Standalone fax users have many choices today, both in add-ins for Microsoft Outlook/Exchange and in alternative Internet faxing services.
Why wrestle with a fax modem and tie up your telephone line when you can receive faxes for free via e-mail and send faxes via the Internet at little or no cost? Rates tend to be low (sometimes even free), because the fax service provider can scatter modems in many locations and often send faxes with local calls. Look for a provider that can handle Word files, graphics files and other documents, not just plain text. Office 2003, Office 2007, and 2010 integrate Internet faxing into Outlook, Word, and other programs. See FAQ on faxing via the Internet for a list of services and more references on this topic.
Using Internet Fax services, you send faxes using your Internet connection, either by logging into the fax service's website or sending the fax as an email message. Many Internet fax services support sending faxing from Outlook using a specially formatted email address, usually in the format of [fax_number]@fax_service.com.
See Personal Fax Services for applications and add-ins that allow you to send faxes using your telephone line.
Tools
Service to receive faxes and send fax messages that you create by printing to a special printer driver. Integrates with the Outlook Address Book for selecting fax recipients. | |
Toll-free numbers are available for an additional charge. For a monthly subscription fee, you can also send faxes. | |
Affordable Internet-based fax and voicemail for small businesses and home office users. Send and receive faxes by email, or use the voice mail features as a personal voice message system or multi-extension voice mail. | |
Various services that provide you with calendar and contacts, with Outlook sync, plus a mail account, voicemail, and send and receive faxes. | |
Metro Fax offers local and toll free numbers for U.S. and Canada. Faxes are sent and received using any email address, additional software is not required. A Fax addin adds integration with Outlook 2000 and up, on Windows 2000, XP or Vista. | |
Send faxes by email using this low cost internet fax service, includes 800# for receiving faxes. Supports Office 2003's Internet Fax feature. |
