What's E-Faxing?

Every once in a great while I'm asked to do the unthinkable. I'm asked to step back in time to the 80's and fax a document. "Seriously? Faxing? Are the carrier pigeons sick?" After all my grumbling though I still have to find a way to fax a document. Being the cheap-o I am, I don't want to pay Kinkos to fax a document for me. That's how I discovered e-faxing.

E-faxing is a way of sending and/or receiving documents between a computer and a fax machine. If you have a PDF for example, and you need to fax it to someone, instead of printing it out, going to Kinkos (or anywhere else you can find fax machine) and paying to have it faxed, you can use a website to simply upload it and have it be sent that way. Some websites are free, others are paid, but the general gist is the same. Most focus on sending faxes, but there are plenty that also allow for receiving.

If you find yourself in the position that you'll suddenly need to send and receive faxes on a regular basis, instead of buying a fax machine (and paper, and ink) consider signing up for an e-fax subscription. Many providers will send any faxed documents right to your email inbox, which means easy electronic documentation storing and much cost and space saving for you!

Practical Tip of the Day:
Instead of buying a fax machine, sign up for e-faxing and spend the extra money on a nice printer/scanner combo! This way you can print faxes you want physical copies of and can scan in physical documents you want to digitize.