Error when sending an attachment : "1701 : Document Conversion Timeout"

The information in this article applies to:

  • GFI FAXmaker for Exchange 10
  • GFI FAXmaker for Exchange 7
  • GFI FAXmaker for Exchange 9
  • GFI FAXmaker for Exchange/SMTP 12
  • GFI FAXmaker for Exchange/SMTP 14
  • GFI FAXmaker for Networks 11
  • GFI FAXmaker for Networks/SMTP 10
  • GFI FAXmaker for Networks/SMTP 8

Article ID: KBID001249

Query keywords: Document Conversion, document converter, document rendering, error 1701

Issue Encountered:

On sending a fax with an attachment through GFI FAXmaker, the sender receives a report with the following error:

1701 : Document Conversion Timeout.
Ensure that the FAXmaker printer driver on the server machine is installed on the GFIFAX port and is set up as default printer. Check that the application program is installed on the server and that there is association to print with the files.

  
More Information:

A ‘1701 : Document Conversion Timeout’ error occurs when GFI FAXmaker times out during document conversion on the server. This normally occurs because the application used to perform the document conversion has not provided the converted document back to GFI FAXmaker within a reasonable amount of time. GFI FAXmaker document conversion will timeout after 270 seconds.

 
Problem Identification:

The following test will show any errors with document conversion. This procedure will trigger background printing for an attachment. For this, we will be using a Microsoft Word document as an example.  

  1. On the GFI FAXmaker machine make sure that all instances of the application, which is used to convert the attachment, is closed. For this example, you need to ensure that all instances of Microsoft Word are closed. 
     
  2. Open Task Manager and confirm that no processes for the application mentioned in step 1 are running. In this example, you need to ensure that no ‘winword.exe’ processes are running. 
     
  3. Transfer the attachment causing the issue, in this case a Microsoft Word document, to the GFI FAXmaker machine.
     
  4. Right click on the document from Windows Explorer and select ‘Print’.
    If the ‘Print’ option is not available, see Solution 1 below. 
     
  5. At this point, the application associated with the document, Microsoft Word in our example, should load and print the document. Typically, the printer icon is displayed in the task bar near the clock.
    If the document is printed to a physical printer or you do not notice the printer icon, see Solution 2 below. 
     
  6. No message boxes should be displayed and printing should be successful.
    If you notice any message boxes, see Solution 3 below.

 
Possible Solutions:

IMPORTANT: All the following checks must be done on the machine where the GFI FAXmaker Fax Server is installed. 

  1. The ‘Print’ option may be missing if no associated program is installed on the machine, or if the 'print' and/or 'printto' commands are not associated with the file extension of the document being converted.
    • Ensure that an application which can open and print the file being converted is installed. For example, for *.DOC files, make sure that Microsoft Word is installed on the machine.
       
    • Ensure also that there is the 'print' and/or 'printto' commands are associated with the specific document extension. To check this, in Windows Explorer, go to ‘Tools’ -> ‘Folder Options’ -> ‘File Types’ page and from the 'Registered file types:' list click on the document file extension in question. With the file extension selected, click the 'Advanced' or 'Edit' button, depending on which version of Windows you have and check the list of actions for the associated commands mentioned before. Ensure that either the ‘Print’ or the ‘Printto’ actions are listed.
       
       
  2. Ensure that document printing to the GFI FAXmaker printer is configured correctly as follows: 
    • Check that the GFI FAXmaker Printer Driver is installed and that it prints to the GFIFAX: port. This can be done from the Printers folder -> Printer properties -> Ports page. 
       
    • Make sure that the logon account of the GFI FAXmaker Fax Server service is an Administrative Domain Account. The following article explains how to change the credentials for the GFI FAXmaker FAX server service: KBID003021
       
    • Ensure also that the logon account of the GFI FAXmaker Fax Server service and the SYSTEM account have full printing permissions on the GFI FAXmaker Printer Driver. The following article explains how to grant printing rights to the GFI FAXmaker Fax Server service logon account: KBID001264  
       
    • It is recommended to set the GFI FAXmaker Printer Driver as the default printer. 
       
       
  3. Very frequently 1701 Document Conversion errors will occur when message boxes are produced during the document conversion. The message boxes will not be shown, since they are loaded by the GFI FAXmaker service. Such message boxes will be shown to the user when using the Problem Identification procedure above. In general, the user will need to configure the application not to show the message box to solve the problem.
     
    The following knowledge base articles provide information on some of the instances where this issue occurs: 
    • KBID003127 - Document Conversion error when Microsoft Office 2007 is not activated
    • KBID003128 - Error when sending Microsoft Office documents
    • KBID003268 - Macro language support required with Microsoft Office 2007
    • KBID003007 - Error when sending a Microsoft Excel document
    • KBID001253 - Document Conversion error when sending Office 95 Word documents
       
       
  4. GFI FAXmaker is not configured to convert the specific file format.
     
    The document extension of the file being converted needs to be listed in the GFI FAXmaker Configuration -> ‘Advanced’ -> ‘Document Conversion’ -> Properties.
    Exceptions to this are the following extensions, which use an internal GFI FAXmaker convertor: html, htm, mht, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, pdf
     
    The following knowledge base article explains how to configure GFI FAXmaker to convert the new Microsoft Office file formats: KBID002934
     
     
  5. The GFI FAXmaker Printer Driver is not installed or is not installed correctly.
     
    Manually install the GFI FAXmaker Printer Driver or re-install/repair the GFI FAXmaker installation. Instructions on how to re-create the GFI FAXmaker Printer can be found at: KBID002253
     
     
  6. Tiff files are not formatted correctly.
     
    Check the following knowledge base article on how to correctly format tiff files and how to configure GFI FAXmaker to convert them: KBID003124 
     
     
  7. The machine is slow, does not have enough resources or the document is very large and needs more time to be converted.
     
    Ensure that the machine has enough resources to process the document. You should increase the amount of available memory or split large documents into smaller ones, and send multiple documents in the same or separate faxes.
     
     
  8. The associated application is crashing with a Dr. Watson error.
     
    Re-install the associated application. When done verify that the application opens correctly and does not produce any dialog boxes when you try to print through the application.