Abacus Consulting, LLC

Are you a Internet Fax user? This tip shows you how to create a fax-service formatted field that looks like "Mr. John Jones < This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it >" from a standard Time Matters fax field using calculated fields in Time Matters® in conjunction with an undocumented Time Matters function.  This tip will work with maxemail, eFax, send2fax and many other email based fax services.

Important:  This Tip requires the use of an undocumented and unsupported Time Matters function. Please be sure to backup your data prior to implementing this tip on your own system.  This modification is undertaken at your own risk, and we will take no responsibility for any problems that may occur as a result of following the instructions contained herein.  Implementing this tip requires a basic understanding of form styles and field customizations.  Please do not attempt to follow these instructions unless you are comfortable with customizing Time Matters fields.

Why create a Fax Recipient Field?

Most Time Matters users have a one or more fax fields on their Contact and Matters forms.  When using a fax to email service such as MaxEmail or eFax, it would be easy to create a calculated field were it not for the specific formatting that those services require.

For this example in this article, we will use the MaxEmail service.  MaxEmail requires an email address formatted as follows:

Mr. John Jones < This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it >

In the example above, the Fax Recipient (To:) on the cover page is 'Mr. John Jones' and the fax number is 999-555-1212.  A typical Time Matters fax field is formatted as 999-555-1212 or (999) 555-1212.  This creates a problem with email to fax gateways, which generally require the fax number to be formatted without any special characters such as parentheses or dashes.