Overview

Email is used commonly to send a fax and is readily available in most environments. This article provides the process of sending the fax using an email.

Information

This article discusses the fax flow after the email has reached the fax server.  If there is an issue with mail not arriving in FaxMaker's folder structure, the Cannot Send Outbound Faxes Via Email Client (Outlook) article should be reviewed.  

Sending the fax via an email involves the following steps, most of which are done by FaxMaker in the background (in this case, we are considering the scenario where FaxMaker is not installed on an MS Exchange Server).

1. The email will be created to be sent to the fax number email, which is usually in the following format.
   <fax number>@<fax domain> For example, 1234567890@faxmaker.com
   This email will be sent from the email client to the mail server.
   
   
2. The email will leave the client and go to the mail server, and the mail server will route the email using the send connector to the IIS SMTP server on the fax server which will then drop the email in the following folder, which is the default location.
   C:\Program Files (x86)\GFI\FaxMaker\SinkDrop
   
   
3. The FaxMaker Message Transfer Agent (MTA) service picks up the email and begins processing it. 
   
   
4. The MTA separates the To and From information, the body, and the attachment(s).
   
   
   • The To and From information is used to create an SFM file.
     
     
   • The email body is copied to a BDY file (if applicable). 
     
     
5. The SFM file, BDY file, and attachment files are saved to the FAXmaker\Out directory.
   
   
6. The FaxMaker fax server service retrieves the files from the FaxMaker\Out folder and generates the fax image and sends the fax via the fax device.
   
   
7. The FaxMaker fax server service generates a transmission report and saves it to the FAXmaker\In folder.
   
   
8. The MTA picks up the email report from FAXmaker\In folder and sends a fax report email to the sending user using the mail server defined in the Email2FaxGateway node of the FaxMaker configuration.
   
   The below image shows the steps mentioned above for sending a fax via email.