Believe it or not, faxes are still used for communication by some businesses and government agencies. However, spending money on fax machines only to send some occasional faxes is plainly stupid. So, what should I do? Fortunately, there are ways with which you can easily and quickly send faxes anywhere in the world by using your computer. If you are unaware of this process, but have to send an urgent fax, then don’t worry. In this tutorial, you will learn how to fax from computer without needing any fax machine.
What do you need for sending online faxes?
Firstly, you need a web service that provides an online fax facility. There are several such web portals on the internet, but you have to choose the one which fulfills your needs. Some service providers require you to open an account before they can send the fax, while some provide the same service from their homepage. Almost all send free faxes with some limitations.
The web service that we will be using is FaxZero. It’s a simple website that doesn’t require you to open any account. Just enter your name, contact email and phone no., then provide the name and fax no. of the recipient, attach the documents, add a cover page and send the fax. It’s that simple.
Make sure to convert the documents that you want to fax into MS Word or PDF format files. Adding a cover page is optional, but if you want to add it, then it’s better to write it down on some paper so that at the time of sending the fax you don’t end-up making any mistakes.
How to fax from a computer?
FaxZero allows you to send a maximum of 5 free faxes per day with a maximum of 3 pages (excluding the cover page) per fax. If you want to send more faxes or more pages per fax, then you will have to pay money.
- Visit faxzero.com.
- In the Sender Information section fill in your details. Make sure to put a working email address in the ‘Email’ field because you will have to confirm the facts through your email before FaxZero sends it. In the Receiver Information section, you will have to fill in the details of the organization where you want to send the fax. Make sure that the fax no. You put it right.
- You can attach the fax by clicking on the ‘Choose Files’ button. The browser window will open from where you can choose the Word or PDF file you want to send. You can send up to 3 files. In the cover page section, you can add text which will be sent as a cover page. Writing a cover page is optional. Lastly, type in the displayed code in the ‘Confirmation Code’ text box.
- Verify all the information you have entered one more time and then click on the ‘Send Free Fax Now’ button. Since you are sending the free fax, your fax will have FaxZero branding over it. If you don’t want FaxZero branding over your fax, then you can click on ‘Send $1.99 Fax Now’ and pay $1.99 through PayPal to send this fax.
- On the next page, you will be told to check your email to confirm the sending of your fax. Go to your email address where you entered the FaxZero sender details.
- In the email you received, click on the FaxZero link provided to confirm the sending of the fax.
- You will be taken to the page informing that the process to send the fax has started. Click on the ‘at this private status page’ link to view the status of the sent fax.
- Sending fax is not like sending an email. It takes a few minutes. So it’s possible that the Fax Status page will show ‘Attempting Delivery’.
- It’s better to wait for the confirmation email, which will look something like the one shown below.
- Once you receive conformation email in your mail account, then you can be sure that your fax has been delivered successfully to the fax number specified by you.
There are many online fax service providers, but if you want to send occasional faxes, then it’s better to use a free fax service like FaxZero. If you want to send a lot of faxes or you want to receive faxes, then you will have to sign up for some fax service. Usually these services are easily affordable and can be canceled anytime.