How to Turn Your iPad into a Scanner, Copier and Fax Machine

My, my. The title of this article sounds ambitious. However, there’s no sense in pressing the panic button. When you’re lost for time and need to fax or to scan a document, your fave-tablet is not just a beauty in that iPad mini keyboard case, it’s your go-to 3-in-1 fax/scan/photocopy machine.

Truly, there is no need to buy a dedicated fax or photocopier or scanner, especially if your needs are few and far between. No offense to Canon and Xerox guys. Here’s how to turn your iPad into a virtual office equipment:

Pairing you’re i-device with Scanner Pro ($6.99) is key. This app is also available for your fave iPhone. The app uses the available camera to generate high-resolution images from original documents. Needless to say, the iPad and Scanner Pro are a perfect fit with the i-tablet’s larger display for document manipulation.

Copier

Let’s stick to definitions. Lest we go astray and fail to deliver. My google dictionary extension is telling me a photocopier is “a machine that makes copies of the original.”

To achieve the goal outlined above with our iPad, just snap a document using Scanner Pro. Subsequently, send it to the cloud (e.g., Google Docs, DropBox, Evernote) for easy storage. And with a printer that supports Air Print, voila you’ve got yourself a copier, in a snap of a finger.

Scanner

It was not hard for photo pier companies like Canon and Xerox to come up with their scanner-photocopier machine. The technology for each function is very much related. A photocopier is a scanner that prints an exact copy of the image.

The same is true with our little set-up here. When you do a photocopy of the original image via Scanner Pro, the app scans it first. The scanned documented can then be sent to any workstation within the Wi-Fi network directly. In short, you’ve got yourself a PDF document in a cinch.
Fax

It’s a little tricky with doing a fax. But, Scanner Pro still has you covered. To note, with email and various scanning technologies available, fax as a utility has taken a backseat.

You can send fax over the World Wide Web for $0.99 charged as an in-app purchase. The resulting fax received can then be picked from the user contact list or manually entered. The actual faxing can happen very fast. Once the in app purchase is paid, documents can be faxed within seconds.

The app displays a lot of flexibility document-handling wise. Once a document is snapped, for instance, the app automatically sets document borders before saving it on file. These borders are clearly delineated and can be easily adjusted – should you feel the need to – with a touch of the hand.

With Scanner Pro, you can choose to have JPEG or PDF documents upon saving. This makes it easier for you to import the resulting document to other apps.

Again, the iPad is a remarkable machine. It is not very often that you will have to tackle the abovementioned office needs. But when you do, you will realize that your i-tablet can save you time, buy you space and more importantly allow you to tuck in some hard-earned cash.