When you transfer an attachment by email, it’s simple to dash off a few sentences to the recipient in the email body. It lets you provide context for the document or tell the recipient what they need to do next.
Online fax cover sheet or cover page serves the same essential purpose. But it also tells the collecting company who the fax is concerning, who it’s of, and some significant additional info.
Fax cover sheets aren’t confused, but they are essential. So here’s a quick guide to composing a fax cover sheet or cover letter.
What must a Fax Cover Sheet Incorporate?
The fax cover sheet indicates the person who picks up the fax who it’s intended for. Remember that in a big office, many people may share the same fax machine. So it would be fine if you made it very obvious who you’re trying to strike every time you mail a fax.
Here’s a complete list of everything you must include on a conventional fax cover sheet:
Date/Time. It can be vital for time-sensitive information. A traditional fax machine will mark the date and time of transmission at the top of the fax, but if the fax machine’s calendar or clock is off, you want verification when you hit “Send.” With online faxing, the date/time will be incorporated automatically.
- Sender’s business info — company name, address, fax number, and phone number
- Sender’s contact data — name, email address, and direct phone number
- Recipient’s name and fax number
- The number of pages. It will let the recipient confirm that they received all assigned pages.
- A short message to the recipient (optional)
- A reference number or client ID to assist you to keep track of projects or messages (optional)
Incorporating all of this information makes it easier for the fax to take into the right hands.
How to Compose a Fax Cover Sheet
Many companies generate a cover page template that employees can apply over and over. It could be a PDF or Word doc that workers can fill out in just a few moments on their computers. It could be a pre-printed form that workers fill out by hand. It isn’t as polished as a typed paper, but it may be faster.
When you calculate the number of pages, ensure to count your cover sheet!
With a traditional fax machine, remember that anyone may see the cover sheet in the office. If the fax following the cover sheet is sensitive, write “CONFIDENTIAL” on the cover sheet so whoever pulls it up doesn’t flip over the pages. Of course, if the recipient employs an online fax service, they don’t have similar confidentiality concerns. The fax will go straight to their business email or online fax portal, so there’s no uncertainty of anyone witnessing sensitive information.
Online Fax users can skip the step of filling out a cover sheet and printing it before sending it. That’s because our service automatically adds a cover sheet to your outgoing faxes. Just fill out the fields for the name and fax number, recipient’s name and number, subject order, and a message, and Online Fax will automatically populate and attach a cover sheet for the online faxes.
If you favor a custom cover sheet, you can utilize one of Online Fax’s cover sheet templates or design your own. Add the company logo or branding, and attach your prepared cover sheet with the text you’re faxing.
How to Compose a Fax Cover Letter
If you want to add a longer message to accompany the fax, you may want to compose a fax cover letter as well. Unlike a fax cover sheet, a basic informational form, a fax cover letter will typically be more personalized and partake additional context.
Although a fax cover letter will hold more information than the two to three sentences common in a cover sheet, it will regularly be a single page. It renders more information and context concerning the fax, but it shouldn’t duplicate all the information in the document being sent.
Suppose you were sending a job application, for example. In that case, you could compose a cover letter to accompany your resume, highlighting a few of your achievements and explaining why you’re engrossed in the job. But you wouldn’t rehash everything in your appended resume.
When you transfer your fax cover letter, it will be placed following the cover sheet, but before the document being faxed, like this:
- Fax Cover Sheet
- Cover Letter
- Document Being Faxed
Why apply a custom fax cover sheet?
Attaching your brand or company name to the letterhead of the cover sheet will get your faxes immediately recognizable to recipients. It also seems more professional. You can employ a custom cover page with both conventional and online faxing!
Where to get a fax cover sheet?
Online Fax users can fill in the contact fields for recipient name, fax number, number of pages, etc., and it will generate the cover sheet automatically. They can also use one of the custom-made fax cover sheet templates and add it as an attachment when sending their fax.
You can design a custom cover page from a word processor like Microsoft Word for conventional fax machines, or you can explore online for fax cover sheet templates. Attach your logo to get it customized to the brand