You can send a fax from Gmail by connecting your email workflow to a fax service. Gmail doesn’t transmit faxes itself. With DearFax, you attach the documents to an email and address it to the recipient’s fax number followed by @dearfax.com.
Email to fax is included with DearFax Pro and Business. It also works with other email apps, including Outlook and Apple Mail, when you send from the verified primary email on your DearFax account. You don’t need a Gmail extension.
Enable email to fax first
There are two setup steps: one for your workspace and one for your account.
- Ask a workspace admin to enable Email to fax in workspace settings. If you’re the admin, you can do this yourself.
- Open Account settings → Email to fax and choose your Sending workspace.
Send from the verified primary email on your DearFax account. If Gmail lets you choose between several From addresses, select that exact address. A secondary address or another person’s email isn’t a substitute.
If you belong to several workspaces, the one selected here supplies the page allowance for email faxes. Switching workspaces elsewhere in DearFax doesn’t change this setting. To send from a different workspace, change your selection before sending a new email.
If no workspace is available to select, check its plan, whether an admin has enabled the feature, and whether your primary email is verified.
Address a new message to the fax number
In Gmail, choose Compose. In To, enter the full destination fax number, starting with + and its country code, followed by @dearfax.com.
For example, a fictional US number would look like this:
+12125550142@dearfax.com
Replace the example with the recipient’s real fax number. Use the full international format without spaces or punctuation other than the leading +. US and Canadian numbers start with +1, followed by the area code and local number.
Check it against the recipient’s instructions before continuing. Typing an ordinary fax number into Gmail without the DearFax domain won’t turn the message into a fax.
Attach the documents
Attach at least one document. A PDF is a useful choice for forms and multipage documents because you can review the complete file before sending it.
DearFax also accepts images in JPG, JPEG, PNG, HEIC, TIF, TIFF, GIF, BMP, and WebP format. Export Word documents and spreadsheets to PDF before attaching them.
Attach the actual files rather than a Google Drive sharing link. A link in the email body isn’t a fax attachment, and images embedded in an email signature are excluded from the documents.
The per-file limit is 20 MB. Gmail or another mail provider may impose a lower total message limit than DearFax, so keep the whole message within both services’ limits. If Gmail substitutes a Drive link for a large attachment, reduce the file size or use DearFax’s browser composer instead.
Open each attachment once to check that it’s complete and readable. The PDF guide covers signatures, page checks, and preparing the file.
Write only what belongs on the cover
The email body becomes the fax’s cover message. Include the recipient’s name or department, a short explanation, and any reference number they asked you to include.
For example:
For the accounts team: attached is the signed supplier form. Please contact me at the email address on the form if anything is missing.
Remove any email signature or quoted conversation you don’t want on the cover. Starting a fresh message is often better than forwarding a long thread. Put any essential instructions in the body rather than relying on the email subject.
Leave the body blank if you don’t want DearFax to add a cover. If you attach a cover sheet supplied by the recipient, check whether you need a body message as well; otherwise you may end up sending two covers.
Review before pressing Send
Check the From address, the full fax address in To, and the attachments. Read the message once as if it were printed on a cover sheet.
You can send the same documents to up to 20 distinct fax addresses in To or Cc. Don’t use Bcc for fax destinations. Each recipient gets a separate fax and uses pages from your workspace allowance, including the cover when present.
A failure for one recipient doesn’t cancel faxes already submitted to the others. Check each result before resending a group message.
Check delivery in DearFax
Open Sent in your chosen workspace to follow each fax. Gmail’s Sent folder tells you that you sent an email; it isn’t proof that the fax was delivered.
You can choose delivery and failure emails in Account → Notifications. If those notifications are off, check the status in DearFax.
Delivered means the receiving fax system confirmed delivery. It doesn’t tell you whether someone has read the document or approved its contents.
If you receive a request-error reply, follow its instructions. Before trying again, check Sent and Drafts so you don’t submit a duplicate. After correcting a setup problem, send a new email; enabling the feature doesn’t automatically submit an earlier rejected message.
Can you fax from Gmail for free?
DearFax’s email-to-fax feature requires Pro or Business. The Free plan supports sending from your browser instead.
For an occasional document, download the attachment from Gmail and follow the PDF faxing guide. To keep sending directly from your inbox, review the paid plans and enable email to fax in your workspace.