Incoming fax to email is the half of online fax that replaces the machine in the corner. The vendor assigns a number to your account, answers every call to it, converts the pages to a PDF, and sends a notification to the addresses you choose, with the PDF attached or a link to it in the account. Nothing prints, nothing sits in a tray, and the fax is there at midnight. This page explains how to receive fax by email, how inbound fax routing sends pages to the right desk, and when fax forwarding to a second address is the right choice.
How to receive fax by email
Open a plan that includes a number, which every receiving plan in the Fax Line Index does: Fax.Plus prints one fax number included on Basic at $6.99 a month with 200 pages, CocoFax prints $9.99 with 60 pages, MetroFax $11.95 with 550, iFax $12.49 with 200, WestFax $14.99 with 500, Documo $25 a month billed annually with 300. In the account, add the email addresses that should be notified. Choose whether the notification carries the PDF or a link. Give the number to the people who fax you, or port an existing number in. From then on each inbound fax arrives as an email within a minute of the call ending, and stays in the account regardless of what happens to the email.
Inbound fax routing to the right desk
An office with several functions on one number can route by rule: faxes from a known sender's number to one address, everything else to a shared inbox, or a second number for billing so that claims and clinical pages never mix. The larger vendors offer rules per number and per user, and the sent and received logs show which rule fired. The alternative, one shared inbox that everyone reads, is what auditors dislike, because the access log then says only that the office opened the fax. Per-user logins with routing by number cost more on the vendors' pages and are worth it in any office that handles health, legal or financial pages.
Fax forwarding, and what the notification carries
Fax forwarding sends a copy of each inbound fax to a second address or a second number, useful when a practice covers another's line or when a records request must go to an outside office as well. It multiplies copies, so it should be set deliberately and reviewed. What the notification carries is the decision that matters for confidential pages: a PDF attached to an ordinary email leaves the vendor's protection and lands wherever the mail provider puts it, while a secure link keeps the pages in the account behind a login. For health information choose the link, from a vendor in the HIPAA class with a business associate agreement on the plan.
Questions people ask about incoming fax to email
Do incoming faxes cost pages on my plan?
On most plans, yes; the allowance covers sent and received pages together, and MetroFax prints 550 send and receive pages at $11.95. Check the vendor's card.
Can I get incoming faxes on my phone?
Yes. The vendor's app shows each inbound fax, and the email notification reaches the phone's mail client. Both work from the same account.
How long are inbound faxes kept?
In the account for the period the vendor's plan states or the retention you set. Download anything the office must keep beyond that.