Retain faxes and proof of sending

Archiving is your responsibility

An online fax service carries your pages from A to B; it does not store them. With Faxeroo, your uploaded file exists just long enough to go through, and then it is wiped. Should you have opted in, the PDF receipts alone stay viewable on the tracking page. If a dispute ever arises, it is your own archiving that makes the difference.

The rule of the game: every important fax must be reproducible on its own, even for someone who was absent. A colleague, accountant, or lawyer should be able to open the file and identify the contents, recipient, date, and outcome.

PDF/A: a format built to last

A basic PDF can depend on absent fonts, remote assets, or a password. The ISO 19005 specification behind PDF/A removes those dependencies: fonts are embedded, encryption is banned, and external calls are forbidden. Fifteen years on, the rendering stays identical.

Mainstream office suites export to PDF/A from their save options. For fax, archive the transmitted file as-is; any later conversion should happen alongside the original, to rule out any accusation of tampering.

For sensitive records, jot down every file's SHA-256 checksum inside a text file kept in the same folder. Alter even a single byte and that fingerprint shifts.

File names that sort themselves

A good name sorts without thought: date first, in YYYY-MM-DD, then the correspondent, the subject, and the document type — '2026-04-17_mutuelle-flandre_attestation-soins_envoye.pdf', for example, then '…_accuse-transmission.pdf'. Banish spaces, accents, and exotic characters, which corrupt copies from one system to another.

Group every document from a single send into one folder named after its root, and note the reference on each receipt. Sort by year, then by client; this system works well for most small and medium businesses. If the volume grows, migrate to a dedicated document management system.

Retention periods: Belgian benchmarks

No retention period is specific to fax: its lifespan follows that of the document it carries. Invoices and purchase orders follow accounting rules; a notice period follows the timeframe for contesting it; a patient record follows healthcare sector rules.

For reference: the Belgian Code of Economic Law generally requires ten years of retention for accounting books and records; VAT regulations likewise provide for a long period for invoices. In civil matters, many contractual actions are subject to a ten-year statute of limitations, unless shorter periods apply.

Changing durations, numerous exceptions: check the rule that applies to you with the FPS Economy, the FPS Finance, or your accountant.

Personal data: only what's strictly necessary

Names, numbers, health or financial data: a fax file almost always contains plenty. The GDPR requires keeping only what's necessary, for as long as necessary, protected from unauthorized eyes. The Data Protection Authority publishes helpful recommendations on these points.

In practice: access limited to the people concerned, a destruction date set at filing time, actual deletion when due — backups included. The draft or duplicate kept 'just in case' has no place: every unnecessary copy adds to the burden.

At least two copies, or it doesn't count

A single copy on one disk is not an archive. Archivists sum up the minimum in three digits, 3-2-1: keep three copies, spread over at least two kinds of storage, with one stored offsite. An encrypted online vault, supplemented by an external drive stored off-premises, covers most needs.

Once or twice a year, open a handful of folders chosen at random — that is how you find out whether your files are still readable, unharmed, and easy to locate when the moment comes.