What Is Paperless Fax?

What Is a Paperless Fax?

A paperless faxing solution brings the tried-and-true practices of faxing to a more easily managed digital format. It is an eco-friendly way to reduce paper waste and bring the convenience of digital storage and access to fax pages. Instead of printing off pages at the fax machine, you can send and receive them via email, and the service can be used as part of a larger unified communications platform.

How Is It Different From a Traditional Fax System?

The word "paperless" tells the most important part of the story. With paperless fax, your email inbox can act just like a digital fax machine, sending and receiving faxes from other (standard or digital) fax devices. The digital copy of your fax arrives in your email inbox, where you can store it, move it elsewhere, or print it as you would a traditional fax.

A paperless fax setup makes sending and receiving a fax as easy as sending an email. It's a digital convenience that can add up tangible benefits.

What Are the Benefits of Using Paperless Fax?

Eco-Friendliness

You probably don't need hard copies of many or even most of the faxes you receive in the modern connected workplace. Digital faxing cuts back on paper waste by letting you choose which documents you keep copies of, because everything's sent and received digitally, just like email. When you need to, you can still send a fax from your email to a standard fax machine that will print it on paper. And you can, of course, print out any faxes you receive in your inbox.

Time Savings

Even if you have a traditional fax machine and service setup, sending or receiving a fax can feel lengthy in an era where emails are sent and received in a flash. A paperless fax service makes everything digital and puts it in the same space your people are already working in. This not only shaves significant time off the faxing process, but it allows for speedy digital storage and administration. The time savings add up even more when the paperless fax is part of a unified communications platform.

Less Reliance on Hardware

A standard fax machine requires service and dedicated hardware. A paperless fax service works on the same computers, laptops, and phones your business is already using. The more a business relies on legacy fax hardware, the more space, time, and maintenance it can save by switching to a paperless alternative. You can even keep your old fax numbers, making your business's transfer seamless.

How Can You Get Started Using Paperless Fax With Vonage?

Configuring your paperless faxing solution is simple. In-depth support is available, but here are some of the key steps to get you started:

Add Paperless Fax

1. Sign in to the Admin Portal

2. Click Store, then click Add-Ons.

3. Select the quantity of Local or Toll-Free Paperless Fax you want and then click Add.

4. Click Checkout once completed.

Set Up and Manage Paperless Fax

In most systems, Super Users and Account Administrators can provide access to the fax portal for users, manage fax settings, and customize and/or upload cover pages.

Here are the steps to enable access to the Vonage Fax Portal for your users.

1. Sign in to the Admin Portal.

2. Click Phone System, then click Faxes. 

3. Hover over the fax line you want to manage and click the Pencil icon. The Edit Fax page is displayed.

4. Go to Fax Portal Access and choose to allow access for all users, select users, or no user access.

5. Click Save.

To set or change Fax Settings, hover over the fax line you want to manage and click the Pencil icon. The Edit Fax page is displayed. Choose the option (top left tabs) that you want to modify.

How to Send a Paperless Fax by Email

Sending a fax is just as easy as getting started. Just follow these steps:

1. Log in to the email account you assigned to the fax.

2. Compose a new email.

3. Attach the document you would like to fax to the email. Attachments can be in the form of Microsoft Office files (Word and Excel), image files (GIFs, JPGs), and PDFs. Faxes without at least one attachment will not be sent.

4. Send email to the targeted fax number: 1 + <10-digit phone number>@fax.vonagebusiness.com.
   
   For example, to send a fax to 732-555-1212, address the email to [email protected].
   
   

5. You will receive confirmation of the sent fax in the Inbox of the email account associated with the fax line. 

NOTE: Faxes sent by email are not HITRUST or HIPPA compliant.

Why Switch to Paperless Fax?

Faxes are still an important part of business. Paperless fax removes the friction points from legacy fax solutions, replacing them with clean, easy-to-use digital tools that live in the same inbox your employees already use.

Talk to one of our Vonage Business experts and quickly evolve your communications by switching to paperless fax today.