EDI Problems

[Hugh Hill]

Do I need a Distiller to run EDI in WinTotal? I do have writer. Ive tried sending PDF attachments but when they receive the report and opens it no appraisal information. Ive been working on it for several days and tried everything. Any help I would gladly appreciate it.

Hugh

 

[Ben Vukicevich SRA]

Hugh,

PDF Writer should work fine. The end file will be larger than with Distiller but that's about it. I don't use Total, but I gave my free version of PDF Writer to a VA appraiser friend who does use Total and he has been happily emailing reports since August of 2001. So it's not a problem with PDF Writer.

My next question is. How large are the PDF files that you are creating???? Let us know. Maybe your ISP can't handle the large file sizes made with PDF Writer. Are you getting any undeliverable messages back with your PDF files attached??

Ben

 

[Wally Jones]

Hugh,

If you're using Athena, I believe it was designed to run best with Distiller but should still be fine with PDF Writer. Have you lookd at Tech Support Bulletin 4102?

As Ben suggested, maybe your file size is too large. Have you optimized your photo settings? (JPEG compression set to around 50% works just fine.)

I'll keep looking.

Wally

 

[Hugh Hill]

I tried just sending one page and still could not get it to work. It is showing that it has been sent and received but when you open it up it is blank. Is there any other suggestion that might try?

What is the best way to send Win Total EDI?

Thanks for all your help

Hugh

 

[Ben Vukicevich SRA]

Hugh,

I hate to ask this but are you attaching the PDF file to the email and not the actual Wintotal appraisal file? Is the PDF file showing up in the Subject line of your email. The PDF file must show up in the Subject line of the email or it won't be sent.

I don't use WinTotal but the process should be as follows:

Complete your report in Total.

Sign and lock it.

Save to PDF.

Remember where the PDF file is saved-mine go on a zip disk so I know where they are and where to find them when I'm ready to email.

Open your email program

Address the email to your client.

Go to "Insert" on the toolbar.

Click on "File Attachment"

Go to wherever your PDF files are stored in your computer, find the PDF file you want to send and double click on it. It should now appear in the "Subject" line of your email.

Click Send and that should be it.

Next question, does the lender have the required free Adobe Reader on their end so they can open the PDF file that you send???

Try sending a few emails with PDF attachments to yourself until you get it right.

Or if you want to send me a blank, one page PDF file of the front of a URAR so I can see what's going wrong, feel free to do so.

My email is

ben-vick@comcast.net

Ben

 

[Paul Stansberry]

Ben,

Actually, WinTOTAL makes it even easier than that to send a completed appraisal report in PDF format. Once you have Adobe Acrobat installed, all the remaining tools you need are included in the software. As long as you have setup the EDI system (see doc #4405 http://www.alamode.com/tech/pdf/4405.PDF ) it's as easy as following these steps:

• 1. Complete the report
  2. Sign the report
  3. Click the 'EDI' menu on your toolbar
  4. Address the e-mail that pops up onto your screen to the appropriate lender (You can even use your built in contacts book in WinTOTAL)
  5. Select the PDF option for format, then correct the 'Subject:' line to reflect your message subject
  6. Complete the body portion of the e-mail at the bottom of the screen
  7. Click the 'Send/Receive' button
  8. Mark the pages you wish to send, and make any PDF security settings you need
  9. Click 'OK'
  • 
    You should then see the EDI center in WinTOTAL connect and send the message. The advantages to using the built in system are that you don't have to know where you 'saved' it to, it's all stored and tracked in your 'sent items' in the WinTOTAL EDI center, and that you can add more easily choose all or part of the report to send. We automate this task more than people expect by bundling the PDF creation process along with the actual e-mail message in one step. This also allows you to have WinTOTAL automatically include information from the attached report itself directly in the body of the e-mail message!
    
    Hope this helps!
    
    Thanks,
    
    ___________________________________
    Paul E. Stansberry, III
    WinTOTAL Product Specialist
    a la mode, inc.
    
    E-Mail: Paul_S@alamode.com
    Phone: 800.434.7261 Pro. Services
    
    www.alamode.com
    
    
    
    

    Hugh,
    
    I hate to ask this but are you attaching the PDF file to the email and not the actual Wintotal appraisal file? Is the PDF file showing up in the Subject line of your email. The PDF file must show up in the Subject line of the email or it won't be sent.
    
    I don't use WinTotal but the process should be as follows:
    
    Complete your report in Total.
    
    Sign and lock it.
    
    Save to PDF.
    
    Remember where the PDF file is saved-mine go on a zip disk so I know where they are and where to find them when I'm ready to email.
    
    Open your email program
    
    Address the email to your client.
    
    Go to "Insert" on the toolbar.
    
    Click on "File Attachment"
    
    Go to wherever your PDF files are stored in your computer, find the PDF file you want to send and double click on it. It should now appear in the "Subject" line of your email.
    
    Click Send and that should be it.
    
    Next question, does the lender have the required free Adobe Reader on their end so they can open the PDF file that you send???
    
    Try sending a few emails with PDF attachments to yourself until you get it right.
    
    Or if you want to send me a blank, one page PDF file of the front of a URAR so I can see what's going wrong, feel free to do so.
    
    My email is
    
    ben-vick@comcast.net
    
    Ben

 

[BigBlueGA]

Sounds like a system conflict concerning Writer.. are you using the Adobe Acrobat Writer or a third party free writer? If you are using Adobe Acrobat, try reinstalling it.. sometimes when you install for some reason it won't install Distiller (it's supposed to), but if you reinstall it, sometimes it will stick it in there. Dunno why it does like that, but that's been the situation with mine a couple times.

FYI: Adobe.com has a really extensive and well maintained tech support section. It will probably take a lot of digging to find a solution to your problem, but chances are that it's in there somewhere...

 

[Hugh Hill]

Thanks Forum for all your help. I'm now EDIing all over the place.

Hugh