How to Send a Fax From a Mac
Older Macs once had a Fax button built into the print dialog, back when Apple sold machines with internal modems and every desk had a phone jack. Modern Macs dropped both the modem and the fax menu years ago, so macOS no longer sends faxes on its own. The good news is that a Mac is excellent at producing PDFs — the exact format a fax needs — and pairing that with an online fax service replaces the old print-to-fax workflow entirely.
Does macOS still have a built-in fax feature?
Not anymore. Apple removed internal modems from its hardware and the accompanying Fax option from the print system, so there is no longer a native way to fax from a current Mac. Any lingering fax entry only appears if you attach a supported USB modem and a phone line, which almost no one has. The modern equivalent is to export your document as a PDF — something every Mac app can do from File, Print, Save as PDF — and upload it to an online fax service.
How to send a fax from your Mac
- 1Open the document in any app and choose File, then Print, then the PDF dropdown, and Save as PDF (or open a PDF you already have).
- 2Go to Send FAX Mail in Safari or Chrome, start the 7-day trial, and verify your email to enable sending.
- 3Upload the PDF from Finder using the file picker or drag it onto the send form.
- 4Enter the recipient's fax number with the correct country and area code.
- 5Add a branded cover page with a note if the office expects one, then click Send.
- 6Watch for the confirmation email that timestamps when the receiving fax line answered.
Before you send
Save as PDF rather than exporting an image — a PDF keeps text crisp at fax resolution and stays a fixed letter size, so nothing gets rescaled on the way out. If you are combining several files, use Preview to merge them into one PDF before uploading so the recipient gets a single document. For scanned paperwork, Preview can also import directly from a connected scanner and save the result as the PDF you fax.
Send a fax from Mac — FAQ
It disappeared when Apple stopped building modems into Macs, because the feature relied on that hardware and a phone line to work. Without an external USB modem there is nothing for it to dial with, which is why current versions of macOS omit the option entirely. Uploading a PDF to Send FAX Mail restores the same one-click experience.
Yes, indirectly. Use the app's Print dialog to Save as PDF, then upload that PDF to send it. There is no direct fax command inside those programs on a modern Mac, but the export-to-PDF step takes only a moment and produces a clean, fax-ready page.
No. A USB modem and a landline would let macOS's legacy fax path work, but it is slower to set up and ties you to a phone jack. Sending the PDF online skips the hardware completely and works from any Mac with an internet connection.
You can send your first fax during the 7-day trial without a card, which suits a one-time document. For ongoing use, the Starter plan runs $12.99/month for 600 pages, with an upgrade prompt instead of any per-page charge if you reach the limit.
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