How to Fax a Legal Size Document

Can I fax a document on legal-size paper to fax machine that only prints out 8.5 x 11 size paper? If I did what would happen?



Most fax machines (that don’t have two paper drawers) will just split it onto two pages, or shrink the text down if legal-size paper is not loaded into it.

Email-based fax services should also accommodate long faxes like this, but double-check by viewing a preview of the document.

If you are using WinFax or Windows Fax and Scan to send, you can just open the document on your computer, choose the 8.5 x 14 paper size in the print dialog box and send it that way. (However, this presumes that the recipient’s fax machine is able to receive legal-size faxes.) You could also resize the document to 8.5 x 11.

If you’re still concerned, try it and see what happens. Fax to a friend or colleague before you attempt to send it to its “real” destination and you’ll have a better sense of what the document looks like at the other end.

Do you have a question about faxing? Send me your fax question.