How to Fax From a Mac — Preview, Continuity Camera & Drag-Drop
A Mac is a strong fax workstation because Preview and Continuity Camera handle the two hard parts — assembling pages and capturing paper — without any extra software. Preview combines several PDFs into one, reorders pages, and exports a clean file; Continuity Camera lets you scan a page with a nearby iPhone and have it drop straight into a Finder window or Preview. From there you sign in to Send FAX Mail in Safari or Chrome, drag the finished PDF onto the upload area, type the fax number, and the document goes out over a fax connection with an email receipt. A 7-day free trial covers your first sends, and nothing needs to be installed.
What you need
- ✓A Mac with Preview and a browser (Safari, Chrome, or Firefox)
- ✓The document as a PDF, or paper plus a nearby iPhone for Continuity Camera
- ✓A Send FAX Mail account (the 7-day free trial includes first sends)
- ✓The recipient's fax number, including country code when faxing abroad
How to fax from Mac
- 1Gather your pages: if they are separate PDFs, open them in Preview, show the thumbnail sidebar, and drag them into one file in the right order
- 2To add a paper page, choose File, Import from iPhone, Scan Documents in Finder or Preview, and capture it with Continuity Camera
- 3Use Preview's Markup toolbar to add a saved signature if the document needs one
- 4Export the assembled document with File, Export as PDF
- 5Open your browser, sign in to Send FAX Mail, and drag the PDF directly onto the new-fax upload area
- 6Enter the recipient's fax number, send, and watch for the email delivery confirmation
Mac limits worth knowing
Preview can flatten a filled-in form so the recipient sees your entries, but if you export with annotations left as separate layers, some entries can render faintly over fax — use File, Export and keep the default PDF settings so text is embedded. Continuity Camera needs the Mac and iPhone on the same Apple ID with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi on; if the Scan Documents option is grayed out, the iPhone is usually just out of range or signed into a different account. Very large multi-page PDFs assembled in Preview can carry full-resolution scan images; if a send is slow, re-export at a smaller size since a fax only needs roughly 200 dpi black-and-white.
| Aspect | On Mac | On other platforms |
|---|---|---|
| Combining pages | Preview merges and reorders PDFs with drag-and-drop thumbnails | Windows needs a separate PDF tool or print-to-PDF chaining |
| Scanning paper | Continuity Camera pulls a scan from a nearby iPhone | A Windows PC uses the Windows Scan app with a connected scanner |
| Sending the file | Drag the PDF onto the browser upload area | A phone hands the file over through a share sheet instead |
Faxing from Mac — FAQ
Open the first PDF in Preview, show the thumbnail sidebar from the View menu, then drag the other PDF files into the sidebar and arrange them in order. Export the result with File, Export as PDF and upload that single file so the whole packet faxes as one document.
Yes, with Continuity Camera. In Finder or Preview choose File, Import from iPhone, Scan Documents, and your iPhone's camera captures the page and drops the deskewed scan onto the Mac over the wireless link. No standalone scanner is needed.
That occurs when form entries stay as a separate annotation layer that does not flatten. In Preview, export with File, Export as PDF using the default settings so the text is embedded into the page, then send that exported copy and your entries will appear on the recipient's fax.
No. Send FAX Mail runs in your browser, so the only tools you use are Preview and Continuity Camera, both built into macOS. You drag the finished PDF onto the upload area in Safari or Chrome and send from there.
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