How to Receive Faxes on a Computer

How to Receive a Computer FaxAs more and more people choose to telecommute, work from remote locations or work from home, it's imperative that they be able to conduct business as if they were in the office. Home office are becoming increasing popular, but the price of office equipment isn't declining accordingly. Add to this a concern for the environment and an effort to go "paper-free", and you will find people wanting to accomplish more with their computers without a need for peripheral equipment.

Faxing is something that can be internalized to a computer, in some cases without need for an additional phone line or expensive ink cartridges.

Internet or Existing Modem: Pros and Cons

When deciding whether to use an internet fax service to send and receive faxes, or whether to install a dedicated fax line in your office, it is important to weight the pros and cons of each. Ask yourself the right questions to decide which is right for you.

Dedicated fax line

  • Can be less expensive through local telephone provider
  • How many pages do you send and receive each month?
  • Do you travel for business or work away from the office?
  • Do you have the right software to receive to your computer, or would you need to purchase something?

Online fax service

  • Different payment plans based on how much faxing you'll do
  • Need to be online to access faxes
  • Can be used anywhere you have an internet connection

Online Faxing

Programs that offer internet fax-to-computer capability:

For a monthly fee (anywhere from $3 to over $40 each month, depending on how many pages you need to send and receive) these programs will provide you with a fax number. Some services offer a toll free number for an extra few dollars a month, which is helpful is you have a lot of incoming faxes from different states or regions. When a fax is received, you will receive a notification via email. Click the link or log in to your account, and you will be able to download the fax, usually in a PDF format. You may then choose to print it, or just save it to your hard drive for future reference.

Some of the programs, like eFax or Trustfax, receive the faxes as PDF attachments directly to your email account.

These programs also make it easy to send faxes from your computer using email. For example, to send a fax with eFax, just attach the file to an email, and type in the recipient's fax number in the "to" field as number@efaxsend.com (15555555555@efaxsend.com).

Many online fax programs offer a free trial for the first 1-3 months, so it may be worth testing them to see if there is one that is right for you.

Faxing to an Existing Fax Modem

Computers running Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7 have a built-in capability to receive faxes when hooked up to an external fax line. No need to purchase additional software if you are running Windows XP or above.

Using Windows to Receive Faxes

To set up your Windows fax modem, follow these steps: (be sure you are connected to the Internet)

  1. Open Control Panel, and click Add or Remove Programs.
  2. Click Add/Remove Windows Components. Check the "Fax Services" box, and then click Next. The Fax Wizard will open and install the necessary programs.
  3. After the fax component is installed, the next step is configuring it. You configure the Fax service in the Fax Console, the center for faxing tasks. To configure the Fax Console:
  4. Click on the Start button in the lower left hand corner of your screen, click All Programs, click Accessories, click Communications, click Fax, and then click Fax Console.
  5. In Tools menu in Fax Console, click Configure Fax to start the Fax Configuration Wizard. Click Next.
  6. On Sender Information page, type in your name and existing fax number. Fill in any of the optional information you wish to include.
  7. Click Select Device for Sending or Receiving Faxes page, and your modem will be selected if you only have the one modem. Otherwise, just choose the correct modem. Choose your send/receive options. Choose whether to manually or automatically receive faxes when the fax line rings.

    Transmitting Subscriber Identification (TSID) and Called Subscriber Identification (CSID) pages are where you enter your business name and fax number.

  8. On Routing Options page, choose where to store incoming faxes. Will you print them automatically to a local printer, or is there a specific folder you want to save them to?

The Windows help center at microsoft.com can walk you through the above process with screen captures.

Mac users operating on OS X or above can also similarly configure their computers to send and receive faxes, just as Windows users do.