How to send a fax without a fax machine
Short answer: to send a fax without a fax machine, use an online fax service or a fax app. Upload the document or scan it with your phone, enter the recipient's fax number, add a cover sheet if needed, and send. The service dials the fax line for you and tells you whether the fax was delivered. It takes about five minutes the first time.
Step by step
- Prepare the document. Save the document as a PDF, PNG or JPEG, or scan the paper page with a phone camera. Fill in and sign it before sending.
- Choose an online fax tool. Open an online fax service in a web browser, such as faxB2B, or a fax app on your phone, such as FAX: send from phone.
- Enter the fax number. Type the recipient’s fax number. For the US and Canada that is 1, the area code and the number; for other countries, start with the country code.
- Add a cover sheet. Add a cover sheet with the sender, recipient, subject and page count if the receiving office expects one.
- Send and follow the status. Send the fax and watch it move from dialing to sending to delivered. If it fails, read the reason and retry.
- Keep the receipt. Download the delivery receipt for your records. With faxB2B, every delivered fax gets a PDF receipt.
Getting the fax number right
Most failed faxes are dialed to the wrong kind of number. Offices usually list a fax number separately from their phone number; a voice line answers but never sends the fax tone, and the call ends as "not a fax line". For the US and Canada, dial 1, the three-digit area code and the seven-digit number. For other countries, start with the country code, for example +33 for France.
Making the fax readable
Fax is black and white at a modest resolution, so contrast matters more than color. Scan on a flat, well-lit surface, crop away the background and avoid light pencil or colored highlighter. faxB2B converts every page to plain black-and-white fax pages before it sends, so you can check how the fax will look.
How to receive a fax without a fax machine
To receive faxes, you need a fax number that an online service answers for you. With faxB2B, a team picks a local or toll-free number in the US or Canada; faxes sent to it arrive as PDFs in a shared inbox with the caller's number, the time and the page count, and an email tells you a fax arrived without including the document. You can also move a fax number you already have.
Sensitive documents
Online fax providers protect documents differently. faxB2B encrypts stored documents and uses HTTPS on the way to its carrier, but, as with any fax, the call itself crosses the telephone network unencrypted. faxB2B does not sign Business Associate Agreements and must not be used for protected health information under HIPAA.
Frequently asked questions
What file types can I fax online?
faxB2B accepts PDF, PNG and JPEG files, several at once. It checks them, merges them and converts them into black-and-white fax pages before sending. You can also scan a paper page with your phone camera, crop and rotate it.
How do I know my fax was delivered?
A good online fax service shows each fax moving from queued to sending to delivered. faxB2B also issues a PDF delivery receipt with the destination, time, page count and a SHA-256 fingerprint of the exact document version that was sent. The receipt proves what the receiving machine confirmed to the carrier, not that a person read the fax.
Why did my fax fail?
The usual reasons are a busy line, no answer, a number that is not a fax line, or a dropped call. faxB2B writes the reason on the fax record and lets you start a linked retry with one click. Check the number first: many offices list a separate fax number next to their phone number.
Do I need a cover sheet?
Not always, but it helps the right person get the fax. A cover sheet usually names the sender, company, recipient, subject and number of pages, plus a confidentiality notice. faxB2B can add one for you; note that a cover sheet counts as a sent page.
Is it legal to send fax advertisements?
In the US, unsolicited fax advertisements are restricted by the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, as amended by the Junk Fax Prevention Act of 2005, and by FCC rules; some states add stricter rules. Canada, the UK and EU countries have their own rules. Send marketing faxes only where the law allows and with the required opt-out notice.