Sending faxes online was a dream somewhen. But now it’s real.
Fax machines have been present in countless offices around the World for decades.
This big machine became an important piece of equipment for businesses that needed to send and receive important documents on a regular basis.
To this day, many companies still own a fax machine, despite being a much better way to share documents: through online faxing.
Online faxing was developed as a way to make faxing faster and easier, especially in this digital age, where we have grown so accustomed to immediate communications and computer/smartphone screens.
Fax machines, although they still work as promised, are much slower and prone to run into problems such as paper jams, malfunction and even running out of supplies.
This new way of faxing let us in a way break free from the tyranny of the fax machine, letting us fax from any computer or gadget as long as you have an Internet connection.
Sending Faxes Online
When it comes to sending fax online, we have different options at our disposal.
Each of them has its pros and cons, and that is what you should keep in mind before deciding on a method.
Luckily, one method doesn’t exclude the others. A good fax service should give you access to all these methods in one package.
Let’s take a look at them.
Using Your Email
Right now, the most popular way to send faxes online is through email.
That’s right, instead of using a machine, you simply compose a new email message and send its contents as a fax.
This takes place thanks to powerful fax servers which are able to convert digital files into analog fax signals.
Sending fax from email is very easy.
We recommend you use your own email domain or a good email service such as Gmail to send faxes.
Right now there isn’t a Google fax online service that is available for free, so we have to resort to using third-party providers, which link a fax number to your Gmail account.
Using Your Online Fax Service Page
If faxing from email is not your thing, you can always head over to your online fax dashboard and send a fax from there.
Once you sign up for an online fax provider, you will be given a login link to the membership area.
Log into your account and look for the fax sending page.
This page usually contains a simple form that you just need to fill out to send your fax.
Documents are uploaded via a pop-up window, you just have to select them from your hard drive and add them to the message.
Some services also have advanced options in this area.
For example, you can not only pull documents from your computer but also use cloud storage services such as Box, Dropbox, and Google Drive.
Using Your Smartphone
For those of us who are always on the go, the ability to fax via a smartphone is a huge plus.
The top-rated fax services in the market have apps that let you send faxes from anywhere.
It only takes a couple of taps to set up your fax using the form that is included in the app.
An app gives us different ways to attach a document.
Sure, you can pull it from your phone or your cloud storage account, but in addition, you can also use your smartphone’s camera to take a picture of a physical document you want to convert to fax.
Since the resulting fax must be compatible and readable by all fax machines in the market, the app applies image optimization technology to ensure the highest possible quality.
Another feature of fax apps is the ability to sign and send back signed faxes.
Usually, this requires you to print the document to manually sign it, but digital technology has made things easier for us.
At the moment of setting up your mobile app, you can add a digitized version of your signature.
This image file is then optimized and saved as a signature that you can just drag and drop on any part of a document.
Receiving Faxes Online
Receiving faxes is the simplest part of digital fax technology.
In order to be able to receive faxes, online fax providers give you a virtual fax number which uses FOIP technology to convert fax to a digital file.
The resulting PDF file is then forwarded to your email as an attachment with an email containing all the details of the fax.
You just need to let faxes arrive in your inbox.
Through a service, you can start receiving free fax through your Gmail account, or any other free email provider.
We only advise you to make this account extra secure and dedicated only to fax.
A copy of your faxes will also be stored in your email fax account.
The time it is stored varies from provider to provider but it is not less than a year, and you always have the power to download all your faxes into a single compressed file in case you want to store them for more time.
Most services have unlimited time for storage though, provided you remain a customer with them.
If you have downloaded the app for your service, you can also receive faxes on your phone.
This is the perfect way to get instant notifications of incoming faxes the moment they arrive, of course, you can also read them on your computer screen, and even sign them and send faxes back as we’ve detailed before.
In the case your online fax provider doesn’t have an app, you’ll need to enable notifications via SMS on your fax settings.
Why Sending Faxes Online in 2024?
It’s Easy. There are only a few differences between sending a common email and sending an email fax.
The core of the process is basically the same, just remember that the recipient’s number goes in the TO field and the fax contents need to be uploaded.
Let’s automate faxing. As we’ve explained, receiving faxes is a fully automated process that is handled by your chosen provider.
But you can automate the sending of faxes too with features such as fax broadcasting and fax scheduling.
Services integrate with Google. You can power up your faxing by integrating a service with Google, you can send and receive Google fax using Docs, Drive, and Sheets.
You can start for free. Starting with a service doesn’t have to be expensive, as a matter of fact, many services let you create a free account to fax for 30 days.
This gives us customers the power to choose based on experience without spending a dime.
You can port your current number. Through a process called fax number porting, you can move your current landline number to a virtual line.
This process takes a few days, while it gets completed you get a temporary number.
Belayet Hossain is a Senior Tech Expert and Certified AI Marketing Strategist. Holding an MSc in CSE (Russia) and over a decade of experience since 2011, he combines traditional systems engineering with modern AI insights. Specializing in Vibe Coding and Intelligent Marketing, Belayet provides forward-thinking analysis on software, digital trends, and SEO, helping readers navigate the rapidly evolving digital landscape. Connect with Belayet Hossain on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin or read my complete biography.