Fax machines have been “on the way out” for a long time. Email, cloud storage, digital signatures and secure portals have replaced a lot of the jobs fax once handled. And yet, fax machines are still being bought, still being used, and still turning up in offices that otherwise look fairly modern.
The question most people now ask isn’t how to use a fax machine. It’s whether there’s any real reason to keep one at all.
As with most office business technology, the answer depends less on what’s available and more on how the office actually works.
Where fax machines are still used
In many workplaces, fax machines haven’t disappeared so much as slipped into the background. They tend to remain where processes haven’t changed, or where external requirements still exist.
Healthcare is a common example. GP surgeries, clinics and pharmacies often rely on fax for sending referrals or forms because it fits with established systems and compliance rules. The same applies in parts of the legal sector, where fax is still accepted as a formal way of sending documents, often tied to reference details such as a tax number or case identifier.
Local authorities and some government departments also continue to use fax, particularly where older systems are still in place. In those environments, replacing a fax machine isn’t just about buying something new. It often means changing procedures that involve several organisations at once, including external IT services providers.
Fax machines versus email
Email is quicker, cheaper and easier for most day-to-day communication. That’s not really in question. But email isn’t always treated in the same way as a faxed document.
A fax produces a physical output. It arrives at a specific machine, in a specific place, often printed using a thermal printer. For some organisations, that still carries weight, particularly in settings like healthcare, legal offices, and parts of the public sector where audit trails and established processes still matter. It makes it clearer where a document has gone and who is responsible for dealing with it next.
There’s also a practical reason fax is still viewed differently in some organisations. Traditional fax machines send documents over a phone line rather than across a digital network. That means they’re less exposed to some of the risks associated with email systems, such as messages being intercepted, altered, or redirected while in transit.
This doesn’t make fax universally “more secure”, but in environments where data handling rules haven’t changed, the simplicity of a phone-line transmission is still seen as a known quantity.
There are also situations where email simply isn’t practical. Not every external organisation accepts attachments. Some systems block certain file types. Others require documents to be sent in a format that fax already covers without any extra steps, even as fax technology itself has evolved.
Standalone fax machines or multifunction devices
In offices where fax is still used regularly, the discussion is usually about how fax fits into the wider setup, rather than whether it’s needed at all. In some cases, it’s handled through a multifunction printer or newer digital fax services, especially where digital faxing or internet faxing is already in use alongside traditional machines.
Other offices keep a standalone fax machine because it avoids complications. When documents are coming in and out throughout the day, having a dedicated machine can prevent queues, confusion, and someone wondering why the printer has suddenly stopped working.
It tends to come down less to office size and more to how often fax is part of the working day, and whether modern faxing tools are already embedded into daily workflows.
What to consider before getting rid of one
Before removing a fax machine entirely, it’s worth looking at how it’s actually used. In some offices, fax only comes into play once or twice a week, but when it does, it’s usually for something that matters.
It’s also sensible to check whether any external organisations still expect documents to be faxed. Changing that arrangement isn’t always straightforward, especially where compliance or legacy systems are involved.
Moving everything to digital alternatives can make sense, particularly options such as online fax services, fax-to-email services, or cloud-based faxing that connect fax traffic directly to inboxes and cloud services. But it generally works best when everyone involved is ready to make that change at the same time.
Does a modern office still need fax?
In short, many offices don’t. But some still do.
For many businesses, email and digital document handling now cover almost everything. Fax has been replaced entirely by digital fax services and isn’t missed.
But there are still situations where fax sits quietly in the background, used infrequently but expected to work first time when it’s needed. That’s why fax machines haven’t vanished altogether.
They’re no longer everywhere, but they remain in specific environments where processes haven’t fully changed, or where outside organisations still rely on them, even as fax technology continues to move beyond the era of Alexander Graham Bell into more connected systems.
What it comes down to
Fax machines aren’t about nostalgia or refusing to move on.
They’re still around because, in some workplaces, they continue to fit the way information is shared. Whether a modern office needs one usually comes down to how documents actually move in and out of the business. Once that’s clear, the decision tends to make itself.
At Office Stationery, we still see fax machines ordered for specific environments where they continue to serve a clear purpose, alongside online fax services, cloud-based faxing, and other evolving forms of business technology.
