Fax to Email, and Email to Fax
Two different jobs share these names. Email to fax means a document sitting in your email needs to reach a fax machine; that is free at FaxTerra. Fax to email means faxes sent to you should land where you read email; that takes a number of your own. Each direction has its answer below, sending first.
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The two directions, one line each
Email to fax is sending: a document in your email inbox needs to arrive at someone's fax number. Every FaxTerra account can do that free, 10 pages a month to the US and Canada, and it takes about two minutes.
Fax to email is receiving: you want faxes sent to you to show up where you read email instead of on a machine. That takes a dedicated fax number of your own, included with any paid plan from $4.99/month.
Email to fax: sending a document from your email
Most documents that need faxing arrive as email attachments in the first place: a form from an agency, a contract from a lawyer, a referral from an office. Getting one onto a fax line takes three steps:
- Save the attachment. Download the PDF or image from the email to your computer or phone.
- Upload it to FaxTerra. Go to faxterra.com/send and drag the file in, or pick it from your phone. PDF and common image formats are accepted (Word documents should be saved as PDF first), and multiple files merge into one fax in the order you add them.
- Preview and send. Every page is shown exactly as the recipient's machine will print it before anything transmits. Enter the fax number and send. You get an email confirmation when it is delivered, and every delivered fax has a downloadable delivery receipt recording the recipient, timestamps, and page count.
The first 10 pages every month are free to US and Canada numbers, with a free account and no credit card. See how to send a fax from your computer for the full walkthrough.
Can you send a fax by email?
Some fax services accept a fax as an email sent to a special address. FaxTerra does not: sending happens in the browser, where every page is shown exactly as it will arrive, cover page included, and pages can be rotated or removed before anything goes out. A fax is an image of your document, and page order, orientation, and cropping problems only show up when you look at the pages as they will transmit.
If your document is in your email, the extra step is saving the attachment, which takes a few seconds. What you get for it is seeing the fax before it leaves and a delivery receipt after it arrives.
Fax to email: getting faxes where you read email
With a dedicated FaxTerra number, an incoming fax becomes a PDF in your FaxTerra inbox, and an email goes out the moment it lands, naming the sender's number and the page count with a link to the fax. Open it from any browser on your phone, tablet, or computer; the mobile app adds a push notification. The document itself stays in your inbox rather than traveling as an email attachment, so forwarding the notification never forwards the fax's contents.
A number of your own comes with any paid plan. Starter is $4.99/month (or $49.99/year) with 50 pages a month included, sending and receiving from the same pool. You pick the country, the area code, and the number itself, and US and Canada numbers are usually live in under a minute. Received faxes are kept 90 days on Starter and a year on Business and Pro. See receiving a fax without a fax machine for setup end to end.
What each direction costs
- Sending (email to fax): 10 free pages a month to the US and Canada on every account. Credit packs from $1.99 for 10 pages cover bigger months and other countries, and credits never expire.
- Receiving (fax to email): a dedicated number with any paid plan, from $4.99/month, or $14.99 once for a 90-day one-time number when a single expected fax is all you need.
Full details are on pricing. If you are weighing a free-number offer somewhere first, see what a free fax number actually gets you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I send a fax by emailing it to an address?
Not at FaxTerra. Sending happens in the browser, where every page is previewed exactly as it will arrive before anything transmits. If the document is in your email, save the attachment and upload it; sending takes about two minutes, and the first 10 pages a month are free to the US and Canada.
How do I get my faxes sent to my email?
Get a dedicated FaxTerra number, included with any paid plan from $4.99/month. Every fax sent to it lands in your inbox as a PDF, and an email tells you the moment it arrives, with a link straight to the fax.
Does the fax arrive as an attachment in the email?
No. The email tells you a fax arrived, from which number and how many pages, and links to it. The fax itself is a PDF in your FaxTerra inbox, one click from the email, where it can be viewed in any browser or downloaded.
Is fax to email secure?
Documents are encrypted in transit (TLS 1.3) and encrypted at rest (AES-256) while stored, and the notification email never carries the document itself. Organizations handling protected health information need a plan with a signed Business Associate Agreement: see HIPAA fax.
Can I reply to a fax by replying to the email?
No. A reply goes back out as a fax: upload the reply document and send it to their fax number. With a dedicated number, your outgoing faxes show your number as the sender, so their next fax back reaches your inbox again.
Can I use both directions from my phone?
Yes. Sending and the inbox both work in any mobile browser, and the FaxTerra mobile app adds push notifications the moment a fax arrives.
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