We have a fax machine, but I have to tell you…it’s a bother (since we don’t have it hooked up all the time) and it takes up a lot of space. I was thrilled to come across some online Fax apps that do a great job via the web.

The first application I am sharing today really holds great appeal since it allows you to capture a document using your digital camera or cell phone camera…sounds like something out of a spy thriller doesn’t it? Use Qipit to capture and share anything written or printed, where-ever and when-ever you need it. I snapped photographs of two letters written by my mother over 50 years ago: one typed and the other handwritten. Both were processed within a minute and ready to be faxed or emailed. The results of the imaging were quite impressive. Obviously, the .pdf is only as good as your image, but with a steady hand and careful centering of your image….WOW!

Registration for this app is fast and easy. An email address is required for registration, but verification is not required to scan an image. However, you cannot email or fax a Qipit document until you have verified the email. Once your image has been converted you will receive an email verification with the document attached. You can also access your documents online using your account or post your document as a thumbnail on a web page or blog; to show a sample online you must make a document public. I have included a thumbnail sample of one of my documents on this blog. I wish I had access to this application when I worked as a technology integration specialist implementing electronic portfolios a couple of years ago!

This is the thumbnail image I mentioned. For some reason it initially showed up as document removed. After approximately 45 minutes the thumbnail image appeared and now it works just fine. Strange…but I’m not complaining…it works!

FaxZero is a straight-forward fax tool that makes it easy to fax any .doc, .docx, or .pdf document to a location in the United States or Candada. You can fax up to three pages, twice a day free. The cover page of your fax(es) will include advertising. This would be a good tool to use if you wanted students to fax you their papers or if you needed to send out a quick and brief fax from your computer.

freeFAX.com and the sister site faxFREE.com is “powered by the international tpc network which is a collection of fax servers in many locations around the world. The network is entirely supported by advertising. That’s why we’re able to offer free fax services to anyone with a computer connected to the Internet. Each fax that you send from FREEfax.com is routed through the tpc service and directed to the closest fax server to the recipient. The fax is usually sent within a few minutes but could take longer depending on fax traffic at the local fax server. After your fax has been delivered you will receive an e-mail confirmation from the server that sent the fax. The fax recipient will receive a cover sheet which contains a third of a page advertisement along with sender and recipient information. Again, this ad helps to support the free fax service.”

You can also use MyFax.com to send up to two free faxes per day, each fax not to exceed nine (9) pages in length (plus the cover page.) and not to exceed 10MBs in size.

Shortly after publishing this post I was contacted by an anonymous reader who shared another excellent (and free) fax service: Free Fax Online. I appreciate the tip…this free service is great from the standpoint that there is no advertising on the cover page…nice for more formal documents. Users can send two faxes a day that are up to three pages long. You can type your fax using an rich-text box or upload a document with .pdf or .doc extension. A small fee can be paid if you need to send a longer document.

Please read over all information on the sites I have mentioned in this posting. The rules and regulations of each site could change at any given moment. Some of the sites mentioned in this posting also offer fee-related options.

As I researched the sites for this post I also came across a neat site that makes it easy to create creative fax cover sheets. Of course, many of the sites I shared already include cover sheets (with advertising), but these cover sheets were too cool not to share! Visit Free Fax Cover Sheets.com to choose from over 150 fax cover sheets that you can download and print. Most are ready to use and some can be customized with your own business information.