- Get Connected
- Sending a Fax
- The Fax Queue and Beyond
- Receiving Faxes
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Receiving Faxes
You can set up your computer to receive a fax, too. You do that with Panther's new Print and Fax preferences pane. Follow these steps:
Choose System Preferences from the Apple menu to display the System Preferences window.
Click the Print & Fax button to display the Print & Fax preferences pane.
Click the Faxing button to display faxing options (see Figure 9).
Figure
9 Use the Faxing pane to set options for receiving faxes.Select the option Receive Faxes on This Computer.
In the My Fax Number box, enter your fax phone number. (You should do this even if you don't receive faxes; Mac OS X uses this information in the header of your outgoing faxes.)
In the Answer After box, specify the number of times the phone should ring before your computer answers the phone to receive the fax.
Select other options as desired to determine what your computer should do with received faxes. You must choose at least one of these options:
Save to. Specify a folder in which you want to save incoming faxes.
Email to. Specify an address to which you want to email a copy of the fax.
Print on Printer. Specify a printer on which you want to print the fax.
When you're finished setting options, choose Quit System Preferences from the System Preferences menu.
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Figure
9When your computer receives a fax, there's no sound or other indication to let you know that a fax has arrived. Instead, your computer handles the incoming fax by following the instructions you provided in the preceding steps. For example, per the instructions I specified, my Mac saved the fax as a PDF file in the Faxes folder inside my Home folder, as shown in Figure 10. I can double-click that file to view the fax with Preview or Adobe Reader. Faxes remain in this folder until you delete them. My Mac also sent it to me as an attachment to an email message and printed it on my printer. (Normally, I would choose only one of those options—probably the printer.) Choose the method that makes sense in your work environment.
NOTE
One thing to keep in mind if you're subject to HIPAA or other privacy issues: Received faxes stay in the Faxes folder until you delete them. Because that folder is in your Home folder, only you (and the system administrator) have access to them.
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Figure
10 You can find received faxes in the Faxes folder in your Home
folder.
So now you know: With the capabilities built into your Mac, you can send and receive faxes with just a few clicks.