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Fax technology is still used regularly in order to share sensitive data and critical documents securely across key industries like healthcare, law and manufacturing. To ensure fax messages reach the intended recipient, users must include fax cover sheets. Useful templates are often provided that can simplify this process. In this article, we’ll run through what is a fax cover sheet and how to fill out a fax cover sheet.
Using this guide will help you assemble your fax messages, including the fax cover page and any necessary documents, as quickly and efficiently as possible and cover common questions like ‘How to make a cover letter for a fax?’, ‘What to put on a fax cover sheet?’ and ‘What does re mean on fax cover sheet?’.
What is a Fax Cover Sheet?
A fax cover sheet is a page faxed to a recipient before receiving the entire fax message. It helps to identify the sender and recipient of a fax message, the subject line and brief information about the content in the attached documents.
The fax cover sheet includes information about the purpose of a faxed document, including the address, fax number, phone number and the number of pages in the fax. Critically, a fax cover sheet can help senders to secure their data against unauthorized access. Fax cover sheets can be used for all sorts of purposes, such as sharing business documents, critical patient data, or even sharing resumes when job hunting. However, before sending a fax, it’s essential to understand how fax cover sheets work and what to include in them.
Types of Fax Cover Sheets
Before considering how to make a cover sheet for a fax, consider the purpose for which you need it. A wide range of fax cover sheets can be used for any purpose, from applying for a job to sharing medical details.
Standard Fax Cover Sheet
A standard or basic fax cover sheet is simply a plain fax template that can be modified for your specific purpose.
Professional Fax Cover Sheet
Slightly different from a standard fax cover sheet, a professional fax cover sheet is a generic template that can be used in a business context.
Medical Fax Cover Sheet
A medical fax cover sheet is designed for medical purposes, enabling healthcare professionals to securely share data with colleagues, patients and other providers. Medical providers can also access Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)-compliant fax cover sheets.
Legal Fax Cover Sheet
Legal professionals frequently share critical data relating to cases or ongoing investigations with their clients and colleagues. A legal fax cover sheet makes it easy to quickly and securely share legal data.
Confidential Fax Cover Sheet
This template style advises the recipient that a fax message is a private document not to be shared with anyone else.
Personal Fax Cover Sheet
A personal fax cover sheet is intended for non-business purposes and can cover various uses. For example, printable fax cover sheets are simple for users to print and Google Docs fax cover sheets are intended to be used in Google Docs or Gmail.
Urgent Fax Cover Sheet
An urgent fax cover sheet is helpful when users are time-pressed to send a vital document to a client or customer.
Business Fax Cover Sheet
Similar to a professional fax cover sheet, this template is ideal for businesses to plug and play fax messages.
Fax Cover Sheet for Financial Documents
Financial firms also often share critical data via fax messages. A fax cover sheet for financial documents allows financial professionals to easily share financial documents with clients, colleagues and other institutions.
Check out eFax’s comprehensive list of cover sheet templates.
What to Put on Fax Cover Sheet
Before starting to create a fax cover sheet, it’s vital to understand what to put on it. The top of the fax cover sheet should include basic information like personal details. It must be positioned as the first page of a message, allowing the recipient to recognize the information they’ll receive. And the details within the fax cover sheet must help you direct the message to the right person.
The fax cover sheet itself can be as detailed or basic as you need it to be. However, it can be beneficial to make the cover sheet easy to understand and position information in boxes or sections that make it as straightforward as possible. Additionally, some organizations like to use boxes like ‘please recycle,’ ‘please reply,’ ‘for review’ or ‘urgent’ that point to the purpose of the fax.
How to Fill Out a Fax Cover Sheet
With that basic information understood, it’s time to begin crafting your fax message and begin thinking about what to put on a fax cover sheet. Follow our 10-step guide to filling out a fax cover sheet:
Step 1: Start with Your Contact Information
The first step in how to do a fax cover sheet is to include your contact information. This allows you to personalize your message by adding details such as your name, fax or phone number, address and email address. Some businesses print fax cover sheets on letterhead paper that include the company name, logo and taglines that make it instantly recognizable.
Step 2: Include the Recipient’s Contact Information
You then need to include the personal details of your recipient to ensure they know who the fax message is intended for. Consider including information like the recipient’s name, address or email address.
Step 3: Add the Date and Time of Transmission
Like any other form of communication, it’s important to include a timestamp on your fax message. Add the date and time at which the fax cover sheet is being sent.
Step 4: Enter the Recipient’s Fax Number
In addition to including their personal details, you should also add a recipient’s fax number to your fax cover sheet.
Step 5: Indicate the Number of Pages Attached
It’s also vital to let your recipient know how many pages are included in the fax message. This helps the recipient ensure they receive the entire message and, in the event that some pages weren’t received, let you know that some data is missing.
Step 6: Provide a Subject or Purpose for the Fax
If you’ve wondered ‘what does “re:” mean on fax cover sheets,’ it’s short for ”with regard to” or ‘regarding’. Like an email, providing a specific subject line helps the recipient understand what the message is about. The re: on fax cover sheets is useful as it explains what a fax message is about and allows users to recognize why they are receiving it.
Step 7: Specify Urgency or Priority Level (if needed)
If a fax message is urgent or has a high priority for specific recipients, it’s important to note that on the fax cover sheet. Marking a fax cover sheet with ‘urgent,’ ‘high priority’ or ‘for review’ can be useful if you require a swift response.
Step 8: Include Any Additional Comments or Notes
You can also add additional information regarding the fax, such as explaining the purpose of the message.
Step 9: Add a Confidentiality or Privacy Notice (if required)
If data within your fax message is confidential, it’s a good idea to make that obvious. Ensure you indicate that the information in the documents is confidential and consider adding confidentiality clauses to the fax cover sheet.
Step 10: Attach the Fax Cover Sheet to Your Document
Finally, don’t forget to add the fax cover sheet to your document. Ensure it’s the first page in the fax message, helping your recipient to see up front who the message is from and what it’s about.
Send Faxes From Anywhere with eFax
eFax enables you to send free fax messages at any time, from anywhere and on any device. The eFax service also allows you to select from fax cover sheet templates and will walk you through the process of creating and sending fax cover sheets. eFax is also compatible with Google Docs and all email providers, allowing you to send and receive fax messages from your preferred service and on any device.
eFax provides companies that rely on faxing with a modern solution that enables them to send and receive critical documents and sensitive data. Taking faxing online offers greater convenience and simplicity over purchasing and maintaining bulky fax machines.
You can also use the fax app for iPhone to send faxes on the go, which saves employees from having to travel into the office just to use a fax machine.
