ADF Full Form

The full form of ADF in English is Automatic Document Feeder

The ADF is a feature in multifunction printers, scanners, photocopiers, and fax machines. It allows the user to insert a stack of documents into the machine and it automatically feeds the paper into a copier or scanner, thereby, allowing the user to print, scan or copy without manually inserting each page. 

The ADF works by scanning the documents exactly in the order they were inserted by using LED or laser technology. 

Types of ADF

1. Reverse Automatic Document Feeders (RADF): This scans only one side of the page at a time, and is time-consuming.
2. Duplexing Automatic Document Feeders (DADF): This scans both sides of the page, and it can also scan the documents/pages in the same order it is inserted into the ADF. Using DADF is less time-consuming.

Most printers have both RADF and DADF-type functions, however, older models of printers and scanners may only have RADF.

Advantages of ADF

The advantages of using ADF are:

• ADF provides a faster speed for scanning which saves time and effort required for scanning multiple documents or pages. 
• The quality of scans by the ADF installed printers are of higher resolution than that of manual printers.
• The chances of displacement of texts or alignment while using the ADF scanner are minimal.
• The DADF is useful for digitising and printing long emails and multi-page faxes.