Mac is the love of most professionals regardless of what business they work in. Do you know what is the other thing that is unique to professionals and loved by them a lot? Fax communication.
Yes, that is true. Even though fax lost its prominence as the most popular method of communication, it is still used by countless businesses all over the world. This is because of the things that make fax communication better than any other method of formal communication.
This is why, today you are going to learn a method that combines both- Mac and Fax. After reading this guide you will be able to fax from a Mac computer through a variety of methods, with or without a fax machine, with or without phone lines.
Therefore, read this guide to the end to learn how to utilize the full potential of your Mac computer and use it as a high end fax machine. Each of the methods we suggest will work well to fax from Mac. Which method you wish to choose is entirely up to you.
Part
1: How to Send a Fax from a Mac
Let us kick off the guide with the best way to fax from a Mac computer. This method will allow you to fax from a Mac without having to buy a fax machine and without phone lines as well. In fact, you won’t even need a printer, paper, or ink for this method.
All you will need is your Mac computer and you are perfectly ready to fax from it without any additional hardware. Without any waiting, here it goes:
1.1
CocoFax- The Bridge between Mac and Fax
CocoFax is a free online fax service that allows you to send and receive faxes from your Mac computer through the internet. It is the most popular online fax service provider, catering to countless Mac and non-Mac users all over the globe.
When it comes to fax, you cannot just pick up any random fax service and trust it to handle your sensitive information. You need a fax service that is reliable, secure, and accountable. This is why CocoFax comes into play.
CocoFax offers you complete fax coverage all over the globe, at any day and at any time. The other person could be using a fax machine or any other fax method, CocoFax will still be able to rely on your fax communication back and forth with them. And you can do that just from your Mac computer without even connecting a phone line to it.
The magic happens from the web browser that you use on your Mac computer. CocoFax offers you a feature loaded web dashboard, which opens in this web browser. There are no hard and fast requirements about web browser compatibility. No matter which web browser you use, it will be good enough for CocoFax.
Why
You Need CocoFax
You cannot send or receive faxes from your Mac computer directly for obvious reasons. First of all, Mac lacks a dedicated fax application (such as Fax & Scan for Windows computers) that can handle the inbound and outgoing faxes through the system.
Secondly, even if there was a fax application like Windows Fax & Scan, such applications require you to have either a fax machine or a fax modem connected to your system. Not only that, you also need a dedicated phone line connected to it too.
The whole process and the huge list of costly investments make the process just not worth it. This is where CocoFax comes into play. CocoFax jumps over all these hardware requirements by providing you with an online interface where you can get all these features virtually.
Therefore, with CocoFax, you can use a high end fax machine without even having to invest in one. This is why you need CocoFax. CocoFax acts as an intermediary between you and the fax machine of the other person with whom you are communicating via fax.
You can also check more in our CocoFax review post.
Free
Fax Number
If you want to send someone faxes, they obviously might want to reply to those faxes. Therefore, you will be expecting to receive faxes. However, how will people send you faxes if you do not have a fax number?
Traditionally, people used to get their fax number from their telephone operator. However, this process used to be very tough and time consuming. After all, we all know how the telephone companies can be indifferent to your plight or requests.
Further, since we are discussing ways to take the phone lines completely out of the picture, where will you get your fax number from? Simple- from CocoFax.
CocoFax is unlike most other fax services that allow you to send faxes only. With CocoFax, you can receive faxes 24×7 on your Mac computer, without even having to keep it turned on all the time.
CocoFax gives you your own fax number which you can share with people who wish to send you faxes. You can get a fax number completely free from the CocoFax’s website. However, this number is temporary and will expire after some time.
If you want to keep it permanently, you can opt for a CocoFax subscription. When you get a CocoFax account, you can even choose your own personal fax number based on your preference.
1.2
How to Send a Fax from Mac for Free without Modem
When something is as good as CocoFax is, people generally assume that it is going to be difficult to use. If you have this notion too, CocoFax is going to prove it wrong very easily. Using CocoFax is one of the easiest things you can do, and very similar to sending emails.
Here are the steps you need to follow to fax through your Mac with CocoFax:
Sending Faxes from Mac
Step 1: Go to CocoFax’s website and sign up for a 30-day free trial period. You will even get to choose your own fax number.
Step 2: Once you create an account, you will be taken to your CocoFax dashboard. You can also access this dashboard later at any time by logging into the CocoFax account through the website.
Step 3: When you are on your dashboard, click on the button that says ‘New Fax’. It is located in the top left corner of the screen. The New Fax popup will open. You can fill the following fields:
a.) The ‘To’ field will contain the fax number of the receiver. You can enter it directly without any prefix or suffix (unless it is an international fax number, in which case you will need the exit code and country code too).
b.) In the ‘Subject’ field, you can enter any note that you want to insert on top of the fax document. This field is optional and you can leave it blank as well.
c.) You can also type a cover page in the body field. This page is the first page of the fax document. It is optional and you can leave it blank as well.
d.) You can now attach the fax document with the ‘attach’ button. You can upload the document from the computer or provide a cloud link for the same. If you attach multiple documents, CocoFax will merge them and fax them as one.
There are a lot of formats supported by CocoFax including: docx, xls, xlsx, pdf, jpg, png, etc.
Step 4: Double check all the fields to make sure the information is good. Click on the ‘Send’ button and CocoFax will transmit the fax for you. Wait for the delivery report in your email inbox.
The delivery report will tell you if your fax was delivered successfully or not. If for any reason your fax is undelivered, you will know about it as well.
**The most common reasons for undelivered faxes are that the receiver’s fax machine is busy, it is powered off, or you entered an incorrect fax number. Theoretically speaking, there would be no error on CocoFax’s end.**
Receiving Faxes on Mac
Once you have created a CocoFax account, you are ready to receive faxes on your Mac. In fact, CocoFax remains vigilant 24×7 and receives your faxes automatically even when your Mac is turned off. If you want to check out your received faxes, you can go to the ‘Inbox’ tab of your dashboard.
Part
2: How to Fax from Mac Using Email?
In the last section, you learned a way to fax from Mac through the web browser. If you noticed, that was very similar to the process of sending and receiving emails.
And if you find it to be difficult (which is very unlikely), here is a way through which you can send and receive faxes right from your email client. Imagine the convenience that it provides you since you will not just be limited to your Mac computer to use it.
2.1
Email to Fax Technology for Mac
CocoFax brings you email to fax technology, which allows you to fax from ANY email client on your Mac computer (or any other device too). Regardless of whether you use Gmail, Yahoo mail, or even a personal email client of your own brand, you can send faxes to any corner of the world with CocoFax.
This can be done with the email client’s own application for your Mac computer or the email client’s website. For example, if you have a Gmail account, you can fax from www.gmail.com or the Gmail app for your Mac.
2.2
How to Send a Fax from Mac for Free Using Email-to-Fax
In order to fax from your Mac through the email, you just have to follow these steps:
Sending Faxes
Step 1: Register for a CocoFax account and get the 30-day free trial period. You can choose any fax number you want. Just make sure that you register the email address which you want to use to send and receive faxes.
Step 2: Open your email client (through its browser or email app on your Mac). Click on the option to create a new email. The new email popup or window will open. You will draft your fax here. You can fill the following fields:
a.) In the ‘To’ field, you can enter the fax number of the receiver followed by ‘@cocofax.net’. You can also enter multiple fax addresses as well. Just follow this format and separate them with a comma.
For example, for a fax headed towards a +77 country code and fax number of 123456, the entire recipient address becomes:
To send a fax from US to a US fax number, the sender has to add ‘1’ before the fax number. For example, for a 123456 fax number, the ‘To’ field will contain:
b.) In the ‘Subject’ field, you can enter any note you wish to the fax document. You can leave this field empty as well.
c.) In the email body, you can create a cover page to the fax. It is the first page of the fax document on the receiver’s end. You can choose to leave it blank as well.
d.) You can upload the fax document from your computer. You have the option to upload multiple fax documents as well. Just make sure that there are no special characters in the document’s name.
Step 3: Once you have double checked all the information, you can click on the ‘Send’ button. CocoFax will receive your email and transmit it as a fax to the receiver. You will get a delivery report in your email inbox shortly.
Receiving Faxes
Receiving faxes is even better with the email to fax feature of CocoFax. Whenever someone sends you a fax on your fax number (provided by CocoFax), CocoFax sends you an immediate notification in your email inbox.
This email contains all the details about the sender. The fax document is attached to the email in the form of a PDF document. You can choose to print this document, save it, or forward it directly to someone else.
Part
3: Fax From Mac OS X Using a Multifunction Printer
You can also fax from your Mac directly if you have a multifunction printer connected to it. However, you need to make sure that the printer supports the fax feature as well. Further, there must be a telephone line connected to the printer as well.
If you are not let down with all these requirements, you can follow the below steps to fax with a printer from Mac:
3.1
Steps to Fax from Mac through Multifunction Printer
Step 1: Open the document that you wish to fax on your Mac computer. Go to the ‘File’ menu, and select the ‘Print’ option.
Step 2: Select the PDF popup menu. Click on the ‘Fax PDF” option.
Step 3: Select your multifunction printer (which is fax compatible) under the ‘Printer’ list.
Step 4: a.) Type the fax number of the recipient. If you have it saved in your Mac contacts, you can choose it with the ‘Contacts’ button that is present on the right hand side.
b.) If you want to add a cover page to the fax document, you can click on the ‘Use Cover Page’ option. You can type the cover page there.
Step 5: Click on ‘Fax’ and your fax will be dialled to the receiver.
Faxing from your multifunctional printer connected to your Mac computer misses several features that CocoFax offered. For example, the delivery reports and the option to receive your faxes.
Part
4: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
You might have some doubts regarding the topics we discussed. Therefore, here are the answers to the common questions that people wonder relating to fax from Mac:
Q: Can I use any multifunction printer to fax from Mac?
A: No. You can only use fax compatible multifunction printers. Generally, these printers will have a socket on them to connect a telephone line.
Q: Can I use email to fax and fax from web browser with a single account?
A: Of course. If you have a CocoFax account, you can fax from any of the countless fax methods available for faxing.
Q: Will I need any additional hardware to fax from Mac?
A: If you are using CocoFax, you won’t need any additional hardware to fax. You will just need an internet connection on your Mac computer.
Q: Will I need to download any software on my Mac computer to fax?
A: Not at all. You can use CocoFax from its web app, which opens in any web browsers. Otherwise, you can use the already installed email app on your Mac computer to send and receive faxes.
Q: Will I get delivery reports with CocoFax?
A: Yes, CocoFax offers you the feature of immediate delivery reports, totally free. You get the reports shortly after you have sent the fax document.
Endnotes
If you were thinking about using fax on your Mac computer, this guide is going to be more than enough for you. Just make sure you stick to the steps that are mentioned here. In fact, how about you send a test fax right now, totally free?
