What to Put on a Fax Cover Sheet (With a Template You Can Copy)
A fax cover sheet is the first page of a fax. It does the job an envelope does for a letter: it tells whoever picks the pages up from a shared machine who the fax is for, who it is from, and how many pages to expect. A good cover sheet takes a minute to prepare and prevents the most common fax problem — a fax that arrived but never reached the right person.
The essential fields
- Date sent.
- To: recipient's name, organisation and department.
- Recipient's fax number and, ideally, phone number.
- From: your name and organisation.
- Your reply fax number and phone number or email.
- Number of pages, including the cover sheet.
- Subject or reference, such as a patient ID, case number or invoice number.
- Short message or instructions, for example 'Please sign page 3 and fax back'.
A template you can copy
FAX — Date: ____ | To: ____ (Organisation / Department) | Fax: ____ | Phone: ____ | From: ____ (Organisation) | Fax: ____ | Phone/Email: ____ | Pages (including cover): ____ | Re: ____ | Message: ____
Lay these out as a simple two-column form in large, clear type. Leave generous white space — the cover sheet should be readable at a glance even after fax compression.
Confidentiality notices
Faxes containing health, legal or financial information usually carry a confidentiality statement at the bottom of the cover sheet. A typical wording is: 'This fax contains confidential information intended only for the recipient named above. If you have received it in error, please notify the sender immediately by telephone and destroy all copies. Any review, disclosure or distribution by anyone other than the intended recipient is prohibited.'
A notice does not by itself make a fax secure — sending to the correct number does — but it sets clear expectations and is part of normal practice in healthcare and legal offices.
Design tips for legibility
- Use black text on a white background; avoid logos with fine detail or colour gradients.
- Use a sans-serif font at 12 pt or larger for the key fields.
- Do not put essential information in the top or bottom half-inch, where some machines add their own header line.
- Keep it to one page.
When you can skip it
If you are faxing to a direct, private fax line that only one person uses, a cover sheet is optional. In every other case — and always for medical, legal or financial documents — include one.
Put this guide into practice
Free PDF FAX includes a free tool for exactly this job.
Written by the Free PDF FAX team at Zoa Zone Services. This guide is general information and not legal advice.