How Do I Send a Fax From My Computer?

So, you want to throw away your old fax machine and start with Internet faxing? Great, but now the question pops in your mind is “Well… how do I send a fax from my computer?” As you will see you have different options to do it.  In this article, we will take a look at them.

Using a Network Fax Server

This option is for network faxing solutions, and requires that you install hardware and software on the network server.  This option is great if many people will have access to faxing, since anyone in the network can take advantage of it.  Given the nature of this solution, it is more suitable in offices and work environments.  It is not practical – nor really necessary for a home environment.

Rather than installing the whole hardware and software, each computer just needs a client to manage the sending and receiving of faxes.  All the “hard work” is performed by the server itself. Network fax server solutions are provided by companies such as Zetafax, Captaris Rightfax and ACCPAC Software

Using Fax Modems and Software

This is a more home-friendly solution.  However you will need to install hardware (the fax modem) and software on your PC.  Nowadays is easy to find both, since many modems now have the double function of acting as fax modems.

About fax software, you can read all about it in this site.  There are may solutions from freeware, to paid ones all covering the different needs to manage, store and handle the faxing.

Using Internet Fax Services

This, we think, is the best option to choose if you are starting sending faxes from your computer.  With these services, you don’t really need to install anything in your computer.  Instead, you can handle all your faxing online from your own account.  

Internet fax services will give you a free local or toll free number, and then they’ll let you manage faxes as e-mails.  All the work is done in their servers.  To use these services, you’ll need to pay a monthly fee that is always around $10.  Great companies that offer these services are RingCentral and MyFax.

Internet fax services offer customer support and reliability.  However they don’t provide a good solution to big companies who handle a lot of faxes.  These companies might do better with a fax server solution.