If you need to send a fax, you may be worried that this is going to be a long process. Don’t worry: you don’t have to hunt for a fax service near you, drive over there, and stand in line. You can send a fax in less than five minutes right from your computer or mobile device. That five minutes includes the time it will take you to read this quick guide on how to send a fax online.
Test Drive Our #1 Recommended Choice and Fax Free for 30 Days!
How to Send a Fax Online in Under 5 Minutes
Step One: Choose a Third-Party Fax Service
You first need to find someone who can send your fax for you, and you want a reliable company that will offer good security and who won’t spam your fax with lots of ads. That won’t look terribly professional when your recipient gets it! We recommend RingCentral, and you can have a 30-day trial with them for free, too.
Once you have signed up for a service, you can either send your fax directly through their mobile app or on their website, or you can link your Gmail account and simply send it that way. If you’re going to be sending more than one fax, it’s a good idea to link your email account because it’s so intuitive and simple to send faxes through email.
Step Two: Compose an Email
If you have decided to link your email, your next step would be to hit the Compose button and start a new one. You will then put in your recipient’s address in the To field, just as you would put in an email address in that line.
The number you put in this field will be your recipient’s fax number, followed by the suffix provided to you by your fax service, which directs the email to them so they can send the documents by international faxing protocol. So, for example, if your recipient’s number is (805) 564-3422, you would put this in the To field:
8055643422@rcfax.com
If you decide to use the mobile app or website of your fax service, you’ll use this same method to direct your fax to the right address. In this case, you will go to the fax composition window of your fax service website and enter your recipient’s fax number as above. If you’re faxing directly from your fax service, of course, you don’t need the suffix. You just need the number.
Step Three: Attach Documents and Cover Letter
The third step is to attach the documents that you want to send. If you are using email, you will attach your documents in the same way as you would to send an email. If you are on your fax provider’s website, you can attach documents from your computer, your Google Drive, your Dropbox account, and more.
If you are on the fax service site, there will be a field to add a cover letter if you wish. If you are using email, you want to put your cover letter in the Subject line of your email. Don’t put your cover letter in the email body. Nothing in the email body will be sent. If you’re not sure if you need a cover letter or if you’re not sure how to compose it, there are templates available.
That’s all there is to it! You have sent a fax online, and the whole thing should take much less than five minutes. If you’re ready to get started, RingCentral is the perfect place. Test Drive Our #1 Recommended Choice and Fax Free for 30 Days!