October 8, 2022  |   

We all remember the horror show that used to be sending a fax. You fire up the machine, put in your document (praying you remembered to put it in facing the right direction), dial in the number and wait to see if a machine even picks up, then hit the transmit button. Then you wait for confirmation. Half the time, you discovered that part of the fax didn't send, it was too blurry and has to go again, or for some other reason, you had to do it all over again. What's the easiest way to send a fax these days?

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The Easiest Way to Send a Fax: 5 Steps

Thank goodness there's an easier way to send a fax than those old machines. You can now do it over the internet–even over your email!–and it's accomplished in just five simple steps.

1. Choose Your Fax Service

The email service you use, whatever it is, will not offer a fax service. That's because faxes can't be transmitted over the internet: they have to be transmitted over wired phone lines. When you choose a fax service, they'll provide this service for you. They'll take your documents and send them via phone line to the fax machine number you designate.

Your fax service will give you a fax number, which you can use both to send and receive. But you'll do it all online. New faxes will come to your regular email inbox if you link your email; otherwise, you can access the fax service provider's online portal or download their app and send your fax directly through those.

2. Sign in to Email (or the Portal)

Once you've linked your email, simply pull it up and click the button to compose a new email. You'll be sending your first fax using the same steps as you do to send an email, so it's intuitive and stress-free.

3. Attach Your Documents

Whether you're accessing the online portal or emailing, you'll need to attach the actual documents you want to fax. If you're using your email, it's important to remember that you don't want to have anything in the email body. Nothing in the body of the email will get read or sent! Send all your important docs as attachments.

4. Compose a Cover Letter

Not all faxes need this, but it can be helpful. If you're sending to a traditional fax machine, for example, a cover letter keeps your document more secure.

Say you want to send something to your doctor, for instance. Your doctor doesn't personally go to the fax machine to retrieve a medical record: he or she relies on an administrative assistant to do that. The cover letter lies on top of your sensitive documents so an admin assistant can retrieve it, note who it's for and who it's from, but all without having to look at the documents themselves.

Simply add your cover letter to the subject line of your email. Whatever you put in the subject line will print as a cover letter to your fax recipient's machine.

5. Properly Address Your Email

Your fax recipient will have given you a fax machine number to transmit to. To send an email fax, you'll put this number in the “To” field, followed by the suffix provided by your fax provider.

It's as simple as that! Test Drive Our #1 Recommended Choice!