Send Your First Fax by Email

News

To send your first fax by email with ICTFax, an admin adds you as a user with your email address, and then you email the document to <fax number>@<your fax domain>. ICTFax checks that the sender is a known user, turns the attachment into a fax, dials the number and emails you the result.

Before you start

The server needs to accept mail for your fax domain. That’s a one-time job for whoever installed ICTFax:

  • Set domain in the [sendmail] section of /etc/ictcore.conf to your fax domain, for example fax.example.com.
  • Point an MX record for that domain at the ICTFax server, and open TCP port 25.
  • Make sure at least one provider is active under Administration > Providers / Trunks, so faxes can go out.

The installation guide covers these steps.

Step 1: The admin adds you as a user

ICTFax only accepts email from addresses it knows. The admin logs in and opens Administration > User Management, clicks to add a new user, and fills in the username, name, password, timezone and, most importantly, the email address you’ll send from. Then they save it.

ICTFax add user form with username, email and password fields

Step 2: Write the email

From that email address, write a new message:

Field What to put
To <fax number>@<fax domain>, for example 15550199001@fax.example.com. Only the digits before the @ are used, so leave out spaces and dashes.
Subject Anything that helps you recognise the fax later.
Attachment The document to fax: PDF, TIFF, PNG or JPEG. Office files (Word, Excel, PowerPoint and their OpenDocument versions) work too and are converted automatically.
Body By default the email text isn’t faxed, only the attachment. If you’d like the text sent as a cover sheet, an admin can tick Send Email Body as coversheet on the extension that uses your email address (Administration > Extensions).

Step 3: Send it and watch for the confirmation

Press send. ICTFax replies by email when it accepts the fax, and again when the fax has been sent or has failed. You can also follow it under Send Fax in the web panel, where the status moves from Pending and Processing to Completed or Failed.

If nothing happens

  • No reply at all: the mail never reached the server. Check the MX record and that port 25 is open.
  • The fax isn’t sent: the From address doesn’t match an ICTFax user. Send from the exact address the admin entered.
  • The fax fails: check the destination number, and that the number isn’t on the Contact DNC list, because ICTFax never faxes DNC numbers.

FAQ

Can I fax to more than one number from one email?

Send one email per destination number. The number comes from the To address.

Which file types can I attach?

PDF, TIFF, PNG and JPEG, plus Office documents, which ICTFax converts before faxing.

Do I need to log in to the web panel to fax by email?

No. Once your user exists with the right email address, sending the email is enough.

How do I receive faxes by email too?

Ask the admin to assign you a DID, then set it to Fax to Email. The receiving guide walks through it.

For everything else in the web panel, see the ICTFax user guide. Still stuck? Open a support ticket.