About Scan to Email

Scan to Email is the nearest modern-day equivalent to the old FAX machines. You load loose sheets into the automatic document feeder (ADF) or else lift up the ADF and place a page of a document directly face down on the glass (which you will need to do with a bound document or fragile sheet) but instead of entering a FAX number to send to, you enter the email address that you want to send to.

The email address you enter can be either your own email address or someone else's. Using scan-to-email to email a scan to your own email address means that once you have finished scanning in the documents you can then save the documents attached to the emails on any  computer, tablet, or phone even if you don't have a direct connection to the scanner (a direct connection is not always easy to set up). 

To use scan-to-email you need a printer/scanner - even if you don't intend to use it to print you still need a printer/scanner rather than just a scanner because generally only printer/scanners have the control panel used to select the destination email address when you scan-to-email. Paradoxically printer/scanners are also cheaper. You can buy a good quality Epson or Brother printer/scanner which can scan up to A3 for less than £250.

Buying a printer/scanner

Make sure that the printer/scanner has "easy scan to email" that is to say the facility to scan to email without having to enter email server details rather than just the old style scan-to-email where you do have to enter email server details. Virtually all Brother and Epson printer/scanners have the new easy scan-to-email facility. 

If you buy a printer/scanner from a manufacturer other than Brother and Epson which states that it has scan-to-email check that it is not just "old style" scan-to-email which is more difficult to set up and use. Using the old style facility you have to enter technical email server details such as "port number". You also have to enter the password of your email account which would mean that every time you changed your email password you would have to go to the printer/scanner and change it there as well. Also many email providers are tightening up their authentication protocols which means that the old style facility may not work at all with some email providers. By contrast the new "easy scan to email" facility does not use your email account to send the email (so you do not have to input password and port number etc.) but rather each scan-to-email is automatically sent from an epsonconnect.com or brother.com email address. All you have to do is enter the destination email address.   

When buying a printer/scanner make sure that it can scan A3 as many old land documents have a page size larger than A4. In fact if it has an A3+ scanner so much the better.  A3+ is a slightly oversized version of A3. Some printer/scanners advertised as A3 can print A3 but cannot scan larger than A4, so double check before you buy. 

Setting Up

The printer/scanner will come with easy-to-follow instructions to set it up. The setup process typically starts with entering your broadband WiFi name and password so that the printer/scanner can communicate with the manufacturer's server. If you do not have broadband you can set up a "mobile hotspot" on your phone instead.

You have to register every email address you might want to use scan-to-email to send to (when you do a scan-to-email you are presented with the list of registered emails and you can choose which one that scan is to be sent to). On Brother printer/scanners you register email addresses using the control panel. On the Epson printer/scanner you have to use your phone or computer to log on to the Epson Connect website and then use Epson Connect to register email addresses. So the Epson is a little more complicated to set up than the Brother.  

Using

When using a Brother printer/scanners to scan-to-email, scroll on the control panel and select the Apps button and then select Easy Scan to Email as shown in this video. There is a longer video here which shows how to set up shortcuts. 

On Epson printer/scanners you tap Scan on the control panel and then on the next screen tap to Cloud and then select the email destination address. 

Disclaimer

This information page is designed to be used only by clients of John Antell who have entered into an agreement for the provision of legal services. The information in it is necessarily of a general nature and will not be applicable to every case: it is intended to be used only in conjunction with more specific advice to the individual client about the individual case. This information page should not be used by, or relied on, by anyone else.

The information on this page about specific computer techniques is provided for information purposes only. Every reasonable effort has been made to ensure that the information is accurate and up to date at the time it was written but no responsibility for its accuracy, or for any consequences of relying on it, is assumed by me. You should satisfy yourself, before using any of the techniques, software or services described, that the techniques are appropriate for your purposes and that the software or service is reliable.

This page was lasted updated in August 2024. Disclaimer