Faxing a landline in France, step by step
Send a fax to a French landline from your browser. Number format, regional codes, time zone and office hours. A single page is free, and anything longer costs €3.99.
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France still has a steady trickle of fax traffic, mostly in healthcare, property and small trades. If you hold a document that has to reach a French office on paper-like terms, you can send it from this page without a machine, an account or a phone line.
A French landline has ten digits, and the opening pair shows the region: Paris and its surroundings use 01, the north-west 02, the north-east 03, the south-east 04 and the south-west 05. Lines supplied with an internet box often start with 09. Enter it as people in France dial it: keep the leading 0 and leave out +33.
Mobile numbers (06 and 07) cannot receive faxes, and 08 numbers are special-rate services that no fax machine answers. CaptainFax refuses all of them before you pay anything, so a typo in the first digits is caught on the spot.
Your first page is free. From two pages the whole document costs a flat €3.99, however long it is. Offices in France mostly answer between nine and six on weekdays, with a lunch break that can last until two, so aim for the morning if you want to check the delivery status quickly.
France fax numbers: how to enter them
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Dial code | +33 |
| ISO code | FR |
| Numbers accepted | Ten digits, the first pair being 01 to 05 or 09 (leading 0 kept); mobile (06, 07) and 08 numbers are refused |
| Example number | 0148817645 |
| Region | Western Europe |
France: what we accept and what we turn down
| Number typed | Outcome | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| 01 48 81 76 45 | Accepted | Paris area |
| 04 72 12 34 56 | Accepted | Lyon area |
| 09 70 12 34 56 | Accepted | Line from an internet box |
| 06 12 34 56 78 | Rejected | Mobile number, which no fax can reach |
| 1 48 81 76 45 | Rejected | The leading 0 is left out |
| 0 800 12 34 56 | Rejected | Free or premium-rate number, not supported |
Area codes for the main cities
| City or line type | Area code |
|---|---|
| Paris and Île-de-France | 01 |
| North-west (Rennes, Nantes, Rouen) | 02 |
| North-east (Lille, Strasbourg, Nancy) | 03 |
| South-east (Lyon, Marseille, Nice) | 04 |
| South-west (Bordeaux, Toulouse) | 05 |
| Internet-box and VoIP lines | 09 |
France: who still takes faxes?
- Medical practices, pharmacies and laboratories still receive prescriptions, test results and referral letters by fax, notably where the secure messaging system is not fully rolled out.
- Notary offices, estate agents and property managers exchange signed pages and supporting documents while a sale or a lease is being prepared.
- Branches and claims departments sometimes ask for a signed form or a certificate to be faxed because it arrives in a legible, dated form.
- Builders, garages, wholesalers and craftspeople often keep a fax line for quotes, delivery slips and purchase orders.
Fax numbers of organisations are not something we publish. Take the number from a recent letter or from the recipient’s official site.
The official online alternative
Much of the administration has moved online: service-public.fr and impots.gouv.fr for citizens, FranceConnect to sign in with one identity, and the e-greffe or Portalis platforms for court filings. Check whether your procedure has an online form before choosing fax.
For health data, France relies on MSSanté, a secure messaging system open to registered professionals, and on Mon espace santé for patients. Those channels work only if both sides are enrolled, which is why a fax remains the fallback.
France: time zone and office hours
| Time zone | Central European Time |
|---|---|
| Gap with Paris | UTC+1 (UTC+2 in summer) |
| Typical office hours | Mon-Fri 9:00-18:00 local, often with a lunch break |
France: common questions
- Do I type +33 or a zero before the French number?
- Select France in the form and enter the ten digits, leading 0 included, such as 01 48 81 76 45. The country code is added for you, so +33 is not needed.
- Why was my French number rejected?
- The most common causes are a mobile number starting with 06 or 07, an 08 special-rate number, a missing leading 0, or fewer than ten digits. Only landlines starting with 01 to 05 or 09 are accepted.
- How much does a fax to France cost?
- Page one is free. From two pages up, a send costs a flat €3.99, VAT included. Delivery receipts are optional at €2.99 and charged only if the fax goes through.
Send a fax to France
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Keep exploring
A few pages that go well with the one you just read.
- Choose a country to see its dial code and the number format we expect, then send your fax to a landline.
- Look up a country’s code, its usual prefixes and how long its numbers are before you fax across a border.
- Choose the country, type the number, and find out at once whether it is ready to use.
- What time it is for your recipient, and when every office is staffed at once.
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