Windows 7 : Scanning Documents with Windows Fax and Scan

Receiving Faxes

To configure Windows Fax and Scan to receive a fax automatically, select Tools, Fax Settings, and make sure that the option Allow the Device to Receive Fax Calls is enabled and the Automatically Answer After radio button is selected. Specify the number of rings to wait before answering. The computer will now answer any incoming call on the telephone line connected to its modem, just like a standard fax machine.

If you configure Windows Fax and Scan to receive a fax automatically, incoming faxes are received and saved to the Inbox automatically. If you configure Windows Fax and Scan to receive faxes manually, a notification appears when an incoming call is detected. If the incoming call is from a fax device, click the notification balloon to have the modem pick up and receive the fax.

During the reception, the Review Fax Status window displays the status of the incoming fax. Click Close to close the window after receiving the fax.

Printing Received Faxes Automatically

To print received faxes automatically, click Tools, Fax Settings. On the General tab, click More Options. In the When a Fax Is Received section, open the Print a Copy To pull-down menu and select a printer. When you receive a fax, the fax will automatically be printed on the specified printer.

Scanning Documents with Windows Fax and Scan

To start Windows Fax and Scan, click Start, All Programs, Windows Fax and Scan. When you open Windows Fax and Scan, the program opens to the Fax dialog box. Click the Scan button in the bottom of the left pane to switch to the Scan view.

You can change the scanner’s settings for any individual photo or document, but it helps to predefine the settings you use most frequently as the defaults. So, before you scan your first documents, take a moment to configure the program’s scan settings. Click Tools, Scan Settings. The default settings, known as scan profiles, for a typical scanner are shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Default scan profiles for a typical scanner.

Editing Scan Profile Defaults

The Photo setting is the default scan profile (refer to Figure 1). If you plan to scan documents more often than photos, click the Documents profile name (second column), and then click the Set as Default button to make it the default profile. This will set this profile as the one to use with your scanner’s “one-button scanning” feature, if it has one.

To edit the default scan resolution or other settings for a profile, select the profile, and then click Edit. Figure 2 illustrates the settings for the Documents profile.

Figure 2. Editing the Documents scan profile.

From this dialog box, you can select the scanner (if you have more than one installed), the profile name, the paper source (such as flatbed or automatic document feeder [ADF]), the paper size, the color format (black and white, grayscale, or color), the file type (JPEG, BMP, TIFF, or PNG), and the scan resolution, brightness, and color. Make the changes you want to the profile and click Save Profile to replace the current settings with your changes.

Creating a New Scan Profile

You can create a new profile to give yourself an additional set of default settings to choose from. To create a new scan profile, click Add in the Scan Profiles dialog, box shown in Figure 1. The Add New Profile dialog box appears. Enter the profile name, select the paper source, and make other changes as needed. Click Save Profile to save the new scan profile.

Scanning Images

Windows Fax and Scan is best used to scan documents (text and black-and-white drawings), but you can use it to scan pictures. To scan a photo with Windows Fax and Scan, insert the photo into your scanner. If the scanner is a flatbed design, insert the photo face down (photo against the cover glass). If the scanner includes a feeder (ADF) or uses a sheet-fed design, see the documentation or markings on the scanner to determine whether photos are inserted face up or face down.

Click New Scan. If you have more than one scanner installed, select a scanner. Select the profile desired, and click Preview to see a preview scan. If you wish, click and drag the bounding boxes to the edges of the photo, or crop the photo as desired. If the photo is too bright or too dark, adjust the Brightness slider. Adjust the Contrast slider if the photo is too flat (contrast too low) or too harsh (contrast too high). To see the results of the changes, click Preview again. When you are satisfied with scan quality, click Scan (see Figure 3).

Figure 3. Preparing to scan a photo.

Figure 4. The scanned document or image appears in the Windows Fax and Scan workspace.

You can select items in the Fax and Scan workspace list and right-click to choose various actions such as View, Print, Send To (for faxing), Rename, and Move to Folder.

Emailing Scans

If you have a standalone email program (such as Outlook) installed, it’s easy to email a scanned document or photo. Just open the Documents folder in Scan view. Select the item you want to email, and click Document, Forward as Email. Enter the recipient(s), message, and other information, and click Send to send the scan.

If you use a web-based email service, you’ll have to compose an email and use your email system’s Add Attachment feature to upload the image files. You can find them under My Documents inside the folder Scanned Documents.

Faxing Scans

To fax a scanned document or photo without switching to the Fax view, select the item you want to fax and click Document, Forward as Fax. The New Fax dialog box appears. Enter the fax number and other information and click Send to fax the scan. If you want to fax more than one scanned image (or set of images), in the Fax window, click Insert, File Attachment, and locate the additional image(s). You’ll find them under My Documents inside the folder Scanned Documents.

Manipulating Scanned Images

On a clean install of Windows 7, scanned images are edited by Windows Photo Gallery by default. To edit a scanned image, click Start, Documents, Scanned Documents. Right-click the image and select Edit to open it with the default photo editor. To choose a different photo editor, select the image you want to edit, and right-click Open With. Choose your preferred image editor from the context menu, or click Choose Default Program to select a different program from those listed.

Note