A fax can arrive in seconds and still create a surprisingly manual job when it needs a signature. Fax.Plus and Sign.Plus connect those steps, so a received fax can move directly into an electronic signature workflow without the usual print, sign, scan, and re-upload cycle.
- A received fax can be forwarded directly from Fax.Plus to Sign.Plus without downloading and re-uploading the document.
- Choose Sign Myself or Request Signature depending on who needs to sign.
- Auto-Place helps prepare flat documents, including received faxes and scans, by suggesting signature, text, date, and checkbox fields.
- Every suggested field remains editable, so you review the document before signing or sending it.
- Fax.Plus and Sign.Plus use the same Alohi account, keeping the workflow connected across both products.
Why signing a fax is different from signing a fillable PDF
At first glance, a faxed form and a fillable PDF can look almost identical. Both might have a line for a signature, a box for a date, several text fields, and a few checkboxes. The important difference is what exists behind the page.
A fillable PDF can contain structured form data. The file may already know that a particular rectangle is a signature field, another one is a checkbox, and another expects text.
A fax does not work that way. When a document is transmitted by fax, the receiving side gets a rendered version of the pages. The form still looks like a form to a person, but the underlying field information is no longer there.
Think of it like the difference between a spreadsheet and a screenshot of a spreadsheet. They may look the same, but only one still knows which cells contain data.
That is why preparing a received fax for an electronic signature has traditionally required more manual work.
Fax.Plus already connects received faxes to Sign.Plus
You do not need to export a received fax from Fax.Plus, save it somewhere else, and then start a completely new signing workflow.
Open the fax in your Inbox or Sent folder, choose Forward to Sign.Plus, and the document opens in Sign.Plus. From there, you can choose Sign Myself or Request Signature.
Both products use the same Alohi account, so an existing Fax.Plus user does not need a separate set of credentials simply to access Sign.Plus.
This already removes one of the annoying parts of fax-to-sign workflows: moving the same file manually between tools. Auto-Place tackles the next part.
What Auto-Place does
Auto-Place helps prepare documents for signing by placing fields where Sign.Plus detects that information is likely to be required.
Depending on the document, that can include:
- Signature fields
- Text fields
- Date fields
- Checkboxes
The important part is that Auto-Place does not finalize the document for you. It creates a starting point.
You can review every field, move or remove it, add anything that is missing, and assign fields to the correct signer before the document goes out.
That distinction matters. Automatic detection can save setup time, but the sender still controls the final document.
How Auto-Place handles different kinds of documents
Fillable PDFs already contain useful information
Some PDFs arrive with embedded form fields. When Sign.Plus finds supported fields in a PDF, it can use that structured information to create corresponding Sign.Plus fields instead of making you rebuild the form from scratch.
For example, an existing PDF checkbox can become a Sign.Plus checkbox, while supported signature, date, and text fields can be converted into their Sign.Plus equivalents.
For the person preparing the document, the technical distinction is not especially important. The useful part is that Sign.Plus can start with information that is already inside the PDF.
Faxes and scans have to be understood visually
A received fax is a harder case because there are no embedded form fields to convert.
Instead, AI-powered Auto-Place analyzes the rendered page and looks for visual clues that indicate where information belongs.
A blank area beside Signature, for example, may be suggested as a signature field. A box next to an option may become a checkbox. Other blank areas may be suggested as text or date fields.
This is what makes Auto-Place particularly useful for fax workflows: the document does not have to begin life as a smart, fillable PDF.
How to sign a received fax with Fax.Plus and Sign.Plus
The workflow is fairly short.
1. Open the fax in Fax.Plus
Go to the Faxes section of your Fax.Plus dashboard and open the document from your Inbox or Sent folder.
Fax.Plus can receive faxes online using a dedicated fax number, so there is no physical fax machine involved in this workflow.
2. Forward it to Sign.Plus
Open the document actions and choose Forward to Sign.Plus. Sign.Plus loads the selected document directly.
3. Choose who needs to sign
Select Sign Myself when the document only needs your signature.
Choose Request Signature when you need another person, or several people, to complete the document. Learn more about how to sign documents with Sign.Plus.
4. Use Auto-Place to prepare the document
If the document is a flat fax or scan, Auto-Place can analyze the page and suggest relevant fields.
AI-powered Auto-Place uses the allowance included in your Sign.Plus plan. Check your plan’s availability and remaining allowance before processing scanned or faxed documents.
Instead of dragging every field onto a long form one at a time, you start with a proposed layout.
5. Review the suggested fields
Check the document before sending it. Move fields that need adjustment, delete anything unnecessary, add anything that was not detected, and make sure fields are assigned to the correct recipients.
Automatic placement should make preparation faster, not remove the review step.
6. Sign or send the document
If you selected Sign Myself, complete the fields and sign the document. For Request Signature, review the recipients and fields and send the signature request.
You can explore additional Sign.Plus features for managing the rest of the signing workflow.
A practical example: a form arrives by fax and needs approval
Imagine an operations team receives a three-page authorization form by fax.
Page one contains customer details. Page two has several checkboxes. Page three includes a date and two signature lines.
Without field detection, someone has to open the document and manually place each interactive field before sending it for signature.
With the connected Fax.Plus and Sign.Plus workflow:
- The fax arrives in the Fax.Plus Inbox.
- The employee forwards it to Sign.Plus.
- Auto-Place analyzes the flat document.
- Suggested fields appear over the relevant areas.
- The employee reviews them and assigns the signature fields.
- The document goes to the recipients.
- The completed document can continue through the team's fax workflow if it needs to be returned by fax.
The fax is still the way the document entered the business. It just does not force the rest of the process to stay manual.
Why this matters for teams that still rely on fax
Fax is still common in workflows where documents cross organizational boundaries, particularly when one side of the exchange continues to use fax as its standard channel.
That does not mean every step between receiving and returning the document needs to happen on paper.
Fax.Plus already lets teams receive faxes online, use fax across web and mobile devices, and work with online signatures through Sign.Plus. You can explore the broader set of Fax.Plus features to see how these workflows fit together.
The combination is useful because it separates how a document arrives from how your team works on it.
A form can arrive as a fax, go through a modern electronic signature workflow, and still be faxed back when the recipient requires fax.
What Auto-Place does not do
Auto-Place is designed to reduce repetitive document setup. It is not meant to make decisions about the document for you.
You should still check:
- whether every required field was detected
- whether each field is in the correct position
- which signer should complete each field
- whether any fields should be required or optional
- whether the document has special signing or legal requirements
In other words, Auto-Place does the tedious first pass. You do the final review.
From received fax to ready-to-sign document
The useful part of the Fax.Plus and Sign.Plus connection is not simply that two products can open the same document. It removes steps.
A fax arrives in Fax.Plus. Instead of printing it or exporting it into a separate signing tool, you can move it directly into Sign.Plus. Auto-Place can prepare the first version of the fields, you review the result, and the document moves into the appropriate signing workflow.
For teams that still need fax at the edges of a process but want modern tools in the middle, that is a much cleaner way to work.
FAQs
Can I sign a fax electronically?
Yes. A fax received in Fax.Plus can be forwarded to Sign.Plus and signed electronically. You can either sign the document yourself or send it to another recipient for signature.
Can someone else sign a fax I received?
Yes. Choose Request Signature after forwarding the fax to Sign.Plus. You can add the recipients, prepare their fields, and send the document for signing.
Do I need separate Fax.Plus and Sign.Plus accounts?
No separate login is required. Fax.Plus and Sign.Plus are part of the Alohi suite, and users can use the same account credentials across the products.
Can Auto-Place work with a scanned document or fax?
Yes. A scanned document or received fax may contain no structured field information, but Auto-Place can analyze the rendered page and suggest fields based on what appears visually in the document. You still review and edit those suggestions before continuing.
Are faxed and electronic signatures the same thing?
Not necessarily. A facsimile signature traditionally means a reproduced version of a handwritten signature, while an electronic signature is created as part of an electronic signing process and can include additional records such as an audit trail.
Whether a particular signature method is valid for a document depends on the type of document and the applicable jurisdiction, so documents with specific legal requirements should be checked separately.
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