How to Fax With Your OneDrive Account Online
OneDrive is one of the most popular cloud storage services on the Web. Backed by Microsoft, it has been adopted by thousands of businesses looking to improve workflow and the sharing of information. It lets you quickly save any type of document that then you can visualize or download from any computer through cloud storage technology.
But what if you need to fax a document or photo stored in OneDrive? Traditionally you’d have to download the file, print it and run it through the fax machine. This takes time and isn’t free of problems such as busy lines and paper jams.
Right now the best way to fax OneDrive files is to do it through an online fax service. Internet faxing is cheaper, faster and as you’ll see is easy to integrate with cloud storage services. Below we’ll take a look at the ways you can fax from OneDrive without having to leave your computer.
Using Your Online Fax Service’s OneDrive Integration
If you have an existing account with a fax service, you may already be able to fax Onedrive documents.
Some providers, among them RingCentral Fax and eFax, allow you to pull files from OneDrive, so you can convert and send them as fax without having to download them to your hard drive.
You'll usually find this feature it in the file attachment section of your service's fax sending tool, make sure to follow the instructions of your chosen fax provider. The first time you use this option, you'll need to give your service's access to communicate with your OneDrive account, after that you'll simply pick the documents from a pop-up window.
Faxing Directly from OneDrive Software
Some services allow you to fax directly from OneDrive's desktop app by using the Print command, your service's app will connect to OneDrive as virtual printer. Here's how this works:
Launch Microsoft OneDrive and pick the file you want to convert and send as fax. Open it and then click on File > Print. Assuming everything has been set up correctly, your online fax service should appear as a printer option. Click on OK and you'll be taken automatically to your online fax service fax software where you need to fill out the details of the fax.
This alternative is only available with a handful of providers and can only work through Microsoft Windows, so it's not useful for Mac Users.
Faxing OneDrive Documents Through Email
If none of these two methods above seems good, you can use the good old method of faxing through your email. The only downside if you are faxing from Gmail or any other email client is that you need to first download the file from OneDrive to your computer.
The exception is if you are using Outlook.com for your emails; since both are Microsoft properties you can attach cloud-stored documents directly from the attachment button. You can find a detailed guide on faxing from email in our site, but in a nutshell this is how sending fax from email works:
- You compose a new email message on the platform of your preference.
- Download the files you want to fax from OneDrive and attach them to the email message.
- Enter the number on the TO field like this: 45556777899@faxprovider.com. Just replace faxprovider.com with the domain given by your service.
- Enter cover page text on the Subject field.
- Press Send and wait for the confirmation message.
As you can see, there are different ways to send fax using OneDrive alone or in conjunction with other services. If you want to learn more about the best ways to fax online and how it can help you take faxing to the next level check GoogleOnlineFax.com's website.
Richard Haase is the primary author and contributor on Googleonlinefax.com. On his free time he’s a tech addict and loves to try out new technology for businesses.