How to Send and Receive Faxes from Gmail

Sending and receiving faxes may seem like a thing of the past. But in some industries, faxes play a huge role in streamlining communication, and must be sent, received, and often signed and returned during the normal course of a business day.

If you don’t have a fax machine, you actually don’t need one. With an online fax service like eFax, you can send and receive faxes from your computer—even from your email account.

To start faxing from your Gmail account, follow the steps below:

Other Capabilities eFax Provides

Aside from sending and receiving electronic faxes through Gmail, eFax allows you to:

Want to send a fax later? You don’t have to wait until that time to log in and send your fax. You can schedule your fax for when you want it to go out based on the time zone of the recipient, a specific time deadline or when it’s more convenient for them to receive a fax.

No matter when you need to schedule your fax, eFax lets you set up your faxes to send whenever and however you want. You’re not tied to a fax machine, and you don’t even need to be in the office when it goes out. The fax will send automatically with no input from you.

This gives you a flexible and powerful faxing tool that helps you interact with your clients in a way that works for them without inconveniencing you. And remember, you can fax from any Gmail account.

When out of the office, whether you are in front of your laptop or on your tablet or smartphone, you can send and receive faxes from your mobile device. In fact, you can send and receive faxes from any device you can access the internet and your Gmail account from. That includes devices like Chromebooks, iPads, Microsoft Surface devices, and many more. 

With eFax, receiving faxes is the same as if you had a fax machine in front of you without the paper, ink and all the printing.

To receive faxes, all you have to do is share your fax number with the person who wants to send you a fax. Simply give them your eFax number like you would any other phone number. The sender will put in your number to send you the fax, and you will receive it in the Gmail inbox of your choice. The fax will show up as a PDF or a photo, just as it would with any other fax device.

Faxes will show up in your inbox just like any other email. The sender will usually be the number that sent you the fax message, and the fax itself will appear as an attachment, usually a PDF document. You can open this PDF the same way you would one that was emailed to you. You can then read it on your computer or another electronic device, or you can print it if you need a physical copy.

Faxes usually show up in your primary Gmail inbox, but if they show up in the Promotions or Updates tab, simply mark the sender as “safe” or star the number in your Gmail account. This will ensure that future faxes from that person end up in your Primary email folder and don’t get lost in junk mail or spam.

You can reply to a fax using eFax. This will send a fax to the sender, letting them know that you have received the fax, for example, that you are responding or that you need some time to process the fax.

Using eFax’s built-in tools, you can also eSign the fax and send it back to the sender—without having to print it out, scan it and fax it back again. You can complete the whole process digitally, and you can even do so on your mobile device.

You will also have the ability to forward faxes as an email attachment or to another standard fax or eFax number. The process is as easy as forwarding an email or any other message. Your fax will either print on a standard fax machine or appear in the recipient’s email inbox if they are using eFax or a similar service.

Why Is Faxing Through Gmail a Better Option?

The traditional fax machine was revolutionary. It was a way to send a physical document through the phone line, much like photocopying something and sending it to someone in one simple step. Over time, as the internet took over, the traditional fax equipment became outdated.

However, a fax is still a secure way to send important documents. To send a traditional fax, you need to:

To receive a fax, you need paper and ink in the fax machine—and hope for no paper jams and a clear image when the document is finally faxed.

With eFax’s faxing-via-Gmail capability, you eliminate all of these things.

Benefits of eFax

Using eFax is about more than saving time and resources. Other noteworthy benefits include:

With eFax, you get all of these features and more, bringing faxing into the digital age.

Faxing from Gmail Using eFax

Faxing from Gmail is as easy as setting up an account and choosing your eFax number. You can then send faxes from any Gmail account. You’ll receive faxes in your email inbox by giving out your fax number to anyone who needs it. The fax comes through clear and secure without the need for a separate machine.

You can reply, sign and even forward faxes, treating them like you would any other email with an attachment. And if you need to sign a fax, you can do it digitally, saving paper, ink and valuable time.

Visit eFax.com and set up your account today.