Overview

When sending faxes using your email client (typically Outlook), no faxes are displayed in the FaxMaker Monitor.

Workflow

Instructions

Check post-upgrade side effects

If the issue started after upgrading Windows on the FaxMaker server, follow the steps from the Email2Fax stopped working after an OS upgrade article for potential impacts on the IIS SMTP service.

Check FaxMaker service account

Check the LogOn account for the FaxMaker services and make sure they comply with the Requirements for Service Account, as failing to do so severely impacts fax processing. If you change any of the accounts, restart the services.

Determine if the issue is with the mail system or FaxMaker

This issue could be caused by the mail system, that transports the email to FaxMaker or could be caused by FaxMaker, once the email has been received.

Follow the steps below to determine where you should start looking:

1. In the Windows Services console, navigate to the GFI FaxMaker Message Transfer Agent and stop it.
2. Navigate to C:\Program Files(x86)\GFI\FaxMaker\Sinkdrop
3. On a client machine, send an email addressed to FaxMaker.
4. After waiting for about a minute, a .eml file should appear in the Sinkdrop folder:
   1. If the file appears, this indicates the issue is with FaxMaker. Generally, when emails reach this point, if there is an issue with the user or any information in the email, a report from FaxMaker is sent back to the email sender.
   2. If a file does not appear, this indicates the issue lies in the email system. Usually, when this happens, an NDR (nondelivery report) will be delivered to the user who sent the email.
5. Follow the troubleshooting instructions according to what was determined in the previous step.
6. Once testing is complete, be sure to restart the Message Transfer Agent service that was initially stopped.

Determine the mail system set up

Verify the email system that is set up. It may be an on-premise, hosted, or hybrid solution.

This can usually be inferred from the mail server name in the Email2FaxGateway Properties.

An address similar to 10.1.1.12 likely indicates an on-premise or hybrid configuration, whereas an address like smtp.office365.com indicates a hosted solution.

When in doubt, this should be confirmed with an email administrator from the customer's side.

Review the hosted email settings

When using O365 as your hosted email solution, follow the article on Configuring Office 365 for use with FaxMaker.

For additional information on different hosted email services, check the Mail Server Configuration article.

Review O365 settings for hybrid mode

When using hybrid mode (local Exchange + O365), make sure the correct settings are in place, especially the Exchange connector and the relay configuration in IIS.

Ensure the SMTP service is started

Verify the IIS SMTP (Simple Mail Transport Protocol) service is started on the FaxMaker server.

While on it, ensure it is also set to start automatically.

Review the settings for the IIS STMP

Verify the correct settings set in the IIS 6.0 Manager, according to the Verifying Settings for the IIS STMP Instance on the FaxMaker Server article.

Review the Exchange connector settings

Use the FaxMaker Mail Server Settings article to review the connectors and their proper setup.

Check for stuck faxes in IIS drop folder

Once the email settings are in place, it may happen that the emails are by the Exchange server but not by FaxMaker, remaining stuck in the IIS Drop folder.

Move the .eml files from the C:\inetpub\mailroot\drop folder to the C:\GFI\FaxMaker\SinkDrop folder and they should be correctly processed.

To prevent it from happening again, follow the instructions in the article Faxes remain stuck in the drop folder in IIS, then restarted the SMTP service.

Ensure the sender is a licensed user

Check the faxserver.gfi_log.txt log file for errors that state the sender "is not a FAX user":

2022-03-03,15:04:24,075,1,"#000015dc","#00000d1c","error ","faxserver","[20220303_150423_00271.sfm]outmsgCheckErrors : sender[username@example.org] is not FAX user"

This indicates that, in our example, username@example.org is not a licensed user.

The article Licensing Users and Groups in FaxMaker provides detailed information about this situation.

Furthermore, if using groups, ensure the Active Directory Requirements for Groups Used in FaxMaker Licensed Users are met.

Check the FaxMaker Monitor

When an email is sent and we get the .eml file in the Sinkdrop folder, with the Message Transfer Agent (MTA) started we might not even see the email as sometimes these files are picked up by the service as soon as they are deposited.

Start the MTA service that was initially stopped and verify the .eml file is picked up by the service. Once the .eml file has been picked up, you may see a .rsa file dropped into the Sinkdrop folder and then picked up again.  

When the email is picked up by MTA, it should be processed by FaxMaker and you should see the fax in the FaxMaker Monitor:

If the email file is picked up by FaxMaker, and it is displayed in the FaxMaker Monitor, check your email to see if you get a notification from FaxMaker. If no email is received or an error notification is received, then a ticket will need to be opened with GFI Support so logging can be reviewed. Please upload logging once the ticket is opened as well.