Send faxes in windows vista by turning your PC’s built-in fax modem into a fax machine

Windows vista lets you turn your PC’s built-in fax modem into a fax machine and send faxes, thereby helping you save money on paper and fax cartridges.Windows vista infact makes a physical fax machine redundant, if your PC has a built-in fax modem.

Faxing in Windows Vista is a much more official feature than it was in Windows XP.Sending a fax is even easier on a PC than on a real fax machine; you just use the regular FilePrint command, exactly as though you’re 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. 
 

Now, the only big limitation of PC-based faxing is that you can only transmit 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).

How to fax in Windows vista?

Open up whatever document you want to fax. Choose –> FilePrint.The Print dialog box appears.

Click the Fax icon (or choose Fax from the Name drop-down list, as shown in Figure below, and then click OK or Print.

The very first time you try faxing, you encounter the Fax Setup Wizard. It first asks you to type a name for your fax modem. 
 

Next, it wants you to specify what should happen when someone sends a fax to you (that is, when the phone line that your PC is connected to “rings”). Click Automatically if you want Windows to answer incoming calls after five rings, assuming that if you haven’t picked up by that time, the incoming call is probably a fax. 
 

If you choose “Notify me,” each incoming call triggers an onscreen message, asking you whether you want the PC to answer as a fax machine. And if you choose “I’ll choose later,” you can postpone the decision and get on with sending your first fax. 
 

Note: At this point, the Windows Firewall, rather stupidly, may interrupt to ask if it’s OK for Windows Fax and Scan to run. Click Unblock. 
 

Finally, you arrive in a new Vista program called Windows Fax and Scan. It looks a heck of a lot like an email program, complete with an Inbox, a Sent Items folder, and so on. In fact, a New Fax window (like a New Message window) awaits you (see figure above).

Add the recipient’s fax number

Type the recipient’s fax number into the “To:” box. or click the tiny envelope next to “To:” to open up your Windows Contacts list. Double-click the name of the fax-equipped buddy you want.

If you want a cover page, choose a cover-page design from the Cover Page pop-up menu.

If you do, then a new text box opens up, where you can type a little note, which also appears on the cover page. 
 

Note: You can ignore the main message box at the bottom of the window for now. It’s intended for creating faxes from thin air, as described below, rather than faxes that began life as documents on your PC. 
 

At this point, you may want to choose ViewPreview (or click the tiny Preview icon on the toolbar) to give it a final inspection before it goes forth over the airwaves. When you’re finished looking it over, click Send in the toolbar.

Send the document

To send the document, Click Send.Your modem dials, and the fax goes on its merry way. A status dialog box appears (although its progress bar doesn’t actually indicate how much time remains). You can go do other work on the PC; when the fax goes through, a cheerful message appears in your notification area. 
 

Your recipient is in for a real treat. Faxes you send straight from your PC’s brain emerge at the receiving fax machine looking twice as crisp and clean as faxes sent from a standalone fax machine. After all, you never scanned them through a typical fax machine’s crude scanner on your end. 
 

If you use vista Home or Home premium, you can try out this email fax alternative to print over internet.

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