A PDF in the Files app can be faxed as it is: open Faxsure, choose to add a file, pick the PDF from Files (On My iPhone, iCloud Drive or another location Files shows), check the pages, enter the fax number and send. You don’t need to print it or convert it first; the app turns the pages into a black-and-white fax and shows the price for the page count before you send.
Steps
- Know where the PDF is. If you are not sure, open the Files app and search for it. Apple’s instructions: “Enter a filename, folder name, or document type in the search field.” Below the search field you can narrow the search to Recents or to one location. To see recently opened files, tap Recents.
- Add the file to a new fax. In Faxsure, choose to add a file instead of scanning. The Files browser opens; go to the location and tap the PDF. You can also add photos from Photos, or scan more pages with the camera, to the same fax.
- Check the pages. Every page of the PDF appears as a page of the fax. Delete pages the recipient does not need (an instructions page, a blank back side) and move pages into the right order. The price follows the page count and changes as you add or remove pages. The steps for long documents are in how to fax multiple pages and keep them in order.
- Enter the fax number or pick it from the directory of official fax numbers, which shows the source and the date we checked each number.
- Check the price on the Send button and send. You get a notification when the fax is delivered and a PDF receipt with the number, pages, time, attempts and a confirmation code.
If the paper version is not in Files yet
Apple’s Files app can scan paper into a file: in the Files app, tap the More button, tap Scan Documents, then “Choose a location, then tap Save.” Faxsure’s own scanner does the same inside the fax, so you only need the Files route if you also want to keep the scan as a file.
Before you send a PDF
- Signed forms. A form you filled in on screen and signed with a drawn or typed signature may not be accepted. For Form 2848, the IRS instructions say: “Digital, electronic, or typed-font signatures are not valid signatures for Forms 2848 filed by mail or by fax.” For forms with a rule like that, print the filled PDF, sign it by hand and scan the signed pages instead of faxing the file.
- Colour and small print. A fax is black and white. Coloured highlights, pale stamps and very small text can come out faint, so look at the preview before you send.
- Only what the recipient asked for. Some agencies set a page limit per fax. The IRS instructions for Form 8233, for example, say “You are limited to 25 pages at one time.”
A long PDF
Over 50 pages, the app offers to split the document into two faxes. Each fax is priced by its own page count, shown before you send. Check how the recipient wants documents grouped. The Illinois Department of Revenue, for example, says “You should send each Form IL-2848 as a separate fax. Do not include a cover page.” Our Form IL-2848 fax number page has the number and its source.