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How to Use Skype as a Fax Machine

Bindu swetha
Bored of using your fax machines each time you need to fax a document? Fret not, as Skype has some add-ons that can do the trick for you. This story highlights these add-ons that allow you to send a fax through Skype.

Fits all!

PamFax is available for Web, Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, iPhone/iPad, Blackberry, and Android.
Skype, the video calling app, has become quite a rage ever since its inception in 2003. A number of add-ons have been released till date that keep increasing the functionality of the app. This time around, the launch of few add-ons have eliminated the need to use fax machines to send copies of documents.
Instead, all you need to do is to scan the document, use the add-on to send it on Skype, and the website will confirm the successful delivery to you (sender) by a notification mail. Sounds easy, right? In this story, let us take a look at the plug-ins that make it possible to use Skype to fax documents.

PamFax

This plug-in has been released by Pamela Calls Recorder, the same company that launched an app for recording Skype calls. For using this add-on, you first need to have Skype installed on your machine. Here are the steps to use PamFax.
  • Download and install Skype on your computer.
  • Sign up for a monthly plan.
  • Download the PamFax 2.0 plug-in.
  • Scan the document that you wish to fax.
  • Open Microsoft Word document, and insert the scanned document in Word and save the file.
  • Now, click on the print option in Word, and send the document via PamFax.
  • Skype will send a confirmation email to the user about the successful delivery of the fax.
PamFax doesn't deliver your faxes for free (first 3 pages are free). You will be charged about USD 0.24 per page, alongside the sign up fees (or the first time fax fees) of about USD 1.42.
The plug-in allows you to fax the document to multiple recipients. If you have a document on Dropbox, Box, Google Drive, and the like, PamFax can access and fax them. In few Windows versions, the PamFax button is added to the Microsoft Office toolbar.
* Prices mentioned in the story may vary depending on your location.
Faxtastic is another plug-in (this one's free) which can be used to fax a scanned document via Skype. Though this add-on is not exclusive to Skype, it is a good alternative to PamFax. Skax is also an alternative that was developed in 2007.
However, Skype confirmed that the beta works with Internet Explorer and Windows XP/Vista are not supported. Till the support is established, you will have to download PamFax or use your old, faithful fax machine.