Windows 8.1: The Missing Manual

Faxing

In the increasingly rare event that your PC has a built-in fax modem, and your PC is connected to a phone line, it can serve as a true-blue fax machine. This feature works like a charm, saves money on paper and fax cartridges, and may even spare you the expense of buying a physical fax machine.

Sending a fax is even easier on a PC than on a real fax machine; you just use the regular Print command (Ctrl+P), exactly as though you were making a printout of the onscreen document. When faxes come in, you can opt to have them printed automatically, or you can simply read them on the screen. You even get a dedicated program, Windows Fax and Scan, for the purpose of managing faxes

Tip

The similarity with printing doesn’t stop there. The Devices and Printers folder even contains a Fax icon that works just like a printer icon.

Sending a Fax from Any Program

Now, the one big limitation of PC-based faxing is that you can transmit only documents that are, in fact, on the computer. That pretty much rules out faxing notes scribbled on a legal pad, clippings from People magazine, and so on (unless you scan them first).

If you’re still undaunted, the procedure for sending a fax is very easy:

1. Open up whatever document you want to fax. Choose File→Print.

   The Print dialog box appears.

2. Click the Fax icon (or choose Fax from the Select Printer list, as shown in Figure 19-11), and then click OK or Print.

   The very first time you try faxing, you encounter the Fax Setup Wizard. It first asks you to connect ...