We had the fax machine before we had email. It’s quick at sending copies of important notices and papers, but it consumes a lot of toner and paper. Furthermore, before you can send a fax, you must first print the document, and once you’re done, you may not need the printout again.
Despite this, it is widely used in many regions of the globe. For much of their documents and office affairs, many firms still rely on the fax machine.
You may still need to transmit faxes in your business, but the good news is that you won’t need to buy a fax machine. You may send faxes for free directly from your computer.
Here are five websites that allow you to fax not only text documents, but also image files, excel files, and even powerpoint presentations both within and beyond the United States.
1. FaxZero
FaxZero has been busy sending more than 6.5 million faxes, for free. You can fax a maximum of 3 pages plus a cover, and only 5 free faxes in a day.
The types of faxable documents include .doc, .docx or .pdf files, all under 20MB per document. To get started, all you need is a valid e-mail address.
Upon confirming the sending of your fax, you will receive a URL for a private fax status page. Save that URL, you will not be given it again. The page shows the status of your fax, even if the confirmation of delivery email is lost. Faxes sent within the U.S. and Canda are free, but you can also use this for international faxing for a fee.
2. Got Free Fax
If you want to upload more than just .pdf or .doc files, try this service which lets you send .odt, and .rtf files as well. You can only send free faxes 2 times a day, of up to 3 pages only, but unlike FaxZero, they don’t put ads on your fax covers . The service is still limited to just the U.S. and Canda.
With Got Free Fax, your faxes are stored for 5 days in their system. You can then use the link in the confirmation email sent to you to send the fax at anytime within that period without reuploading it. Plus, premium fax and prepaid fax are transferred over encrypted connections to further secure your fax data.
3. MyFax
For sending free faxes outside of the U.S. and Canada, try MyFax. You can send two 10-page faxes (under 10 MB) every 24 hours. Supported files that can be faxed include Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint files, .pdf, .tif, .gif and .jpg?newedit. You just need a working email address to use it.
Upon submitting the fax, you will receive a confirmation message via email with a link to click to authorize delivery of the fax. Alternatively, users can get their own free toll-free fax number for a 30-day trial period, and send 100 faxes and receive 200 faxes for free. The service can be used to send faxes to 40 different countries.
4. faxFree.com
Want to send Internet files via fax? This service supports that alongside image files, Microsoft Office files, text files, printer file formats and pdf. There isn’t much information about how many faxes can be sent for free but the page is linked to ClicktoFax.com, the sponsor for the service.
FaxFree has three different packages that you can sign up for; you can try out their 30-day trial plan to get started. One good thing about this service is that you can use your old fax number while still using the service.
5. HelloFax
HelloFax helps you send faxes for free to international numbers but you need a hotmail or Google Drive account to use it. Any faxes that you send out will be stored as a copy in your SkyDrive or Google Drive account.
Send text documents in PDF or doc, and image files. You can get 5 free fax pages when you sign up for this service. As a bonus, you can sign your documents on your browser with this. One thing that isn’t so good with this service is that you have to pay a monthly fee to receive faxes.