Windows® 7 Bible

Chapter 38. Faxing and Scanning

IN THIS CHAPTER

Using Windows Fax and Scan

Setting up a fax account

Sending and receiving faxes

Scanning documents

Fax machines have been around for a long time, and it's a safe bet that you have at least a basic understanding of how faxing works, at least in the context of paper faxes. Essentially, you scan a document, the fax machine sends it to a recipient's fax machine, which then prints the fax.

There isn't as much reason to use faxes in today's world. If the item you want to send someone is a file, it's much easier to send an e-mail message to the recipient with a copy of the file attached. It doesn't matter what program you use for e-mail. They all allow you to attach files to messages.

On the other hand, if the person to whom you're sending a file doesn't have an e-mail account or can't accept attachments by e-mail, then fax might be your best alternative. You have the added benefit in Windows 7 of faxing right from your applications, with no need to print the document and scan it through a fax machine.

Tip

Though faxing and scanning are nothing new, Windows Fax and Scan provides new and easier ways to use fax equipment and scanners.

What You Need for Fax

To use Fax, your computer must have either a fax modem that's connected to an analog phone line or access to a fax server on the same local network. A fax server is a program on a computer that has a fax modem installed and allows other computers in the network to send and receive faxes through that ...