Most old-school office workers know how to use fax machines. The concept behind them is very simple. The fax machine scans the document, then encodes the information it contains and transmits it to another fax machine via a phone line. Once the information reaches the receiving machine, that fax machine decodes the signal and prints a copy of the document.
Email to fax services work a little differently. They follow the same general principles but remove the need to have a fax machine on hand. In addition, the services provide added security features associated only with digital media transfers, such as encryption. Read on to find answers to some of users’ most frequently asked questions about email to fax services.
Does Email to Fax Require a Fax Machine?
With an email to fax service, there’s no need for both parties to have fax machines. These services make sending faxes by email simple, and the best part is there’s really no learning curve. Just like all office workers used to learn how to send and receive faxes, almost everyone can send or receive emails.
How Can Senders Use Email to Fax Services?
Sending a fax over email is very simple. Just sign up for an email to fax service as either a private individual or a member of a company or organization, compose the email using Gmail or any other preferred provider, and address it to the end user’s fax number via the service’s email. The email address will look something like: faxnumber@serviceprovider.com. The subject line will act as the fax’s cover sheet, and the email to fax service will take care of getting the message where it needs to go.
How Can People Receive Faxes by Email?
Receiving faxes sent by email is even easier than sending them. As long as the recipient has an account with an email to fax service and an assigned toll-free virtual fax number, the fax will come through just like a normal email. The service will convert the information in the fax to a PDF, then deliver it right to the user’s inbox.
What Are the Benefits of Using Fax to Email Services?
Email to fax services make communicating between different offices and organizations much easier. Some workers, and even some entire organizations, still rely primarily on faxing as a means of communicating information, and in certain circumstances, faxes really are easier to send than emails.
Transmitting existing physical documents with a fax machine isn’t just simpler than scanning them and sending them, it’s usually more affordable, since it doesn’t require investing in new equipment. Users can send faxes using whatever company or personal email address they want as long as they’re registered with a fax to email service.
Without a fax to email service, the offices and individuals who still rely on fax machines can only communicate easily with others who also have fax machines to receive the information. Fax to email services have changed all that, allowing people to send faxes to email addresses without any extra hassles.
Are Online Faxes Private?
Because fax to email services also add extra layers of security to traditional faxing, sending or receiving online faxes is far more private and secure than using a traditional fax machine. When sending a fax to another fax machine, there’s no way to control who receives it or whether there are other people around, which makes it dangerous to send sensitive information.
These privacy and security problems are far less likely to occur when sending faxes to a password-protected email address. Plus, the information can be protected by encryption while the data is transmitted to add an extra layer of security.
Is Fax to Email HIPAA Compliant?
The fact that fax to email services have all of these extra security features may lead some people in healthcare facilities and associated businesses to wonder, is fax to email HIPAA compliant? The good news is, it certainly can be. Healthcare facilities and others in the medical field just need to find a service provider that has taken steps to ensure compliance with HIPAA regulations as a covered entity.
When Should People Use Fax to Email Services?
The most obvious circumstance under which people choose to send faxes via email is when they’re communicating with businesses or individuals that still rely primarily on faxing as a means of communication. Many small companies still find that using a fax machine is one of the easier and more affordable ways to set up lines of communication, so more Internet-savvy people are often taken aback by how frequently this comes up. There are also plenty of companies out there that maintain legacy applications like purchasing or billing systems that can only transmit documents via fax.
Some organizations are also required to transmit data via fax instead of emails because of security and privacy concerns. Healthcare organizations generally avoid emails because of HIPAA compliance concerns, and law offices tend to follow the same basic protocols. Getting set up with a fax to email service is the best way to communicate with businesses or individuals in these spaces.
Can Users Send Attachments to Fax Machines Via Email?
One of the many great things about fax to email services is that the best of them support a wide range of attachments. There’s no need to copy an entire DOCX file into an email before hitting send, for example. The user can simply upload it as an attachment to the original fax email. Most professional fax to email services support these attachment types, including:
- DOCX
- DOC
- XLS
- XLSX
- JPEG
- PNG
- PPT
If a user needs to send a document in a different format, his or her best option is to use a file converter. There are plenty of options that allow users to convert obscure text or image files to more common types.
Get Started Today
It’s remarkably easy to get started sending and receiving faxes by email. Just sign up with a reputable service provider to get access to a unique toll-free number, then follow the instructions provided regarding converting it into an email address.