The offices of the 1980s and 1990s were synonymous with the distinctive hum of fax machines, which enabled workers to share critical documents with clients and colleagues. Fax machines allow users to share a replica of a document with their contacts via a telephone line. However, as technology evolves, solutions like scan-to-fax bring it into the digital workplace.
The secure, instantaneous nature of faxing remains vital for businesses in regulated industries like government, healthcare, legal, and manufacturing. However, traditional fax machines are bulky, expensive, and time-consuming and don’t align with modern employees’ working practices. The machines are costly to purchase, maintain, and keep stocked with ink, toner, and paper, and are inconvenient for remote employees.
As a result, organizations are seeking convenient, modern alternatives that offer the secure, instantaneous benefits of faxing. One solution for this is scan-to-fax technology, which enables users to use their phone as a scanner and send and receive faxes whenever and wherever they need to.
What is Scan To Fax?
Scan to fax is the process of scanning a document on a smartphone and then using an online fax solution to scan and fax from phone. This approach works the same way as online faxing; users scan documents using their phone camera, the app converts the photo into fax data, and users send a fax over the Internet. A good example of this could be a lawyer receiving a settlement in court. The lawyer can quickly sign the agreement, take a photo of the document, and immediately fax it to all parties without waiting until they return to their office to share the document.
5 Benefits of Using Scan and Fax
Scan and fax solutions enable users to send and receive fax messages anytime and from anywhere. The benefits of using a scan to fax app include the following:
1. Convenient Messaging: Scan and fax from phone is a highly convenient approach for busy employees who don’t want to be constrained to their office desk. Scan to fax is crucial to encouraging modern working practices and allowing users to work from home, the office, an airport, a hotel, or a cafe. As a result, employees can be more productive, get more work done wherever they are, and share critical documents via fax anytime.
2. Environmentally Friendly: Traditional fax machines use significant amounts of energy and require businesses to get through reams of paper. Going paperless and removing the need for toner with scan fax technology helps businesses directly contribute to forest conservation. They can also reduce wastage, greenhouse gas emissions, and energy usage and cut the carbon emissions associated with physical document sharing.
3. Secure Data Sharing: People often need to share data as soon as they receive it, which has been simplified by digital collaboration tools, email, and instant messaging. However, these tools are vulnerable to cyberattacks and the spread of malware and viruses. Online faxing is more difficult for hackers to infiltrate, making it a more secure process for organizations to share critical documents and sensitive data.
4. Cost Savings: Traditional faxing can also be costly, with businesses not only having to purchase physical machines but also keeping them stocked with ink, paper, and toner. There may also be additional running costs like regular maintenance, fixing machine errors, or purchasing software updates. Additionally, enabling users to securely scan to fax from their phones saves the cost of traveling to the office just to send a fax.
5. User-Friendly: Scan to fax technology simplifies daily activities for employees. Users are now accustomed to quickly sharing information via email or instant chat tools. Scan and fax capabilities enable businesses to provide a secure, user-friendly solution that their employees love.
How to Scan and Fax Using a Mobile Phone?
Users can easily scan and fax critical documents using their mobile phones, allowing them to share data via fax at any time. To discover how to scan and fax follow these five steps:
1. Download the eFax app on your smartphone
The first step in the how to scan to fax process is to download the eFax mobile phone app from the Apple Store or Google Play Store. The eFax app is free to download, but you must create an account and sign up for an eFax plan to use the service.
2. Select the fax number you want to send to
To send a message via a scan fax service, the first step is to select your recipient. Before writing a fax message in eFax, either fill in the fax number you want to send messages to or select a contact from your phone’s contact list.
3. Write your cover letter
A scan to fax app message is fronted by a cover page that acts as a letter to your recipient. The eFax enables you to add a cover page that should provide the recipient with information like who the sender is, including their name, email address, phone number, and information about the fax message’s contents.
4. Scan your document
The next step is to scan the document you want to send to your recipient. Use the camera on your smartphone or tablet to take a photo of the document, and then open the eFax app to attach the file to your fax message. You can also attach existing documents from third-party services like cloud storage platforms and email accounts.
5. Edit the fax message
The next editing step is to put the final touches to the fax file and add your signature to the document, if it’s not been signed physically. You can store a digital signature in the eFax app, making it easy to attach it to all future sent faxes.
6. Send your scan fax
After completing the above steps, it’s time to send the fax to your recipient. Select the “Send” button, and the fax will be sent immediately to the specified fax number or contact. Sent messages are stored in your eFax account for future reference.
4 Best Practices For Simplified Scanning and Faxing
Scan and fax solutions make it easy to securely share critical documents and sensitive data. However, it’s vital to ensure employees use the service correctly and efficiently. Here are a few best practices to simply scan to fax free services:
1. Turn off the camera flash: Ensure the photo of your document is clear and eligible for your contact. The camera flash can cause the image to be too bright, preventing your recipient from reading the document. So turn the flash off and ensure you take the photo with decent lighting to make the image as clear as possible.
2. Position the document correctly: You must also ensure the whole document is visible to your contact. So position the entire document within the camera’s frame before sending it via scan and fax.
3. Hold the camera steady: Slight movements when scanning your document can create blurry images, especially when taking a photo in low lighting. Try holding the camera with two hands to get the picture as accurate as possible and minimize movement.
4. Check camera phone settings: Before scanning a photo using your smartphone, check the camera settings to ensure the scan is as clear as possible. If your phone has them, select the ‘macro’ or ‘document’ modes and the autofocus setting to capture the image correctly.
Final Thoughts on Fax To Scan
Scan to fax services offer a wide range of benefits for both businesses and their employees. It allows the increasingly mobile workforce to securely send and receive documents on the go, whenever and wherever they work from. Adopting scan to fax technology into your communications process allows your business to cut costs, encourage efficient workflows, and go paperless while reducing emissions.
Make the Switch to Scan and Fax With eFax
eFax makes it easy for employees to quickly scan and fax documents to their colleagues, contacts, and clients. eFax’s industry-leading solutions enable you to streamline workflows by helping users securely send and receive critical documents whenever and wherever they are. The solution allows users to access faxes via email or cloud solutions and create and attach digital signatures on any device. eFax is ideal for large enterprises in regulated industries as the digital fax solutions include security features consistent with Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act compliance.
Discover how eFax’s scan and fax services can help you reduce costs and enhance efficiency by signing up now.
FAQ’s Around Scan to Fax
Yes, scan and fax solutions are available on any smartphone. To get started, simply download the eFax app from your app store.
Yes, documents can be scanned using your smartphone camera and then sent to a fax number through the eFax app.
Scan and fax from phone is highly secure. The eFax app complies with data privacy laws and industry regulations, such as HIPAA, making it ideal for sending critical documents and sensitive data to colleagues and clients.
The eFax scan to fax app enables you to attach multiple scanned pages or documents to any sent fax message.
Scan and fax starts by using the camera app on your smartphone to take a picture of your document. You can then use the eFax scan to fax app to write your message, attach documents, and send your fax message to contacts.
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