How to send a fax from Gmail or any email account

Updated October 25, 2026 · PlusFax team

Email to fax explained: attach a PDF, address the message to the fax number at your fax provider, and it arrives as a fax. What works, what does not, and how replies come back to your inbox.

In short

  1. Get a fax account with email-to-fax. Email-to-fax needs a provider that knows your sending address, so it requires an account. Any monthly plan includes it.
  2. Compose the email. Attach a PDF. In the To field, write the fax number followed by @ and the provider domain, for example [email protected].
  3. Send from your registered address. The provider matches the From address with your account; mail from other addresses is rejected to prevent misuse.
  4. Receive the confirmation. A reply email tells you when every page has been delivered, or why delivery failed.

How email-to-fax works

Gmail, Outlook and every other mail program can only send email. Email-to-fax is a service on the receiving end of that email: you address a message to a special address made of the fax number and the provider's domain, attach the document, and the provider's carrier dials the number and transmits the attachment. To the office receiving it, it is an ordinary fax.

Because the provider has to know which customer an email belongs to, email-to-fax always requires an account: the From address is matched against the addresses registered on it. That is also what stops strangers from faxing on your bill.

Step by step

  1. Have a fax account with email-to-fax. Every PlusFax monthly plan includes it. The address pattern and your registered sending address are shown in your dashboard.
  2. Compose a new email. In the To field write the fax number, digits only, followed by @ and the fax domain shown in your account. For a US number: [email protected]. For another country use the country code in place of the 1, without a plus sign.
  3. Attach the document. A PDF is the safe choice. JPG and PNG images are accepted too. Several attachments are sent as one fax in the order attached.
  4. Send from your registered address. Mail from any other address is declined with an explanation.
  5. Wait for the report. Within a few minutes you receive an email saying the fax was delivered, with the page count and time, or telling you why it failed.

What gets faxed, and what does not

  • Attachments are faxed. Each attachment becomes pages of the fax.
  • The subject and body are not. If you want a note on the fax, put it on a cover sheet and attach that first; see the cover sheet guide.
  • Signatures and images in the body are ignored, which is usually what you want: nobody needs your email signature banner on page one.
  • Office files should be exported to PDF first. Word, Excel and Pages files may be accepted by some services, but fonts and page breaks can shift. A PDF is sent exactly as you see it.

Receiving faxes in Gmail

With a dedicated fax number on your plan, the other direction is automatic: every incoming fax is delivered to your inbox as a PDF attachment, with the sender's number and the page count in the subject. Gmail shows the PDF inline, you can search it like any other mail, and the same fax also sits in your dashboard. To reply, use email-to-fax as above. The receiving guide explains numbers, porting and allowances.

Troubleshooting

  • "Sender not recognised". You sent from an alias or a second account. Add that address in your fax account settings or send from the registered one.
  • "Unsupported attachment". Export the file as PDF and resend.
  • The fax failed. The report tells you why: busy, no answer, no fax tone. See why a fax fails for what each means.
  • Nothing came back. Check the spam folder for the delivery report, and your dashboard, which shows the fax and its status regardless of email.

No account and just one fax to send?

Then email-to-fax is the long way round. Use the Send a fax page: upload the PDF, enter the number, pay $1.99 by card and you get the same delivery receipt by email.

Send a fax now, no account needed

$1.99 for up to 5 pages, then $0.25 a page. Upload, enter the number, pay by card, get a delivery receipt by email.

Send a fax

Need your own number? Plans with fax-to-email start at $7.99 a month. See pricing.

Frequently asked questions

No. Gmail has no fax function. Email-to-fax works through a fax provider that receives your email and transmits the attachment over the phone network.

PDF is the safest. JPG and PNG images work too. Word, Excel and other office files should be exported to PDF first so the layout cannot shift.

Typically not; only the attachment is sent. Put anything you want on the fax inside the document, or use a cover sheet as the first page.

Yes. With a dedicated fax number, each incoming fax is delivered to your email as a PDF attachment, which Gmail displays inline.

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