File-sharing and online collaboration site Box.net also has a handy feature that other similar services don’t have – 100 pages of free outgoing faxes per month via eFax. Their free Lite plan includes 1 GB of online storage with a per-file size limit of 25 MB. Simply upload the file you wish to fax (PDF files work well), right-click, and select “Send with eFax.” If you don’t see that option, click on “Add Applications” and find eFax.
There are no ads, and if you need a cover sheet you’ll have to include that in the .PDF file you upload. The fax is sent immediately after you initiate it, and it was received by my fax machine without errors and with good print quality (for a fax). You do get a confirmation e-mail from eFax that it was sent successfully. Not bad at all for free!
As a reminder, you can also sign up for a free fax number to receive incoming faxes at eFax or K7.net and have it sent to your e-mail. Together, I would imagine these services can cover most casual fax usage (assuming you have a scanner to convert things to PDF format).
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Been using efax for a couple years. Thanks for this add on feature. Definitely good for occasional personal fax use.
Awesome. I’m bookmarking this service for those random faxes I need to do every few months.
Why anyone is still faxing is beyond me. You can convert just about anything and email it.
I’ve been having to fax in my flexible spending receipts but then I found out I could just scan them in and email them off. No more faxing for me.
You do not always need a scanner to convert to a PDF.
If you are a Mac user, anything you print can be “printed” to a PDF file instead of a printer.
Also on the windows platform you could also install a pdf printer driver which would have a similar effect. Instead of actually printing to a printer the file is converted to a pdf document.
Of course this only works for those files you have in digital form such as Word, Excel or PPT docs. If you have a physical printed copy of a document, then yes a scanner would be required.
Thanks for this, I have been trying to find a way to fax my Dependant Care forms without having a home phone line. I just used this to send them in and it worked perfect. I can officially cancel my home phone now. Also if you have OpenOffice you can save most documents as a PDF file.
I have been using CutePDF for years now. It is a Windows program that will let you print anything to a PDF just like it were a printer. Anything I want to keep a copy of, like internet purchase receipts, I just go to File:Print and select the CutePDF printer and it saves that webpage to a pdf document. Saves a lot of paper!
Jonathan,
Was the quality with box.net substantially better than faxzero? I’ve been using faxzero for years and have been satisfied, but I didn’t realize they had marginal quality.
FYI, if you use faxzero you will get a ton of spam, so make sure to use a junk email for it.
I’m with Captain Betty, I don’t know why people are continuing to fax (Dilbert earlier this week suggested he’d time travel back to 1995 when asked to fax something). Unfortunately, though there are businesses that still insist on faxing, so I’m stuck, like today, when I needed to fax a form to Wells Fargo to get something taken care of.
I’ve been using FaxZero.com in the past, but I’ll have to take a look at this service. Thanks.
I use my Camera on the BlackBerry to ‘Scan’ small things like receipts in and then Email them to myself.
-Carlo
To those who keep asking “why do people still fax instead of sending a scanned/pdf email?” Has the thought ever occurred to you that it’s the receiving end who doesn’t have the capability to receive pdf/email or require a fax? I would go 100% scan/pdf email, but I need an occasional way to fax for those few remaining technologically outdated/incapable.
Did something change or am I missing something? I just signed up for a box.net free account, but it says I need to upgrade to a paid account to add the eFax application. Boo.
I also signed up but it says the efax application is for premium accounts only. Oh well. Any other good on-demand fax services? 101fax used to be great with no monthly fees and very low per fax charges but they were bought out by fax.com which has fees. Unfortunately FaxZero has a cover page and my FSA administrator doesn’t want cover pages on FSA submissions.
Sadly, they’ve started charging for efax on this site. Someone let us know if they find another free efax service.
Yeah, you need premium or business box.net account to use efax. For those who had it in you free lite account, do you still have the efax application?
For those of you wondering why bother sending a FAX, you should remember that email is COMPLETELY INSECURE — anyone who happens to be on the communication path your email happens to take can read it. It is a terrible idea to send any kind of confidential information (credit card numbers, account numbers, passwords etc.) via email.
By contrast, sending a FAX via the regular phone system, directly to your recipient, means the major security risks are simply that someone on the recipient side steals your credit card number, or that someone pulls your printout from your trash (if you don’t shred it).
Agreeing with Chris Lee above; sending via email is insecure by nature. Unless you use PGP or another encryption utility you cannot verify that your email was intercepted and/or modified in transit.
Of course, you should also be skeptical of the privacy of cellular telephone calls and even home phone calls if you have an insecure wireless handset or are connected to voip (internet phone) service. A fax could travel from an insecure phone network on its way to its presumed secure destination, but you have to balance a level of trust, not certainty, that it will be secure.
A lot of places that deal with legal documents, such as medical offices and the IRS, have decided fax is “safer” than the newer alternatives. But you have to think about your personal level of trust; I personally wouldn’t use ANY online fax service for a document that would devastate me if it appeared in a public place, no matter WHAT their privacy policy says. Other folks don’t worry about it.
I tried the free fax service and it seems that they are not longer offering that. You need to have either a business or a premium account with them.
NO LONGER AVAILABLE. Update your freaking blog.
Why are people saying “Why are people still using faxes?”
Because if you’re a PROFESSIONAL as in lawyer/accountant/doctor/etc… you WILL need a SIGNATURE on certain documents.
Yes, you can scan a signed document but, unfortunately, for whatever reason, MANY professional offices do NOT have an email address such as SMALLER businesses like a doctor’s office. It’s THOSE type of offices that still use a Fax machine!
Do you REFUSE to accept a new client because they use a fax?! Heck no!
Wake up and notice that NOT everyone is using current technology.
Such ARROGANCE!!!
Life is tough enough without people like you making it more difficult!!
NO LONGER AVAILABLE. They use a different web service now, one that requires you to pay $10 up front before you fax anything. LAME!
You can try this website: http://www.gotfreefax.com.
You can fax for free without a cover letter. Their premium prices aren’t that bad.