Fax used to be the most popular method of communication for personal as well as official uses some decades ago. That is when email gained popularity and replaced fax for the common users.
However, even then, most business owners realized the importance that fax communication provides in terms of security and reliability. This is why even now billions of faxes are sent every year by professionals all over the world.
In fact, even the government suggest using fax if you want to transmit any documents for official purposes, such as for healthcare related communication. As such, fax still holds a position of importance even in the digital age.
However, when we are talking about the year 2020, everyone is connected to the internet and people no longer have those troublesome phone lines connected to their homes. So how does one uses fax in this scenario? Simple, we innovate.
This is why you can now fax directly from your email over the internet. What was once impossible to think about is now not only possible but, in fact, very common. Keep reading to learn about this new technology today. You will learn:
What is email to fax
How to send a fax from email
How to receive a fax to email
Commonly asked questions
Part 1: What is Email to Fax? How it Works?
If you were talking about fax a couple of decades ago, the process of getting the fax machine setup involved a lot of time, money, and effort. To begin with, you needed to have a phone line right to your office or house and request a fax number from your telephone operator.
If that wasn't enough, you needed to purchase a fax machine, toner, paper, and even the annual maintenance plans for the fax machine. The costs of these ran in thousands of dollars for the beginning, along with recurring charges as well.
This is why email to fax is a revolution when it comes to fax. It offers you all the features of fax without the unnecessary hassle and costs.
1.1. What is Email to Fax? How it Works?
Email to fax is a service that allows you to send faxes directly from your email client. The process is similar to sending and receiving emails. The difference comes on the receiver's end, who gets the fax on their fax machine. And when people are sending you faxes, faxes sent from a fax machine can come directly in your inbox.
1.2 Can You Directly Send a Fax to An Email Address? Why?
In a single word- NO. Email technology works on digital signals (same as the internet). However, the fax technology works on analogue signals (of the phone lines). This is why the two platforms cannot communicate with each other directly. This makes it impossible to send a fax from an email address without any help.
Therefore, in the next section, you are going to learn how to make this thing possible.
Part 2: How to Fax from Email
In order to fax from email, you need the help of a translator technology that can convert email signals to fax ones and vice versa. Here is one such fax service that does wonders in email to fax communication:
2.1 CocoFax: Your Reliable Fax Partner
CocoFax is an online fax service that caters to the need of countless professionals as well as businesses all over the world. It is employed by people to send and receive faxes without getting a phone line connection or even a fax machine.
By using CocoFax, you can fax directly from a smartphone, computer, or any other device that is capable of sending and receiving emails. The features of CocoFax are that of a high end fax machine, without the added costs for the same.
When it comes to email to fax, you can use CocoFax to send faxes from ANY email client you choose, whether it is Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, or even the email client of your own personal brand. CocoFax supports everything and anything. You can also check this guide to fax from Gmail.
CocoFax's Email to Fax Service- What Do You Get?
CocoFax's email to fax service not only allows you to send faxes right from your email inbox, but you also get several other benefits of using it. Some of these include:
Delivery Report
After every fax you send through email (or any other CocoFax method), you get a free delivery report about the success of the fax in your email inbox.
Permanent Storage
CocoFax stores all your sent and received faxes permanently, unless you decide to delete them. This gives you a clutter free storage experience that you can access for a lifetime.
Optional Printing
You can print the faxes that you like and keep the other ones in your online storage only. This is a great convenience as it saves your resources as well as money spent on paper.
Sync Across Devices
With CocoFax's email to fax service, all your devices remain in sync with your fax account. You can access all your sent and received faxes from any device you choose.
Portability
You are no longer limited to the confines of your office to send and receive faxes. You might be at your home, driving, or walking on the road, your fax machine is right in your pocket smartphone.
There are a lot of other conveniences that CocoFax offers to you, whether you are an individual or a small to large business.
Free Fax Number with CocoFax
If you want to receive a fax, you need a fax number. This requirement is mandatory whether you are using a fax machine, CocoFax, or any other method of faxing. Typically, the fax number is provided by your telephone operator who gives you the phone connection, for certain additional charges.
However, since CocoFax allows you to use fax without phone lines directly from your email, where do you get the fax number from? The answer is simple- from CocoFax itself!
Yes, that is true. CocoFax makes sure that you have a fax number for your business and anyone can send you faxes on this number. In fact, you can get a fax number from CocoFax ABSOLUTELY FREE. This fax number is available right from their website. You won't even have to provide your credit card details for this.
However, this fax number is valid for a limited time only. If you think that faxing is what you need to use in the long term, you can get a CocoFax subscription and keep the fax number permanently. You can even choose your own custom fax numbers with CocoFax's subscription plans.
2.2 How to Send A Fax from Email
One of the major reasons for people choosing CocoFax's email to fax service is the convenience that it provides. You can send faxes from your email very easily if you are using CocoFax. In fact, I will detail the steps here and you can decide for yourself whether it was a walk in the park or not.
Step 1: Get a CocoFax account. When you sign up for CocoFax, you will get to enjoy a 30-day free trial period. You can also choose your own custom fax number at this point.
Make sure that you register the email address which you want to use to send and receive faxes.
Step 2: Once you have registered your email address, you are ready to send faxes from email at any time you wish. To do that, open your email client and click on the option you use to create a new email. The new email popup will then open.
Step 3: You will draft your fax in this new email popup. You can fill the following fields:
a.) In the 'To' field where you generally enter the email address of the receiver, you can input their fax number followed by [@cocofax.com]. For example, if their fax number is: 123456, you will have to enter:
123456@cocofax.com
Make sure to add the last part as it is very important. It tells the email client to redirect your email to CocoFax.
b.) In the 'Subject' field, you can input any note that you would like to the fax document. This note will appear on top of the fax document on the receiver's end. This field is optional. If you want no note to appear, you can leave this field blank.
c.) The email body where you type your email is the cover page of the fax document. Anything you type here will appear as the first page of the fax document on the receiver's end. You can choose to leave this field empty too.
d.) You can attach the document that you wish to fax with the 'attach' icon, usually in the shape of a paper clip. CocoFax supports a variety of document formats, which include: docx, pdf, xls, xlsx, png, and jpg.
You can also attach multiple documents together. CocoFax will merge them as a single document when it faxes it to the receiver.
Step 4: Once you have double checked all the fields, you can click on the 'Send' button. Your fax will be transmitted to the receiver instantly. The only delay that occurs is on the receiver's end, with their fax machine taking time to process the fax document.
When the fax is sent, you will get a delivery report in your email inbox shortly. This delivery report contains details about the success of the transmission and the details of the same. If for any reason the transmission fails, you will come to know about it as well.
That is all there is to the process of sending faxes through emails using CocoFax. If you have noticed, the majority of it is the same as sending emails, except for the address part, which has the format: [fax number] [@cocofax.com].
In fact, I suggest you to get the 30-day free trial of CocoFax and try sending faxes yourself. You will see how cool the whole process is. You can cancel the subscription at any time within these 30 days and you won't be charged a cent.
Part 3: How to Receive Fax to Email
If you thought that sending faxes from email was easy, wait till you read about receiving faxes through email. This gives a whole new definition to ease.
Once you have created a CocoFax account and registered your email address with it, CocoFax automatically starts receiving all your faxes for you. Remember that I said that it gives you a fax number of your own? Well, you can share this fax number with everyone and they can send you faxes on it.
When someone sends you a fax on your fax number, CocoFax sends you an immediate email on your email address. You can find the received fax attached with this email in the form of a PDF file.
You now have the option to print the file, keep it saved in your computer, or forward it to someone with a single click. Would you have received the same options with a fax machine?
You can also access your received faxes at any time in the future through CocoFax's dashboard. This dashboard can be opened by logging into your CocoFax account through the CocoFax website.
Part 4: FAQs
Many people often face confusion when using email to fax, or even fax in general. Therefore, here are the commonly asked questions along with their answers:
Q: Will the recipient know that I am sending a fax via email using CocoFax?
A: No, the receiver will have no idea about it. The receiver will only see your name on the incoming faxes, just as it happens with a fax machine.
Q: Why can't I fax through email directly?
A: This is because you need additional hardware such as a fax machine working on phone lines to convert the email's digital signals into fax's analogue ones.
Q: Is fax number optional for faxing through email?
A: A fax number is mandatory no matter which fax method you go with. However, you can get a fax number for free with CocoFax without any obligations.
Q: What will be the address when I compose my fax in an email client?
A: When you are creating a new fax in your email client, the address field will contain the fax number of the receiver, followed by '@cocofax.com'.
Q: Will I know if my fax was delivered?
A: Of course. CocoFax sends you free delivery reports after every fax you send, right in your email inbox.
Endnotes
Sending and receiving faxes via email is a child's play if you follow the steps in this guide. While most professionals employ CocoFax for handling their fax needs, you don't need to be a professional in order to learn it. I suggest you try out the free fax number they provide and try sending out a test fax.
A majority of businesses use email to fax already, why don't you?
