You can fax PDF documents straight from your computer or phone, without the need of a fax machine and additional expenses. There are 3 ways you can do it:

  • Through your email.
  • Through a faxing app on your phone.
  • Through a "free fax" website.

Let's take a look at each of these methods, so you can choose the best one for you.

Table of Contents
1
1. How to Fax a PDF Through Email
2
2. How to Fax a PDF From Mobile
3
3. Using a Free Fax Website
4
How to Receive Fax to PDF

1. How to Fax a PDF Through Email

Currently, the easiest way to fax a PDF is by doing it through an email.

 Anybody can learn how to fax with an email because it's practically the same as sending a traditional email.

There are various online fax services that link an online fax number to your preferred email address, so you can fax a PDF. eFax is a great alternative that lets you create a 7 -day free account.

An online fax provider will also grant you a fax number to send and receive faxes digitally.

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Faxing a PDF by email is very similar to sending an ordinary email, but the main difference is that you can attach the PDFs to the message which will be converted into fax images.  

If you want to fax a PDF online, follow these steps.

  1. Create a new email message in Gmail.
  2. Enter the recipient number on the TO field, including the country code, like this: faxnumber@faxservice.com.  This format will vary depending on the service you are using.
  3. Attach the PDF document you want to fax to the email. When you send faxes you can upload a variety of file types.
  4. If you want to send a cover sheet before your fax, enter the text on the subject field or the body of the message.
  5. Press the Send button.

With this method you can fax a PDF with multiple pages and each one of them will be converted into a separate fax image.  

You can also attach multiple PDFs to your email message, as long as you don't go over the maximum file size limit.

After you fax a PDF, you receive a confirmation email with more info about the transmission.

Here's how your email fax should look like once it's ready to be sent:

pdf to fax machine

2. How to Fax a PDF From Mobile

Modern fax services have developed for their users mobile apps that allows them to send and receive faxes from the palm of their hands.

These are very easy to use and are able to fax PDF files among various other formats.

 To fax a PDF from your phone follow these steps:

  1. Download your online fax service's app from the App Store or Google Play, depending on the device you have.
  2. Open the app.
  3. Log in using your credentials.
  4. Go to "Send Fax"
  5. Attach the PDF document you want to send. Some services let you pull PDFs from the cloud.
  6. Fill out the recipient's number and other details.
  7. Tap on Send
  8. Wait for the delivery confirmation notification to arrive.

3. Using a Free Fax Website

fax a pdf file

If you've been searching for a way to fax a PDF online, you may have come across pages like FaxZero or GotFreeFax, which basically let you send a couple of pages for free. 

These websites only let you send fax using a couple of file formats, but luckily the PDF is one them.

It works the same as an online fax service: your PDF is converted into a fax image and then transmitted to a fax machine.

Because they don't provide numbers, there's no way to receive fax as PDF with them.

As useful as they are, we'd only recommend you fax a PDF through these websites if you just need to send a casual fax, or if there's no sensitive information.  Here's why:

First, these services are free, so they don't guarantee your PDF has arrived safely to its destination.

Although some of them promise to send you a confirmation message, it's not uncommon to miss that message, or receive it hours after the fax has been sent.

Then you have the issue of cover page with ads or "branding".

 We'll repeat, these services are useful and in some cases they may be your last resort to fax your PDF, but how serious does a fax look when you receive it after a page of ads?

Finally, you need to know that these services are free for a reason: to send more than 2-3 pages you'll need to pay a fee per additional page you send.  

A single transmission can end up costing as much as a month of an online fax service!

How to Receive Fax to PDF

Receiving faxes as PDF is as easy as signing up with an online fax service and waiting for faxes to arrive on your email.

An online fax service will give you a number that will receive incoming faxes and run them through the same conversion process, but now in reverse, converting fax to PDF.

All fax providers prefer to use the PDF document format tor the purpose of receiving faxes, because they are easily readable across multiple devices and operating systems, plus, you can get Adobe's PDF reader at no cost.

Final Words

Thanks to online fax technology, converting and sending a fax as PDF is as easy as completing a few steps on your computer, laptop or phone.  You can finally say good bye to the old fax machine and embrace a faster and more effective way to communicate.

If you want to try out how online fax works, sign up for a free trial.  You can also use a free fax website or app, keeping in mind that they are not suitable for confidential documents, unless stated on their terms of service.