Windows Fax & Scan: How to Scan Documents to PDF format?

AllenChicago · 23 Oct 2015

Greetings all,

In connection with my job, I have several insurance companies asking me to send scanned documents in Portable Document Format (PDF). My Brother Printer Control Center Fax-Scan software is not yet compatible with Windows10, even in Windows7 compatibility mode. The Windows10 Fax & Scan program does not list PDF as a scan-to file conversion option. Only jpeg, bitmap, txt, etc..

Is there a way to tweak or add-on something to Windows Fax & Scan to make it scan documents into PDF format? Thank-you for any guidance with this.

-Allen

Night Hawk · 23 Oct 2015

Adobe's Acrobat DC sees that option if you are presently caught in a bind and need a fast solution. Scan to PDF, convert JPEG or TIFF to PDF Adobe Acrobat DC

At least that is a reputable program compared to the numbers of freebies seen on the web for 7, 8, 8.1, and now even Windows 10! The WikiHow page for this can be looked over at 4 Ways to Scan Documents Into PDF - wikiHow

Besides those two non MS methods there is the Scan app for Windows first seen for 8.1 and works for 10 as well. Scan app for Windows: FAQ - Windows Help

The Scan app is also pointed to with similar inquiries at the MS Answers site since that will save what you scan with a printer in any number of file formats including image files which can also later be converted to PDF. Another How-To reference that applies to 10 can be seen at Scan a document or photo with Windows Fax and Scan

Ztruker · 23 Oct 2015

Scan to File then Print to PDF?

Night Hawk · 23 Oct 2015

Which file format? When scanned and saved as an image file you then simply need to see that converted over to PDF for prepping a print job if you are lacking any print as PDF option. Text files to PDF would be the preferred method over image to PDF however to preserve the original format as much as possible as well as legibility as far as reading goes.

The support page at Brother for seeing scanned documents scanned to PDF format can be looked over at http://www.brother-usa.com/campaign/...an_To_File.htm

You may to go back and look up the 8.1 update to run on 10 especially for the 64bit Windows to see if that will resolve the printer issues you have there. Often the next previous version's app and driver set will work when the latest still remains waiting for the 3rd party to get with the program!

AllenChicago · 23 Oct 2015

Thankyou for the multiple solutions, Night Hawk. Your last post linking to the Brother website is the method I've used for years. Unfortunately that Control Center software hasn't been updated to Windows 10 yet..even though my current Multi-Function Brother printer/scanner/fax is only a year old. Hopefully Brother will make updating that software a high priority.

In the meantime, I'll attempt to use one of the longer, multiple-step solutions you shared. Thanks again!

-Allen

Night Hawk · 24 Oct 2015

Glad to help out! As I have found with the previous versions especially when leaving the 32bit Vista for the 64bit 7 years back I ended up waiting almost a full year to see the 64bit Vista/7 update come out from one company for a PCI type tv tuner/video capture card. While the model was then soon to be discontinued so far I have managed to get it to work on 10! I simply substituted the 8.1 driver and Media Center app from a newer PCI Express form of the card.

Too bad you didn't find an 8.1 update for that model which would probably work until the 10 updates come out. Sometimes another model in the same model series may work as far as the main settings will including some features you may not be able to use. The other options however are there in the meantime to provide something to work with. It's tough being on a job and not have the correct tools to work with!

Almighty1 · 24 Oct 2015

Use VueScan...

VueScan Scanner Software for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux

Night Hawk · 24 Oct 2015

You have to look at that a bit closely right under the download button or simply assume it is for 7 only!

Version 9.5.27. Updated October 3, 2015. Windows 10 x64, 8 x64, 7 x64, Vista x64, XP x64

There are numerous options still to be found on the web since the PDF format is common ground. It's whatever works the best for your own needs!

chrismine · 24 Oct 2015

pdfforge | PDF Creator - The FREE PDF Converter Tool, ease to use pdf printer, pdf writer, pdf download
I have been using this program for a long time. It can also combine documents. Scan as image and print with PDF Creator.

Night Hawk · 24 Oct 2015

Besides another converter program there's also a PDF Creator for Windows 10 available in trial ware form however being a retail product by PDFLogic $69 is tag or can try it out for the 15 day freebie trial period. That's been out for a full year at this time. They've been around for some time with the PDF Vista Workstation Edition as well as the PDF Vista Server Edition found on their main site.

Then you have another freeware with the Free PDF Creator 5.1.1.1

More author programs

Free PDF Creator is a software application for creating PDF documents from Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint files by direct selection. It can also creates PDF file from more than 300 Windows applications.
This is the fastest PDF Creator. It creates PDF documents within seconds. Creates PDF file from any printable file. Saves PDF settings for later use. Shows Conversion Report after converting PDF document. Allows multiple users to use Free PDF Creator on the same system. Has an easy to use single screen conversion interface, no wizards, no multiple screens. Displays contextual help while using Free PDF Creator.
Home users, small and medium and businesses, as well as large corporates. Personal computer with Intel Pentium 133-MHz or faster processor. 64 MB RAM (Preferably 128 MB RAM or higher). 20 MB free hard-disk space.

As I was saying before if you search the web especially sites like download.net and MajorGeeks.com as well as ensofttronic.com that also carries both sharewares and freewares you can find a number of programs in various categories. For going further to be a fussy user you can take a sample document and try it out on several programs to see which one or two suits the purpose the best overall and simply dump the rest! That would be a bit more time consuming however.