When there are issues sending faxes through email, there are several things that you can check to ensure you are using your fax to email service effectively.

Is the Email Formatted Correctly?

To use our fax-to-email (FTE) services, you can send an email using an email address from an email client (e.g., Outlook, Gmail, etc.) that has been enabled for use with your FTE services.

To send a fax over email, start a new email and include the following:

• To - Type the recipient's fax number followed by @spectrumfax.com. (<fax number>@spectrumfax.com).
  

  Quick Tip: You can use the 10-digit and 11-digit forms of the fax number. You can also prepend the fax number with a +. 

  For example… For the fax number (469) 555-1234, the fax can be sent in the following formats:
      •  4695551234@spectrumfax.com
      •  14695551234@spectrumfax.com
      •  +14695551234@spectrumfax.com

   
• Subject - Consider using this field to type a note about the fax to help keep record of each eFax using your email. 

  Note: Recipients of your eFax will be able to see what is typed in the Subject of the email. 

   
• Fax File - Insert/attach the file that will be faxed.

  Quick Tip: SpectrumFax can send DOC, PDF, TIFF, JPEG, PNG, and TXT files.

  If there are several forms that need to be faxed that are not combined in a single document, you can attach the additional forms as well.

  It is recommended to place a test fax to a coworker with the forms attached as practice and to confirm the order they are sent looks appropriate. 

   
• Body - Include extra information if needed. If you have an email signature, delete the email signature from the body of the email unless the recipient should be able to see it. 
  

  Note: Recipients of your eFax will be able to see what is typed in the Body of the email. 

  If you have an email signature, remove the email signature from the body of the email before sending the fax. 

   

If needed, include a Cover Letter in your attached PDF file that will be faxed, or attach an additional cover page PDF, like so:

 

Is Your Email Address Added to Your eFax Account?

Only sending an email in the correct format will not send an eFax. Your email address will need to be assigned to a user that is set to use SpectrumFax. This ensures your faxing services are only able to be used by authorized individuals.

During the creation of a fax to email account, a list of email addresses is usually requested. If this list of email addresses needs to be checked or updated, contact our Technical Support team.

Do You Have a Fax Number?

In order to have a phone number used for faxing, the phone number has to be configured and routed accordingly depending on the faxing services your account uses. 

If you have verified that you are using an authorized email address to send a properly formatted email, contact our Technical Support team for further help troubleshooting. A member of our support team can help verify that your FTE services are set up properly and that your faxing numbers are not encountering any issues.

Are Fax Emails Being Forwarded or Blocked?

Some organizations and users set up Rules for their email account that automatically forward or block emails with specific subjects and attachments coming from specific email addresses. Sometimes these rules may be too broad and can cause email notifications for SpectrumVoIP services to be blocked, moved to a spam or junk folder, or moved to another folder. 

Fax confirmation emails and inbound faxes from SpectrumFax will be sent from notifications@spectrumfax.com with the Sender name set as Spectrum Fax Platform.

If you or your organization do assign rules for your email services, it is recommended to check your junk and spam folders. You can also reference your email client's list of rules and to check what folders your emails get forwarded to. If these rules are causing issues with SpectrumVoIP email notifications, it may be good to consider modifying or removing the forwarding rule(s) and filter(s) that are affecting these emails. 

Are You Using an Encrypted Email Client?

Some organizations may require a more secure webmail service to be used instead of Gmail or Outlook. These email services may over-encrypt outbound emails to the point where SpectrumVoIP's eFaxing services are unable to process the emailed fax. These services are typically labelled as “HIPAA-compliant”, “secure email encryption”, or "data protection".  

Some of these services that commonly cause issues include (but are not limited to):

• Paubox
• LuxSci

If you are utilizing a secure webmail service that may be causing faxing issues, contact our support team to see if there is a solution that can be implemented.