Short answer: no, Gmail can’t send a fax. There’s no fax button in Gmail, Google Workspace has no fax feature, and Google Voice, despite being a phone service, doesn’t do fax either. Google has never offered one.
So when a pharmacy, a court clerk, or an insurance company says “fax it to us” and the document is sitting in your Gmail inbox, you need a fax service in between. There are three ways to set that up. Two of them need an account with a fax company, almost always on a paid plan. The third doesn’t.
The three ways to “fax from Gmail”
| Method | How it works | What it costs |
|---|---|---|
| Email-to-fax | You email the document to a special address like 15551234567@provider.com, and the provider faxes it | A fax subscription, about $9–$25/month in 2026 |
| Gmail add-on | A fax provider’s app puts a fax button inside Gmail | An account with that provider; free use stops after 5–10 pages total |
| Download and send from the browser | Save the attachment, upload it to a web fax service | Browserfax: 20 free pages, then $4 for 25 pages that never expire |
Most articles ranking for this question are written by email-to-fax companies, so they skip the price. Here it is.
Email-to-fax: how it works and what it really costs
With email-to-fax, the fax company gives you an address format. You put the recipient’s fax number in front of the @, attach your PDF in Gmail, and hit Send. The provider turns the attachment into fax pages and dials the number. You have to send from the email address registered on your account, which is how the provider knows whom to bill.
It’s convenient if you fax every day. But the feature sits behind a paid plan nearly everywhere. Entry plans that include it, as listed in October 2026:
| Provider | Cheapest plan with email-to-fax | Pages/month | Free option? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fax.Plus | Basic: $8.99/mo ($6.99/mo billed yearly) | 200 | Free plan (10 pages total) excludes email-to-fax |
| Dropbox Fax (formerly HelloFax) | Home Office: $9.99/mo | 300 | Free: 5 pages; email-to-fax only on paid plans |
| MetroFax | Essential: $11.95/mo | 550 (send + receive) | No free plan |
| eFax | Personal: $18.99/mo | 200 | 7-day trial, then the subscription |
| Documo | Solo: $25/mo, billed yearly | 300 | 14-day trial |
| FaxBurner | Free account: email send@faxburner.com with the fax number as the subject | 5 pages | One free fax; paid plans from $4.99/mo |
Two things worth knowing before you sign up:
- The trial converts. Most trials become a monthly subscription unless you cancel in time. That’s a lot of commitment for one fax to your doctor’s office.
- The free tiers don’t include the feature you came for. “Free fax from Gmail” headlines usually lead to a free plan that can’t send by email at all.
If you send faxes every week straight from your inbox, a $9–$12 email-to-fax plan is a reasonable buy. If you send one occasionally, it’s a subscription you’ll forget to cancel.
Gmail add-ons
The Google Workspace Marketplace lists a dozen fax add-ons, among them Fax.Plus, HelloFax (Dropbox Fax), iFax, and RingCentral. Install one and a fax option appears inside Gmail, so you can fax an attachment without downloading it.
The trade-offs:
- You’re granting a fax company access to parts of your Gmail account.
- You need an account with that company.
- The free allowance is small (Fax.Plus: 10 pages total; Dropbox Fax: 5 pages), so you’re on a paid plan by your second or third fax.
The no-subscription way: fax a Gmail attachment from your browser
This is the honest middle ground. You stay in Chrome, you don’t give anything access to your inbox, and you don’t start a subscription. It takes about two minutes:
- Download the attachment. In Gmail, hover over the attachment at the bottom of the message and click Download.
- Open Browserfax. Go to browserfax.com/app in a new tab. If you have the Chrome extension, click its icon instead: it opens in a side panel next to your Gmail tab, so the email stays in view while you fax.
- Enter the fax number from the email you’re answering.
- Upload the file. Drag it in or click to browse. PDF, JPG, and PNG work, and up to 5 files are merged into one fax, so the signed form and the ID copy can go together.
- Click Send and sign in with Google, using the same account as your Gmail. That gives you 20 free pages, no credit card.
- Check your inbox. You’ll see the status live (Queued → Sending → Delivered), and a delivery confirmation lands in your Gmail. If the fax fails, the pages are refunded automatically.
After the free pages, Browserfax packs are $4 for 25 pages and never expire. There’s no monthly plan to send. For most people who fax a few times a year, that’s the cheapest option on this page by a wide margin. The one-time fax guide has the full price comparison. For every other way to send from a laptop (Windows, Mac, or Chromebook), see how to fax from your computer.
How to fax a Google Doc, Sheet, or Slides file
Fax services need a file, not a link to a Google Doc. Export it first:
- Open the document and click File → Download.
- Choose PDF. In Sheets, a print-settings panel opens first. Check the layout, then click Export.
- Upload that PDF to your fax service and send it.
For very long documents, Google suggests File → Print, then set Destination to Save as PDF.
How to fax an email itself
Sometimes the email body is the document: a confirmation, a signed statement, a records request. To fax it:
- Open the email and click More (⋮) → Print. For a whole thread, click the Print all icon at the top right.
- In Chrome’s print window, set Destination to Save as PDF and save.
- Fax the PDF like any other file.
Emails sent in Gmail’s confidential mode can’t be printed, so ask the sender for a regular copy.
What about Word attachments?
Browserfax and most web fax forms take PDF, JPG, and PNG. They don’t take .docx. If someone emailed you a Word file, open it in Word and Save as PDF, or upload it to Google Drive, open it with Google Docs, and use File → Download → PDF.
Receiving faxes in Gmail
The other half of the question is replies. If the person you’re faxing will fax something back, you need a fax number of your own. That’s where a subscription does make sense. Browserfax plans start at $8/month with a dedicated US number, and every incoming fax arrives in your Gmail as a notification with a secure link. Details are in fax to email and how to get a fax number.
Which option fits you?
| You… | Best fit |
|---|---|
| Fax a few times a year, mostly attachments from Gmail | Download, then send from the browser. Free for 20 pages, then $4 packs |
| Fax daily and want to hit Send without leaving Gmail | An email-to-fax plan ($9–$12/month gets you started) |
| Need faxes to arrive in Gmail | A fax number with fax-to-email, from $8/month |
| Need one fax of 1–3 pages and don’t want to sign in anywhere | FaxZero’s free tier, with its branded cover page (our comparison) |
The bottom line
Gmail can’t fax, and Google isn’t going to add it. Every “fax from Gmail” option runs through a fax company. The real question is whether you need a subscription to use it. For a daily faxer, email-to-fax earns its monthly fee. For everyone else, the faster path is two minutes: download the attachment, send it from your browser, and get the Delivered confirmation back in Gmail.
Fax your Gmail attachment free →
Provider prices and plan features are public list prices checked October 3, 2026, and change often, so confirm at checkout. Sources: Fax.Plus pricing and email-to-fax help · Dropbox Fax pricing · MetroFax pricing · eFax pricing · Documo pricing · FaxBurner free fax · Google Workspace Marketplace: fax · Google Docs: download a file · Gmail: print an email · Gmail: download attachments.