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Home > Guides > Faxing from Microsoft Word
Sort of. Word has no built-in internet fax button, but you can fax from Word three ways: Windows Fax and Scan (needs an analog modem on your PC), a print-to-fax virtual printer from an online fax service, or by saving the document and uploading it to any online fax service. The printer route is the one most people actually use.
| Method | What it needs | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Windows Fax and Scan | A phone line and an analog fax modem in (or attached to) the PC, or a connection to a network fax server | Offices that still have a landline and want no extra software |
| Print-to-fax virtual printer | An online fax service account; installs a printer named like "Fax" that you select in Word's print dialog | Most home users: no modem, no phone line, send from Word like printing |
| Save and upload | The document saved as PDF or DOCX and an online fax service in a browser | One-off faxes without installing anything |
Older versions of Office did include fax hooks, but Microsoft stopped treating fax as a core feature years ago and removed the built-in internet fax options from Word. The thinking was that most people would print, scan, or email instead. Fax never went away in medicine, law, and government though, so the feature set now lives in Windows itself (Fax and Scan) or in third-party online services rather than in Word's ribbon.
Windows Fax and Scan ships with Windows 10 and 11, but it is not internet fax: it turns your PC into a fax machine. It needs a real analog phone line and a fax modem (a USB fax modem works if your computer has none). You compose in Word, print to the "Fax" device, enter the recipient's number, and the modem dials out over the phone line exactly like a standalone fax machine. If you have no landline, this method simply will not work, no matter how you configure it.
Many online fax services install a virtual printer on your computer. In Word you hit Ctrl+P, pick the fax printer instead of your real printer, and a dialog pops up asking for the recipient's fax number and an optional cover page. The driver converts your document into fax format and hands it to the online service, which transmits it over the internet. You never see the conversion happen; from your side it feels exactly like printing. This is distinct from faxing from Google Drive, which goes through Google's own print and sharing plumbing rather than a local driver.
Mostly, but fax is a black-and-white, fixed-resolution medium. Color logos and shading turn into grayscale, light gray text can vanish, and anything smaller than about 8-point type risks becoming unreadable. Before faxing from Word, switch text to solid black, bump small fonts up, and avoid backgrounds behind text. A quick PDF export lets you see exactly what the service will transmit, and PDF is the format online services handle most reliably.
The fax service needs to be able to read the document to convert it, so remove the password before sending or export to an unprotected PDF first. A protected file uploaded to an online fax service will either fail to convert or fax as an error page. Strip the protection, send, and consider whether the content is sensitive enough to need the recipient warned by phone that a fax is coming.
LetterAgent's fax service is in testing with US and Canadian fax numbers only, and it cannot receive faxes. If the recipient has a US or Canadian number, the flow is: quote with the page count verified, you approve the exact total, one-time payment, and the fax goes out. Because fax is still in testing, describe it as available in testing and never promise it sends today.
Ready to fax it? Fax with LetterAgent: describe it to your AI assistant, approve the exact quoted price, and it is sent.
LetterAgent is a working name. Prices include print, postage, and our service fee. US prices in USD, Canadian prices in CAD (Canadian prices exclude applicable sales tax, added at checkout). Currently in private testing.
Need help? Ask your assistant: it can check a job's status any time. If it ever can't handle something: hello@getletteragent.com