Mac OS X: Getting notified when a new fax arrives

Mac OS X 10.3 or later can notify you when a fax arrives. Tip: If you don't already know how to receive faxes, check out this (for Mac OS X 10.5); this (for Mac OS X 10.4); or this document (for Mac OS X 10.3).

There are several ways to receive notification.

Notification by email

Mac OS X 10.3, 10.4

1. Open System Preferences and click Print & Fax.
   
2. Click Faxing.
   
3. Select the "Email to" checkbox and type an email address in the "Email to" field. You can also choose addresses directly from Address Book by clicking the Address Book button to the right of the "Email to" field.

Tip: If email notifications are not getting sent, see this article.

Mac OS X 10.5

1. Open System Preferences and click Print & Fax.
2. Select the modem you are using to receive faxes and click the Receive Options... button.
3. Select the "Email to" checkbox and type an email address in the "Email to" field. You can also choose addresses directly from Address Book by clicking the Address Book button to the right of the "Email to" field.
   
   

Print the fax automatically

Mac OS X 10.3, 10.4

1. Open System Preferences.
   
2. Click Print & Fax.
   
3. Click Faxing.
   
4. Select the "Print on printer" checkbox, and choose a printer from the pop-up menu.
   
   

Mac OS X 10.5

1. Open System Preferences.
   
2. Click Print & Fax.
3. Select the modem you are using to receive faxes and click the Receive Options... button.
4. Select the "Print to" checkbox, and choose a printer from the pop-up menu.
   
   

Onscreen notification

Use AppleScript and Folder Actions to set this up. Follow these steps:

1. Open Folder Actions Setup, located in the AppleScript folder, which is in the Applications folder.
   
2. Select "Enable Folder Actions".
   
3. Click the "+" button.
   
4. Select the folder where received faxes are saved.

   Note: The default location is /Users/Shared/Faxes, but may have been changed in Print & Fax preferences.

5. Click Open.
   
6. The Choose A Script sheet appears. Click "add - new item alert.scpt".
   
7. Click Attach.
   
8. Quit Folder Actions Setup.

When a fax is received and saved to the folder, an alert will now appear.