Google Drive and Hello Fax

Google Fax Services New and Going Out of Style

The new Google Drive and Hello Fax service might not be a good example of better late than never. Google uses third parties for the delivery of its faxes, and at least one of the companies it uses has stated that they are planning on phasing out faxing altogether.

Google’s FAX service lets uses send faxes straight from the Google platform. Cost for this service starts at eight dollars a month. RapidFax, eFAX, and MyFax brands are providing the faxing service through the companies j2Global and Ring Central.

Google Drive and Hello FAX are also offered through 5 Gbytes of free cloud-based storage with additional storage capacity available for a fee. The Hello FAX service lets users send faxes in 30 document file types directly from Google Drive. Faxes can also be received as PDD format documents from other users using a Hello FAX folder that is located on the drive.

Users of Google Drive and Hello Fax can edit and sign PDF documents in their browser without needing to print the document out manually, sign it, and then use a scanner to send the document back into the computer for printing.

Hello Fax began as a simple faxing application and then expanded when the parent company created the added feature allowing users to sign and edict documents straight from their browsers. They realized that most people only use faxes when they need to sign a document.

The electronic signature capacity makes it possible for users to avoid the need to print out the document, sign, and then scan the signed pages back into their computer. Even though Google Drive and Hello Fax are working on making faxing obsolete, they are still using fax transmission mediums for this application.

The primary business need that is being filled by the company is saving people the time and paper needed to print out a document and then re-enter it into their computer using a scanner.

Fax reception is enabled by placing a Hello Fax folder into Google Drive. Inbound faxes are then stored automatically in the folder.

Google Drive and Hello Fax work with both Macintosh and Windows PC computers, tablets with Google-backed software for Android, smartphones, and browsers connected to drive.google.com. The online text program Google Docs in a central part of Drive that allows users to create and share documents.

It is a service that is competing with iCloud data repository, Microsoft’s SkyDrive, and startups like SugarSync and Dropbox.

Google has made an entrance into the area of faxing with Google Drive and Hello Fax. At the same time, they admit that faxing is a fading technology that is on its way out and they will only use the medium in the short run. Strangely, many fax users continue to be happy with faxing technology and find it preferable over email.