How To Scan & Email Photos

If you don’t have a digital camera then you may be at a loss as to how to get your photos onto your computer, blog, social networking site or to even enter our Great British Seaside competition. The alternative to using a digital camera is to actually scan your photos.

How To Scan Photos

You will need to buy a scanner and link it up to your computer as per the instructions.  This will normally be via a USB cable that goes from the scanner to you computer.  You will then need to upload the software that came with the scanner onto your computer.  Once this is installed and the icon is on your desktop you are ready to go.

Click on the item to open up the scanner programme on your PC.  Place your photo in the scanner by lifting the lid and aligning it as stated on the inside of the scanner. Go back to your PC, and click on ‘Scan Photo’.  Your photo will appear on your PC once the scanner has scanned the image.  You then simply save the photo into your picture folder, giving it a unique name, as you would the digital photos from your camera. 

Attaching Photos To An Email

You are now ready to email your photos to a family member, friend or even to us at 50connect.

To attach your photos to an email, you will need to be connected to the internet and have your email account open.

Start a new message as you would normally, by clicking “New” if using Microsoft Outlook or Hotmail (some mail providers differ in there layout).

Add the intended recipients, the subject and your message as you would normally, and then add the photos.  To do this using Microsoft Office, click on the Attach File icon which looks like a paperclip, and is usually situated directly to the right of the Send button. 

This opens up a smaller window containing all the files on your PC.  Go to the folder you saved the photo in – perhaps the My Pictures folder, double click on it to open the folder, then find the scanned image that you named.  Click on the image file once you have found it to make it blue and then click OK or attach - depending on what email service you are using. 

This should add your file into the email.  You will know it has worked because a new field will appear under the subject field called Attach and the image will appear there as a file.

You can repeat this process to add more photos to an email.  Then once done, you send it as you would normally. Other email accounts are set up slightly different but all share the same principles for attaching and adding a photo or file to an email.

Size Limits

Sometimes you have to be careful about how large the image file sizes are.  Some email providers set a maximum limit, and will send back any emails that are too large. These will appear in your account as delivery failed.  If this happens, just add one or two photos per email, up to the maximum and send the photos in a couple of separate emails instead.

Have you entered our Great British Seaside competition? Dig out your old seaside snaps for a chance to win a digital camera worth £100.

Alternatively, share your technology tips with other 50connect members in the forums.

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