LetterAgent
Mail physical letters by just asking your AI assistant.
Most blurry faxes come from the sender's settings, not the recipient's printer. Standard fax resolution is 203 by 98 dots per inch, which is coarse for small text, so a page scanned at that setting always looks soft. Switching to fine mode, boosting contrast, and feeding a clean original usually fixes it.
Fax machines offer three scan resolutions, and the default is the coarsest:
| Setting | Resolution | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | 203 x 98 dpi | Large-type memos; small text looks soft |
| Fine | 203 x 196 dpi | Normal documents; the right default for most pages |
| Super fine | 203 x 392 dpi | Tiny print, detailed forms; doubles the transmission time |
Here's the part most people miss: the resolution is negotiated between the two machines, and the lower of the two settings wins. If you send at fine but the receiving machine only supports standard, you get a standard fax. Also, finer resolution means a longer call, because there's more data per page; on a noisy line, a super-fine fax is more likely to fail outright than a standard one. Fine mode is the sweet spot for almost everything.
Fading has different causes. On the sender's side, a dying toner cartridge or an inkjet running low prints the scan target too light before it's even scanned; if you fax from a machine that also prints, replace the cartridge when prints look gray. On the recipient's side, the classic culprit is thermal paper, which older fax machines print on: the paper itself darkens with heat, and old rolls produce faint, low-contrast pages that keep fading in a filing cabinet. Another cause is contrast set too low on the sending machine, which turns light pencil marks and highlight-yellowed text invisible. If the original is a photocopy of a photocopy, each generation loses contrast, and by the third generation signatures can vanish entirely. The fix chain: fresh original, dark print, contrast up, fine mode.
More. Fax is black and white only, so anything the scanner can't separate into black and white is lost. Light pencil, yellow highlighter, blue ink on blue paper, and watermarks all fax as blank space. A page photographed at an angle with shadows becomes a page of gray streaks. The single best upgrade is feeding the machine a clean, flat, high-contrast original: black ink on white paper, text at least 10 or 12 points, no handwriting around the edges. Wiping the scanner glass helps too, though a dirty glass usually causes a sharp black line down the page rather than overall blur; if you see that line, clean the glass strip inside the feeder.
Ask the sender to resend at fine resolution from a clean original. There's no way to sharpen a fax after the fact; the data was discarded at scan time, and no amount of photocopying brings it back. If the sender used an online service, the fix is easier: they can upload a higher-contrast PDF and resend in minutes. LetterAgent sends from your digital file, so what the recipient gets is exactly what you approved. Describe the document to your AI assistant, approve the exact quoted price, and the fax is sent to US and Canadian fax numbers. Fax is currently in testing, so check with your assistant about availability.
Ready to fax it? Fax with LetterAgent: describe it to your AI assistant, approve the exact quoted price, and it is sent.
LetterAgent is a working name. Prices include print, postage, and our service fee. US prices in USD, Canadian prices in CAD (Canadian prices exclude applicable sales tax, added at checkout). Currently in private testing.
Need help? Ask your assistant: it can check a job's status any time. If it ever can't handle something: hello@getletteragent.com