Any experiance with Faxing from within Windows... sans modem?

March 12, 2008 11:36 AM

Anyone familiar with using a Fax/Printer to send a fax from Windows XP, connecting to a Fax/Scanner/Printer??

At my company we have one fax machine for all 15 of us, which would be fine. Except we're fairly spread out throughout a few different rooms. However, all of our machines are networked to each other. I realize that Windows has an inbuilt function for sending faxes, but everything it wants to do for me requires a modem (which few of our computers have). I'm thinking there MUST be some way to make our computers look to the Fax/Printer/Scanner combo we have out in the front office, but I can't for the life of me figure it out!

Any suggestions? Or, failing that, any alternative solutions? We're trying to avoid pay-per-use services such as eFax, so that's right out. We'd like to avoid buying modems for all our machines, but if that's the only way to fax from Windows (which seems strange to me), then I suppose that's what we'll end up doing.

Thanks in advance!!!

posted by TrueVox to computers & internet (19 comments total)

Your fax/printer/scanner machine probably has the ability to fax from your desktop through the same driver you use to print. If you're set up to print directly to that machine from your computer, you should be able to fax from by hitting Print and configuring the appropriate options. Check the manual for desktop faxing.
posted by pocams at 11:40 AM on March 12, 2008

Sorry, that was a little glib. In a little more detail:

Can any or all of your computers print to the multi-function (fax/printer/scanner) right now? If they all can, you can probably fax from them by changing a few simple options after you click Print. Check the manual for this.

If only one computer can print to the multi-function device, check to make sure you can also fax straight from that printer; again, you do this by hitting Print and setting up the options. Once you've got that going, share the printer from that computer (right-click the printer in the Printers control panel and go to Sharing). Add that shared printer on each other computer, and you'll get the same print/fax options you get when using the directly-connected computer.

If no computers can print to the multi-function right now, hook up a computer to it and share it on the network that way.
posted by pocams at 11:44 AM on March 12, 2008

Hmm... All computers can print to it, but I don't know where the manual is, and I don't see any options in the print menu. :( Any other thoughts? Thanks a lot, btw for your help so far!
posted by TrueVox at 11:50 AM on March 12, 2008

I should say, though, I AM looking for the manual. :)
posted by TrueVox at 11:58 AM on March 12, 2008

What make/model is the multifunction unit?
posted by 3rdparty at 12:02 PM on March 12, 2008

Hmm... It's a Canon imageCLASS D880. I *THINK* I've found the manual online, but it doesn't (as near as I can tell) mention anything about faxing from Windows... that can't be right, can it? It's a FAX MACHINE for crying out loud!!! lol
posted by TrueVox at 12:27 PM on March 12, 2008

Uh-oh:

Canon also says, however, that the unit is copier-oriented, which means that although it can serve as a printer and standalone fax machine, complete with a 30-sheet ADF, it also leaves out some basic features, notably the ability to scan to or fax from your computer. Unless you don't need a scanner or PC fax capability, that counts as a serious drawback.

imageCLASS D880 review

The cheapest way to go forward from here is probably to get an all-in-one that does support faxing from your computer. Dedicated fax products are very expensive, and 15 modems sharing 1 line would be way more trouble than it's worth. You should be able to get a decent multi-function for a few hundred bucks and share it over the network with everyone.
posted by pocams at 12:41 PM on March 12, 2008

A shot in the dark: If you are running a Windows small business server, it's quite simple to add a modem to it and set up shared faxing to it using a shared fax printer on the server.

Alternately, have you installed the D880 software as downloaded from Canon? The software may have a print driver for the fax capability (HP's do - I installed the software and it created two new printers, a printer and a fax printer) that may not be installed using a "network install".
posted by disclaimer at 12:44 PM on March 12, 2008

Disregard my last paragraph, although if you've got the server the shared faxing works quite well.
posted by disclaimer at 12:45 PM on March 12, 2008

Wow. That's ultra lame of them. BOO Canon!!!

OK, thanks a lot, folks. I'll look into this a bit further and see what else I can dig up.
posted by TrueVox at 12:48 PM on March 12, 2008

You really need a dedicated fax server for this kind of thing, especially for 15 people. Like disclaimer says above you could do this with a Windows server and a multi-headed fax/modem.

These cheaply made multifucntion printers arent going to do what you want. They have a cheap fax device tossed in, not networking support for a fax server. This is a job for your IT department.

FWIW, the few multifunction fax machines Ive used that do support networking were pretty shitty. You'll have a support nightmare if you lowball this and try to standardize on it.
posted by damn dirty ape at 12:50 PM on March 12, 2008

OK, that's two people suggesting it (the Windows Server + Fax/Modem). You wouldn't happen to know any good how-to guides for such, would you? Sadly, I AM my companies IT department. :)
posted by TrueVox at 1:14 PM on March 12, 2008

Fax sharing with Windows Server 2003
posted by jasonweaver at 7:12 PM on March 12, 2008

Let's try that again.
posted by jasonweaver at 7:13 PM on March 12, 2008

Awesome Posom. Thank you all very much!
posted by TrueVox at 1:00 PM on March 13, 2008

Oh, I may be straining the generosity of the hive mind, but could any of you recomend a sub $100 fax/modem? We send/recive less then 15 faxes a day, we're not a heavy use case. The Brooktrout Trufax just seems a bit much.... ;)
posted by TrueVox at 1:41 PM on March 13, 2008

That's really low volume. You guys might be better off sharing an efax.com account. Or does everyone need a dedicated phone number?
posted by damn dirty ape at 1:58 PM on March 13, 2008

We don't need a dedicated fax number for each person, no, but unfortunatly monthly services are out (my supervisor is not keen on the extra bill). Would just a normal fax/modem work? Or would I have to get something beefier?
posted by TrueVox at 9:31 AM on March 14, 2008

A standard fax modem will work just fine. We use the standard US Robotics 56 K USB modem on newer servers.
posted by disclaimer at 6:34 PM on March 17, 2008