Last reviewed October 18, 2026
Email can't reach a fax number on its own, but the attachment can
Not directly: a fax number is a phone line, and email does not travel over it. (source, read 2026-10-18) Email-to-fax services bridge the two, for senders on the account: WestFax, for one, rejects email from an address not approved on it. (source, read 2026-10-18) Without an account, save the attachment from your email and upload it to FaxMyDoc once; the fax costs $4.99, charged once.
Why a plain email can't go to a fax number
A fax number is a phone line, and email does not travel over it. (source, read 2026-10-18) Typing a fax number into the To field of an ordinary email gets you nowhere. Something has to receive the email and turn it into a phone call to the receiving fax machine.
What email-to-fax gateways do
Online fax services act as that bridge. WestFax, for example, has you address an email to the fax number at its domain, with no spaces, parentheses or hyphens. (source, read 2026-10-18) eFax includes email-to-fax at no extra charge with every plan. (source, read 2026-10-18)
The catch is the account. At WestFax, for example, email-to-fax is limited to approved senders: “Email from an unapproved address is rejected, not transmitted.” (source, read 2026-10-18) So a gateway means an account, and sending from an address that account has approved. For Gmail specifically, see Can I send a fax from Gmail?.
Steps to fax an email attachment without an account
- Open the email and save the attachment to your phone or computer. Photos and scans in JPEG, PNG or HEIC work, as do PDFs.
- Go to the send page and upload the file. Add more files if the fax has several parts, and set their order.
- Enter the destination US fax number.
- Check the preview. It shows every page as it will be transmitted, in fax resolution, black and white.
- Pay and send. The card is authorized when you press send and charged only when the receiving fax system acknowledges the pages.
If the document is only in the body of the email, print it to PDF or take a screenshot first, then upload that file. For device-specific help, see from a computer, from an iPhone or from Android.
What this costs and what it limits
- Price
- $4.99, charged once per fax, whatever the page count up to the limit
- Account
- None; no subscription to cancel
- Pages per fax
- Up to 30, across all files
- Largest single file
- 4 MB
- Failed or partly received fax
- Not charged; the authorization is canceled
- Document deletion
- 24 hours after transmission completes
When a gateway is the better fit
FaxMyDoc has no email address you can send to, and it does not give you a number to receive faxes on. If you want to fax by replying to or forwarding email, you need a service with an account. If you have one fax to send, uploading the saved attachment is the shorter path. See also faxing without a subscription.
Afterwards you get a record with the destination number, the pages the receiving system acknowledged and the carrier's transaction ID. Read what a fax confirmation proves to know its limits.
Related
- How do I send a fax from my iPhone?
- How do I send a fax from an Android phone?
- How do I send a fax from my computer?
- Can I send a fax from Gmail?
- How do I fax a PDF?
- How do I send a fax without a subscription?
- How do I fax something without a fax machine?
- What does a fax confirmation actually prove?
- Why did my fax fail?
- Do I need a fax cover sheet, and what goes on it?
- How do I send a test fax to check that a line works?
- What number can I send a test fax to?
- What has to be on a HIPAA release form, and where does it go?
- Where can I fax something?