What 🖷 means
ITU-T guidance allows a facsimile sign as a fax service label: it can replace FAX, mark a service location, name the service, or accompany a subscriber’s fax number.
If the fax icon shows as a box or blank, the font may lack its glyph.
How did fax become an office tool?
Fax moved from a new service to office routine.
The first commercial fax service began in the 1860s. Fax became essential in the 1980s, first in Japan and then the United States; by 2000, email and the internet were pushing it aside.
Specific and businesslike.
It means fax, not sending in general.
Don't confuse it with
1Questions people ask
1Why does 🖷 show as a box on some devices?
Because that device's fonts have no glyph for it. The character is still correct and still copies correctly — the box is a missing glyph, not a broken character.
How to type 🖷
🖷\1F5B7Codes and encoding1 code points
A visible symbol can contain several code points. JS .length counts UTF-16 units; UTF-8 counts bytes.