Overview

If you send faxes with Microsoft Excel attachments, you may find that the FaxMaker\out\pending folder has many Excel ( .xls or .xlsx) files that should be deleted by FaxMaker.  This article describes the steps to take to prevent this from occurring in the future.  

Environment

Any FaxMaker installation with Microsoft Office installed for use with document conversion for Microsoft Excel files.  

Solution

When FaxMaker converts documents to prepare them for faxing, files that FaxMaker cannot be handled by an internal engine included with FaxMaker are opened by their default programs in the background and printed to the FaxMaker printer.  

When this Excel file is opened when certain formulas (listed below) are used, these formulas will trigger a recalculation as soon as the file is opened which triggers Excel to prompt to save the file.  When these volatile functions are removed from the Excel sheet, the save prompt will not appear and the file can be closed and deleted by FaxMaker.

=AREAS()

=INDEX()

=OFFSET()

=CELL()

=INDIRECT()

=ROWS()

=COLUMNS()

=NOW()

=TODAY()

=RAND()

Confirmation

Once the formulas listed in the solution are removed from the Excel sheets to be faxed are removed, these files will now be deleted by FaxMaker after conversion.