
Brother printers have often produced multipurpose printers that can print, scan, and perform multiple functions at the same time, making them a well-known business in the printer industry.
Scanning is an essential function or functionality offered by Brother printers, so if you want to use it, follow the steps below to scan a document from your Brother printer to your machine.
Table of Contents
Method 1: On Windows
- Make sure that your scanner is on and connected to your computer before proceeding.
- Click the Windows logo in the bottom-left corner of the screen.
- Type fax and scan into Start. Doing so will search for the Windows Fax and Scan app.
- Click Windows Fax and Scan. It’s at the top of the Start window.

- Click New Scan. This option is in the upper-left side of the Fax and Scan window.

- Make sure that your scanner is correct. If you don’t see your scanner’s name at the top of the window or the wrong scanner is listed,
- Click Change. In the upper-right side of the window and then select your scanner’s name.
- Select a type of document. Click the “Profile” drop-down box, then select the type of document in the drop-down box.
- Click the “Color format” drop-down box, then select either Color or Black and White. Your scanner may also have different options for colors here.
- Click the “File type” drop-down box, then click the file type (e.g., PDF or JPG) that you want to use to store the scanned document on your computer.
- When scanning anything other than a photo, it’s best to select PDF.
- Change any other options on the page. Depending on your scanner, you may have other options (e.g., “Resolution”) that you can modify before scanning your document.
- Click Preview. It’s at the bottom of the window. This will bring up a preliminary scan to show you what your scanned document will look like.
- Click Scan. It’s at the bottom of the window. Your document will begin scanning into your computer using your selected options and format.
Method 2: On Mac
Scanning from a Mac is just as easy as on Windows (arguably, even easier).
- Open the Apple menu, and select System Preferences.

- Click Printers & Scanners.

- Select your printer, then click Scan.

- Click Open Scanner.
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- In the Scanner program, you can select the folder to which your scans will be saved by making a selection in the Scan to drop-down menu.
- To the right, the Size drop-down menu will also let you choose the size of the item.
- If your scanner has a document feeder and you want to use it, select Use Document Feeder.
- Click Scan to start your scanning job.
After following the steps listed in the above article, you will be able to easily scan from a brother printer to your Windows or Mac.