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Cannot Send Outbound Faxes Via Email Client (Outlook)

Author: Stephen White Updated

Overview

When sending faxes using your email client, to FaxMaker, no faxes are displayed in the FaxMaker Monitor.  This article provides troubleshooting steps and possible solutions to this issue.   

 

Diagnosis

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 start the diagnosis.  

  1. On the fax server, right-click the Start button and select Run.  
  2. Type services.msc and select OK
  3. When the services console comes up, navigate to the GFI FaxMaker Message Transfer Agent.  Right-click the service and select Stop
  4. Navigate to C:\Program Files(x86)\GFI\FaxMaker\Sinkdrop
  5. On a client machine, send an email address to FaxMaker
  6. After waiting for about a minute, a .eml file should appear in the sinkdrop folder.  If the file appears we know the issue is with FaxMaker and if a file does not appear, we know the issue lies in the email system.  More information for both options is listed below in the solution.  
  7. Once testing is complete, be sure to restart the Message Transfer Agent service stopped in step 3 above.  

 

Solution

Depending on your results from the diagnosis section, you will either have an email in the sinkdrop folder or you will not.  Follow the steps in the section below that corresponds to your results.  

A .eml file does not arrive in the sinkdrop folder

When an email is sent and nothing arrives in the sinkdrop folder, this tells us the email system is not getting the email to FaxMaker and verification of settings and troubleshooting will be in this direction.  Usually, when this happens, an NDR (nondelivery report) will be delivered to the user who sent the email.  

  • Verify the IIS SMTP service is started on the FaxMaker server
    • On the fax server, right-click the Start button and select Run  
    • Type services.msc and select OK
    • Navigate to the Simple Mail Transport Protocol service and ensure it is started

  • Verify the correct settings set in the IIS 6.0 Manager
  • Verify there are connectors in place to route the mail.  
    • If using Microsoft Exchange use the FaxMaker Mail Server Settings article to review the connectors and their proper setup.  
    • When using a hosted email solution, such as Office 365 follow the Configuring Office 365 for use with FaxMaker article.  
    • If using hybrid mode, use the connector in Office 365 for the on-premise Exchange server and ensure the Microsoft Exchange connectors are in place.  This would be verified by an email admin in the domain.  

A .eml file does arrive in the sinkdrop folder

When an email is sent and we get the .eml file in the sinkdrop folder, if the Message Transfer agent was started we may not even see the email as sometimes these files are picked up by the service as soon as they are deposited.  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 user who sent the email.  

Start the Message Transfer Agent service that was stopped in step 3 of the Diagnosis section 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 the Message Transfer Agent service, it should be processed by FaxMaker and you should see the fax in the FaxMaker Monitor using the steps below.    

  • Select Start > Programs > GFI FaxMaker Web Interface

  • Login to the FaxMaker Web Interface

    login.PNG

  • Select the Monitor tab 

  • Test the functionality of GFI FaxMaker by sending a test fax via email. 

    monitorsending.png

 

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.  

 

Confirmation

If no email was received in the sinkdrop folder, and the steps were followed to verify and correct the email system set up for use with FaxMaker, the emails sent from Outlook will now be reaching the fax server and be visible as outbound faxes in the FaxMaker Monitor.  

 

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