HelloFax.com Dev Blog

If only government websites looked like Dropbox

January 27th, 2012

Government places an incredible role in society. It funds our police, our roads, and schools.

It also produces websites (and regulations) like the City of SF Business Registration Office, which takes an accountant to figure out. Instead of building the registration process like TurboTax and funneling you to the right answers, it lists a lot requirements and fines if you if you make a mistake.

Why does this happen? Because conversion doesn’t matter. We can’t walk away and try an easier signup process.  100% of the businesses in SF has to do this. 100%.  It could be 10x worse and we’d still have to comply. Until there’s an incentive to be easier, these agencies will simply not get better.

Until then, I’ll be dreaming of a government website that looks like this:

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CC people on your signature requests

January 27th, 2012

Sometimes, there are multiple people involved in a signed document. But, not everyone has to sign. Some people just need a copy of the document after everyone has signed. In that case, that person need to be cc’d.

What are common scenarios?

- You had your client sign a sales contract. After she’s signed, you CC a copy to your supervisor
- You had someone sign a NDA. After she’s signed, you can CC the legal team.
- You sold someone a home. You CC your manager.

How’s it work?

1. Click on the “Request signature” tab

2. Click “+ CC”

3. CC the people who should receive a copy, after everyone has signed
**In this case, I cc’d Ted and accounting

That’s it! After John has signed this document, Ted & Accounting will get a copy of it.

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Import Your Files from Box & Dropbox

January 27th, 2012

You can now import your files from Box and Dropbox, two of the most prominent cloud storage companies.

Here’s what you do:
1. Go to the “Send” or “Request signature” page.

2.Click on “more” and chose Dropbox or Box.

3. Authorize the integration.

4. Next time you import a file, you’ll be able to pull in files from that service.

Now, instead of downloading and then uploading documents into HelloFax, you can now import them directly!

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Recap on our Anti-SOPA Campaign: 15,000 Faxes Sent to Congress!

January 25th, 2012

Both SOPA and PIPA have been paused thanks to the widespread internet protests last week.  Thanks to your support our Fax Your Representative tool was used to send 15,240 faxes, from 4,496 people to 507 legislators!

Our campaign even made it into the New York Times, in their article With Twitter, Blackouts and Demonstrations, Web Flexes Its Muscle. Here’s what they said:

“Many start-ups quickly cobbled together tech solutions to support their cause. HelloFax, for example, created a tool that let people send their representatives faxes voicing their opinions through the Web.”

SOPA and PIPA taught us the danger of a Congress creating policy that they don’t understand. In fact, they’ve even been calling all of us, who understand the consequences of their policy, “nerds”.

We need to stay vigilant. SOPA and PIPA may come back in other forms or as pieces of other legislation. So, stay in touch. We may be doing this again.

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Import contacts from Gmail & Yahoo

January 3rd, 2012

We just released a really simple contact importer.

1. Just start typing where it says and you’ll see a drop down for “Import contacts”

2. Click on the email provider to import your contacts.

3. Once you import all of your contacts, we’ll put all those contacts into auto-complete. Plus, anytime you send a document to a contact not in our system, we’ll remember it for future use.

That’s it! Hope you like it.

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HelloFax in the Hacker Newsletter

December 8th, 2011

The guys over at the Hacker Newsletter mentioned us to their readers. Here’s what they say:

“…from time to time I want to promote services (for free) that I have used that I find invaluable.Faxing seems so AOL, but recently I had to send several of them and found HelloFax to be a perfect solution. You can also get a local fax number if you need to receive faxes. Check them out!” Issue #73

Thanks guys!

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Need several people to sign the same document?

December 1st, 2011

Both you and your client need to sign a document.

Here’s what you do:

1. Click on the “Request Signature” tab

2. Type in your client’s name; then, click on “+ Signer”.

3. Enter your email address (if you have to sign as well)

4. When you prepare the document for signing, drag and drop form fields onto for both you and Bob.

That’s it! When you click send, an email will be sent to you and Bob, asking both of you to sign the document.

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Send Faxes to Europe

November 28th, 2011

Because of some extremely persistent users, we finally launched international faxing!

You can now send faxes to:

AUSTRIA
BELGIUM
DENMARK
FRANCE
GERMANY
GREECE
HUNGARY
IRELAND
ITALY
LUXEMBOURG
NETHERLANDS
POLAND
PORTUGAL
SPAIN
SWEDEN
UK

So… does it cost extra… ?
Absolutely not. Every fax counts as exactly one fax page. So, you can fax Germany, the US, New York and the UK – all for the same price.

Need a country not on this list? Click here to request a country >

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HelloFax on CBS New! Companies can save on printing costs with HelloFax

November 23rd, 2011

CBS News writes that corporations spend between 1-3% of their annual revenue on printing.  By filling out and signing documents in the browser, we save companies from having to print, sign and scan documents – which is an incredible waste of both paper and employee time.

Here’s what CBS News suggests:
“Invest in digital signatures. One of the most common reasons for printing is to sign a document. You can eliminate that requirement by using a digital signature. HelloFax, for example, is an online fax service that can store a digital version of your signature. You can stamp any digital document with that signature and email or fax it from a PC. There’s no longer any need to print stuff just to sign it.-3 Tactics for Weaning Your Office off of Printers.

Many of our users have gone paperless and stopped using printers, scanners and fax machines all together; others have simply gone paperless. It’s great to see that CBS noticed!

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Get a local number… in the UK!

November 21st, 2011

We got some very persistent emails from our users in the UK. It got harder and harder to put off.  So, we finally set it up! Also, you can get UK numbers for the exact same price as US numbers.  Basic, Premium or Ultimate Plans can get a local number. See if we have a number in your area >

Here’s how it works:

1. Pick the UK for your country:

2. Pick an area code, based on your city

3. That’s it! Then, whenever someone faxes that number, we’ll forward it as a PDF to your email account. You never have to touch a fax machine again.

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