This post was last updated on May 18th, 2021 at 07:38 pm
Test Drive RingCentral and Fax Free for 30 Days!
by Matt Gerchow
Hi I’m Matt Gerchow, a small business owner and Internet Marketer.
I remember when I would have those last minute faxes that just had to get there, but I didn’t own a fax machine.
I was always bugging the ladies in my apartment office. I hated being dependent on others for the occasional fax.
That all changed when I discovered how to send faxes from my gmail account.
Now when I have to send that occasional fax, I just do it directly inside of Gmail…
Here is quick tutorial I made for you so you can do it too…
First, you’ll need a few things. A Gmail Account and an Online Fax Number.
Step 1 – Grab yourself a gmail account. (you probably already have one)
Step 2 – Choose a Web-Based Fax Company for your account. This company will handle your outgoing and incoming faxes for you online.
RingCentral lets you fax free for 30 days in their current promotion.
Step 3 – Compose Email. Log into your Gmail just as you normally would and click on the Compose Email tab.
Step 4 – Enter the Fax Number. Where you would normally enter an email address, instead type the destination fax number. No spaces or dashes, just numbers, and behind that, the fax company extension, like this…
Step 5 – Add Your Message. Your subject line functions as the message for the cover sheet of your fax. Type whatever cover page message you want in there.
Then in the body of the email, type your fax and then attach any document(s) (scan, photo, pdf, word doc and more) that you want to fax.
Step 6 – Click Send. Yes, that’s really it.
You just sent your first Gmail fax!
You might have heard there are free fax services out there. But you really do get what you pay for.
Don’t let people put ads on your faxes.
Don’t risk your reputation or your data by permitting anything less than the very best in your business.
When a truly free service appears, you will hear about it here.
What is Google Fax Number?
Google Fax number is an online fax number that will forward all your incoming faxes to your mailing service of choice (much like anyone else out there, we recommend you using Gmail).
Allowing you to send and receive faxes using your PC or mobile device like we said before.
Now that we know what it is, let’s get to what really matters.
What are the requirements?
Simple, all you need is a Gmail Account and an Online Fax Service.
How To Get a Gmail Fax Number
Back in the day, in order to send a fax, you had to own a fax machine, installations, and a dedicated line service.
That translates into investing money and time just to get your document across your clients or your offices.
Luckily for us nowaday, getting a fax number will take you about 3 minutes.
Digital fax technology has advanced a lot, allowing us to use our Gmail accounts to send a receive faxes online within minutes and on the go!
The best part is, you won’t be spending money on a dedicated land line since you will be using Google Fax number.
As you are reading this, there is one and only one method to get a Google fax number. Wich is using an online fax service provider.
There are several websites that allow you to send a fax for free, but there are limitations.
You won’t be able to send as many as you want.
They will most likely let you send just one fax each day, and per IP
Plus, you won’t be able to receive any incoming faxes, since you won’t have your own number.
And this is clearly not what we want you to achieve.
Services, on the other hand, might charge you something around $5 per month, wich is really accessible for any business owner, and they will include your number for free.
When it comes to Online Fax Services, there are quite a bunch of them around, the one we recommend is RingCentral.
Why?, simple…they will provide you a Google Fax number totally free when you sing up for the 30 days trial with no limitations, that means you will have the same service as a premium user would for a 30 days period of time.
How to get a Virtual Fax Number step by step
- Step 1: Pick one of many Online Fax Services, find the one that fits your needs. (we
will make a couple recommendations bellow) - Step 2: Sing up, fill up the form and choose either local or toll-free fax number (that could change depending on your location)
- Step 3: Link the number you just acquired to your Gmail account.
- Step 4: (Optional) Log into your account and add as many addresses as you want, for where are you going to be receiving your faxes.
Best Google Fax Services
RingCentral: Is the leading, if not the best service out there.
Among the many features they have, we can highlight a couple
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- Dedicated fax numbers or Toll-free local number.
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- Integration with any mobile device, android, windows or iPhones.
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- PC/iOS applications.
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- Detailed reports.
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- Massive fax broadcasting with scheduling feature.
- 24/7 Support
Besides offering a 30 days trial, RingCentral offers flexible plans for you to choose wich one fits your needs, depending on how many faxes you will be sending.
That means you will be paying accordingly to your faxing needs.
eFax: This is one of the older players on the Digital Fax service field.
They only offer one single plan, which is a great opportunity for both, small and medium businesses.
eFax offers a full month test drive, no limits storage and local numbers in many countries around the world
Best Features
- The Capability of being able to receive faxes into multiple accounts at the same time.
- Share large files (most services limit is 10Mb)
- 24/7 customer support if you have any problem.
MyFax: Despite being one of the “younger” companies, they have managed to put themselves on the top tier fax service providers.
They did so by allowing you to send documents in more than 170 different documents formats.
What is their best feature?
They have a fixed rate for international faxing to more than 40 countries.
What is their downside?
Limited fax storage, if you are planning to receive a massive amount of faxes, you should know that MyFax only allows you to storage 200 of them in your inbox.
RapidFax: This virtual fax service, allows you to send and receive 300 documents on fax each month for about $10 a month.
Every fax you receive will be sent straight to your emailing account in no time, so you can take care of business. You will also be able to see them on your RapidFax.com account.
In addition, RapidFax does not charge you for setting up your account, and if you surpass the 300 documents limit, it will only cost you $0.08 for each page!
RapidFax doesn’t charge you a cent for setting up your account, and if you want to send additional pages, it will cost you $0.08 per page.
What is Fax To Email?
The term virtual fax or fax to email
applies to a service that consists of sending and receiving your own faxes using different means, such as email, a website, or from some Microsoft Office tools such as OutLook.
The main difference with traditional faxing lies in the way you send and receive faces.
Now you do not need a physical connection line or a physical fax machine to send or receive your faxes.
The result is so that you can send faxes from anywhere, simply by having an internet connection and a device capable of opening documents such as pdf, word, etc.
How Do I Receive a Fax To My Email?
The process is pretty much the same as sending a fax from email.
Once someone sends you a fax to your email account, your internet fax provider receives it, digitalizing it by transforming the content of the fax into a PDF and forwards it to your email account, just like any other email you ever received.
Simple enough right!?
How to send an email to a fax machine?
Nowadays most people prefer sending emails than faxes, you might even feel like connecting a fax machine to send an occasional fax document it’s too much work.
Regardless, technology allows people to send and receive fax documents without the need of a faxing machine.
The best way to do so is by getting one of many online fax services. Those can convert your emails into fax documents, so they can be sent from your computer directly to someone’s fax machine.
There are many options out there when it comes to online fax services, our recommended choice is RingCentral, you should give it a try and get your FREE TRIAL to get an account with them.
Once you have your account up and running, you can just start composing emails as if they were fax documents.
Upon finishing your email, you won’t be sending it to an email account like you usually do. Instead, you will be sending it to a fax number.
Input the receiver’s fax number followed by @special-address from his service.
And it’s done! You just successfully sent an email to a fax machine.
Gmail Fax Number Advantages
This are some of many more advantages that having a Gmail Fax Number provide.
- Allows you to send and receive fax from Gmail.
- Faster communications
- Makes communications much more secure
- Fax from smartphones and any mobile device (iOS, Windows, Android)
- Works with Google Drive, Dropbox, and iCloud
- Can hold signatures, making documents legally binding.
- Keep track of your documents with easy storage access.
- Save money, does not rely on a physical line or installations.
- Free to use, with one of many fax services for a limited period of time.
Gmail Fax Additional Features.
When you fax via Gmail, you make use of all of the features to make online faxing easier and faster.
That’s the main reason Gmail Fax sets apart from other fax delivery methods, making digital the fastest and cheaper faxing method.
- Mobile Faxing: Allows you to send or receive fax on the go! It is compatible with iOS devices (iPad, iPhone), Windows Phones / Tablets and of course, Android devices.
- Cloud Storage: This is one of the game-changing Google Fax services features, enabling you to send a fax using cloud-based services such as Dropbox and Google Drive.
- Electronic Signatures: You can add your digital signature to any document you want on any platform (PC/iOS/Mobile devices) to send, making it legally binding, this is especially good for big companies.
- Multiple Recipients: Make big fax broadcasts instead of doing them one by one, you are able to send the same fax to multiple recipients at the same time.
- Fax Scheduling: Set up a time and a date so you can automatically have your fax delivered.Once is received, you will receive a confirmation message, and if that’s not the case, you will receive an error message, with the detailed information (Very rare occasions).
- Detailed Reports: Access your log fax from your Gmail account or Google Fax service provider dashboard and browse trough any fax you ever sent or received in no time.
Test Drive RingCentral and Fax Free for 30 Days!
by Matt Gerchow
RingCentral Services Provided by RingCentral, Inc.
1400 Fashion Island Blvd, 7th Floor
San Mateo, CA 94404 – USA