KBA-01292: SMTP Fax Gateways

Question:

Does Spitfire support SMTP Faxing?  What fax services are supported?

Answer:

sfATC sends outbound faxes for documents that are routed via fax.sfATC supports SMTP fax gateways.  SMTP gateways address faxes using a format similar to recipientfaxnumber@fax.server.com, for example 9142734208@rcfax.com. For SMTP gateways, we support both generic services (Ring Central, MyFax, Send2Fax) and OpenText FaxPress (formerly Castelle‘s) extensions.

By default, all faxes from sfATC use the same sender email address, which is also the address used to send email-routed documents.  Be sure your fax gateway recognizes this address, or faxes will be rejected.  You can also configure sfATC to send the fax using the designated ‘email from‘ routee. Using this feature facilitates more personal cover sheets, but requires that every potential sender be registered with the fax gateway!  Unauthorized senders would likely receive a message similar to ‘Unable to fax because the sender of the fax is not configured in the FaxPress User/Email Address map‘.

Optionally, you can have sfATC convert Microsoft Word (.doc) files to PDF format to reduce the requirements for conversion software on the SMTP gateway.  If your gateway supports additional file types, add them to the list in ICTool.

Additional Comments:

ICTool is used to configure sfATC.  Fax information is on the Send Route tab. Specifically:

  • Choose the fax server type in the drop down.
  • Fax Server should be the name or IP address of the Fax or SMTP server.  For SMTP gateways, include @gatewaydomain.com.  Examples:
    • Windows fax – use system (machine) name of the fax server on the network (default is $$ATCHOST$$ which assumes the windows fax service is running on the same computer as sfATC).
    • Castelle SMTP – use the name or IP address of the FaxPress SMTP gateway; sfATC will automatically generate the fax gateway domain.
    • Generic SMTP – generally, you can use the same SMTP server designated on the servers tab; specify the target fax gateway domain specified by the service (for example @rcfax.com).
  • Cover Sheet – the COV file name for Windows Fax Server or the CVR file name for FaxPresss.  Generally, you can ignore this field and use the default cover sheet.
  • Faxable File Types – a list of file types separated by semicolons.  If you use an SMTP gateway, be sure this list includes only files types that the gateway supports.
  • As PDF – when checked, sfATC will convert supported file types (.doc) into PDF files before sending to the fax service.
  • Dynamic Sender – when checked, sfATC will send the fax from the ‘email from‘ route instead of from itself.  This applies to SMTP faxing and generally increases the administration on the fax server.

KBA-01292; Last updated: June 6, 2016 at 12:30 pm;
Keywords:  email to fax