you have to look at the individual fax machine. it should show a picture of a piece of paper with lines on it if you should put it face up.

if you aren't sure, fax it twice, once facing each way.

you just put the paper in the feed tray, type the phone numbers, and hit send and thepaper should feed through. it should print a confirmation page showing the first page you sent. so if that confirmation page is blank, you had the paper facing the wrong way.