Fax is still used today to send documents to certain businesses and government agencies in a secure and compliant way. The service has evolved with time, and you no longer need a big fax machine to send your faxes. Today, you’re able to send faxes using Windows or Mac computers, oryour favorite Chromebookand Android smartphone, using online fax services that let you fax documents over the internet throughsome of the best Android apps.
You can even fax documents using your email account, like Gmail. If you need to send a fax to someone, you don’t need to invest in traditional fax machines or landline numbers. Here is how to send a fax from Gmail in easy steps.
How to send a fax from Gmail
Gmail doesn’t have a built-in faxing feature that lets you send faxes via email. Instead, you’ll use a third-party fax service that provides a fax number and allows you to send and receive faxes using a Gmail account.
For this guide, we use the popular FAX.PLUS faxing service as it’s available in Google Workspace Marketplace. Still, you’ll find several alternatives at the end of this article, which you’re able to use to send a fax from Gmail.
After the service sends the fax, you’ll receive a confirmation email stating that your fax has been sent. you may send faxes in several formats, including Microsoft Word and Excel documents, TXT, PDF, JPG, and TIFF. FAX.PLUS pricing starts at $6.99 a month, which lets you send 200 pages, assigns a fax number to receive faxes, provides unlimited secure fax storage, and more.
Best online fax services to use with Gmail
FAX.PLUS is one of the best online fax services to send faxes via your Gmail account, but it’s not the only one. Here are other fax services you can use to send faxes via email.
eFaxis one of the most popular online fax services that offers features like faxing via Gmail or Outlook, a mobile app to fax from your Android or iOS devices, the ability to send a fax to multiple recipients, unlimited online storage for faxes, support for large file size, and more. eFax also lets you send faxes directly from your Google Docs and Google Drive apps.
you’re able to also get a local fax number to show that your business is local and a toll-free number that your customers can use to contact you. The service costs almost three times as much as FAX.PLUS, which might make it out of the reach of some users. If you are a business that needs the business-centric features of eFax, you should go for it. However, individual users and smaller businesses should stick to cheaper services.
WiseFaxis one of the best online fax services to use with Gmail because it offers you the option to pay-as-you-use. There are no monthly charges or hidden fees, and you do not need an account setup or verification to send faxes. The price of sending a fax is presented before the fax is sent. However, you must purchase fax tokens, which cost $1 per token.
For $8 a month, you get your own fax number in the US or Canada. With the WiseFax fax number, you can receive up to 300 pages per month or 50 pages per week. You also get 10 additional tokens to send faxes. WiseFax can be used from any device, including your desktop, tablet, Android, or iOS devices.
It supports popular formats such as PDF, Microsoft Office, Apple iWork, LibreOffice, OpenOffice, Hancom Hangul, ScanWritr documents, and JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP bitmaps, and TIFF scans. All your successfully sent faxes are securely stored in the WiseFax cloud storage for 30 days.
The final alternative that we recommend isMetroFax. Starting at $9.96 a month, MetroFax allows you to send and receive 550 fax pages. You can send a fax online from desktop or mobile devices (Android and iOS) and send faxes to multiple recipients. The service supports the most popular file formats (over 50 formats), including PDF, JPEG, Microsoft Office files, Lotus, Coral, and more.
We also love that MetroFax allows users to tag and search for their faxes, making them easier to find. The best thing about MetroFax is that there are no hidden charges, and you only pay what you see on their pricing chart.
Frequently asked questions about sending faxes from Gmail
Q. Can you send a fax from Gmail for free?
Yes, there are online fax services that offer a free trial or free tier. However, the free tier is generally limited by the number of pages and fax recipients. If you regularly send and receive faxes, you’ll have to pay for it.
Q. Can you receive faxes on Gmail?
Yes. All the online fax services give you a fax number you can share. When someone sends you a fax on your number, your fax service provider forwards the fax to your Gmail inbox as a mail attachment.
Q. Can you send a fax from Google Docs or Google Sheets?
You will have to see what integrations your fax service provider offers, but generally, most online fax services integrate with all Google apps. It means you’re able to send faxes from Google Drive, Google Docs, and Google Sheets.
Q. What file formats can I send as fax?
Online fax services like eFax and MetroFax support 50+ file formats, including PDF, Word, Excel, Pages, JPEG, PNG, TIFF, and more. No matter how obscure your file is, there’s a high chance that you’re able to send it as a fax.
Q. Can I send a fax from my mobile device?
Yes, all the online email-to-fax services mentioned on this list offer mobile apps and allow you to send faxes from Android or iPhone.
