How to Receive Faxes by Email (2026)
No fax machine? No problem. In 2026, you can receive faxes directly in your email inbox as PDF attachments. Every fax sent to your number arrives in Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, or any email client — within seconds. Here's how to set it up.
Fax numbers in 40+ countries · PDF delivery · Gmail & Outlook integration
What Is Fax-to-Email?
Fax-to-email (also called "virtual fax" or "cloud fax") is a service that converts incoming fax transmissions into digital documents and delivers them to your email inbox. Instead of printing on paper, your faxes arrive as PDF attachments that you can view, download, forward, and archive on any device.
This technology bridges the gap between legacy fax systems (which some industries still require) and modern email workflows. You get a real fax number that senders dial just like any other — but the fax arrives in your email, not on paper.
How to Set Up Fax-to-Email — 4 Steps
Create Account
Sign up at Fax.plus and choose a paid plan ($6.99/mo). You need a paid plan to receive faxes.
Choose Your Number
Pick a local or toll-free fax number from 40+ countries. US, UK, Canada, Germany, France, and more available.
Set Up Email Forwarding
In Settings, enable email notifications. Enter your Gmail, Outlook, or any email address. All incoming faxes will forward there.
Share Your Number & Receive
Give your fax number to clients, vendors, or organizations. Incoming faxes arrive as PDF email attachments within seconds.
Receive Faxes in Gmail
Gmail is the most popular email provider for fax-to-email. Here's how to set it up:
- Sign up for a Fax.plus paid plan and select a fax number
- Go to Settings → Notifications in Fax.plus
- Enable Email notifications and enter your Gmail address
- Incoming faxes now arrive in your Gmail inbox as emails with PDF attachments
Bonus: Install the Fax.plus Gmail add-on to also send faxes from Gmail. This gives you a complete fax solution inside your inbox.
Receive Faxes in Outlook
Microsoft Outlook works identically. Configure your Fax.plus email notifications to forward to your Outlook address, and incoming faxes appear as regular emails with PDF attachments. Works with Outlook desktop, Outlook web, and Microsoft 365.
See our complete Outlook fax guide for more details.
Free vs Paid: What You Need to Receive Faxes
| Feature | Free Plan | Basic ($6.99/mo) | Premium ($12.99/mo) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Send faxes | ✓ (10 pages) | ✓ (200/mo) | ✓ (500/mo) |
| Receive faxes | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Fax number | ✗ | ✓ (1 number) | ✓ (5 numbers) |
| Email forwarding | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Number porting | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| HIPAA compliance | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
To receive faxes by email, you need at minimum the Basic plan ($6.99/mo). The free plan only supports sending.
Why Receive Faxes by Email Instead of a Machine?
Access Anywhere
Received faxes are in your email and cloud dashboard — accessible from any device, anywhere. No need to be near a fax machine.
More Secure
Paper faxes sit in a tray for anyone to see. Email faxes are encrypted and accessible only to you. HIPAA compliant for healthcare.
No Hardware Costs
No fax machine ($100-500), no phone line ($20-50/mo), no toner, no paper. Just $6.99/mo for unlimited incoming faxes.
Industries That Need Fax-to-Email
- Healthcare — Receive patient records, lab results, referrals, and prescriptions. HIPAA-compliant fax-to-email is essential for clinics and practices.
- Legal — Receive signed contracts, court filings, and notarized documents. Fax confirmations serve as legal proof of receipt.
- Real estate — Receive signed purchase agreements, disclosures, and title documents from buyers, sellers, and title companies.
- Insurance — Receive claim forms, policy documents, and supporting documentation from policyholders and adjusters.
- Government — Many agencies still send responses and forms via fax. Fax-to-email lets you receive without maintaining a fax machine.
Frequently Asked Questions
The free Fax.plus plan only supports sending (10 free pages). To receive faxes by email, you need a paid plan starting at $6.99/month, which includes a dedicated fax number and email forwarding of all incoming faxes as PDF attachments.
All of them. Fax-to-email works with Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo Mail, Apple Mail, ProtonMail, Zoho, and any other email client. Incoming faxes are delivered as standard email messages with PDF attachments.
Yes. Fax.plus has mobile apps for both iPhone and Android. You'll get push notifications when a fax arrives, and can view the PDF directly in the app. Faxes are also forwarded to your email if you enable that setting.
Yes. To receive faxes, you need a fax number that senders can dial. Fax.plus provides virtual fax numbers (local or toll-free) in 40+ countries. These numbers work just like traditional fax numbers but deliver to your email instead of a machine.
Yes. Configure your Fax.plus account to forward incoming faxes to your Gmail address. Each fax arrives as an email with the fax content attached as a PDF. You can also install the Fax.plus Gmail add-on for native integration.
Typically under 30 seconds. When someone sends a fax to your Fax.plus number, it's received, converted to PDF, and delivered to your email almost instantly. The bottleneck is usually the sender's fax machine, not the email delivery.
Yes. Fax.plus uses TLS 1.3 encryption for all transmissions. The service is HIPAA compliant (safe for medical documents), SOC 2 Type II certified, and ISO 27001 certified. Received faxes are stored encrypted in the cloud.
Yes. Fax.plus supports number porting — you can transfer your existing fax number to Fax.plus and start receiving faxes by email instead of on a physical machine. Contact Fax.plus support to initiate a port.