, select "Fax PDF..." from the PDF popup menu. Select an Address Book entry that has the fax number as your phone card would like it. If you don't have one already set up, you may need to switch to the Address Book and do just that.
Next select Modem from the third pop-up in the center of the dialog (Modem is the second item in the pop-up, which is itself unlabeled, but located below the Presets pop-up). Uncheck "Wait for dial tone before dialing," but don't click the Fax button just yet.
Now pick up your handset. Dial your phone card's number. Wait for it to answer. Go through its menu system and enter your pin number, etc. When it prompts you for the number you want to dial, click the Fax button on the Mac. After a few seconds, your Mac should dial the rest of the number and begin faxing. Now I remember older fax programs that let you install a pause, just for such purposes ... however, there does not seem to be a way to do this using OS X's built-in fax feature. If any one knows a better way to do this, please post it in the comments...
[robg adds: I've searched for any info on adding delays to OS X's fax dialing feature -- in both Address Book's help, and the general system help. A little work on Google wasn't much help, though I did find Jon's Phone Tool, which looks like it might ease the manual dialing stage.]
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