# Receive Faxes by Email

Cloud Voice can turn incoming faxes into email. With Fax to Email enabled, the system converts each received fax to a PDF (Portable Document Format, the standard file type for documents) and delivers it straight to an extension user's mailbox. This means a user never has to stand at a physical fax machine: the fax lands in their inbox like any other message. This page walks through the configuration for both dedicated and shared fax lines.

## Before you begin

- Confirm that the system email is working. Without a functioning mail server, Cloud Voice has no way to send received faxes on to a user. See [Email Server Overview](/pbx/administrator-guide/email-server-overview/).
- Make sure the extension that should receive the faxes has a valid email address assigned to it.
- Optional: adjust the wording of the fax notification message. See [Customize Email Templates](/pbx/administrator-guide/customize-email-templates/).

:::caution
Both requirements must be in place before you start. If the system email server is not configured, or the target extension has no email address, the fax will be received but never delivered, and there is usually no obvious error to tell you why.
:::

## Configure Fax to Email

Before you choose a path below, work out how the fax number reaches your system:

- **Dedicated line:** a phone line or number used only for faxing. Every call on it is treated as a fax.
- **Shared line:** a line that carries both voice calls and faxes. Cloud Voice has to listen to each call and decide whether it is a fax.

:::note
An inbound route is the rule that decides where an incoming call or fax goes. You will find these under **Call Control > Inbound Route**. Edit the route that already handles the number your faxes arrive on rather than creating a new one.
:::

1. Sign in to the Cloud Voice management portal and open **Call Control > Inbound Route**. Open the inbound route that handles your incoming faxes for editing.

2. If faxes arrive over a line reserved solely for faxing (a dedicated line), configure the **Default Destination** section:

   ![Inbound route configured to send faxes from a dedicated line to a user's email](/images/pbx/fax-to-email-dedicated-line.png)

   a. In the **Default Destination** drop-down list, choose **Fax To Email**.

   b. Pick the extension user who should receive the faxes.

3. If faxes share a line with voice calls (a shared line), use fax detection instead:

   ![Inbound route using an IVR with fax detection to route faxes to email](/images/pbx/fax-to-email-shared-line.png)

   a. In the **Default Destination** drop-down list, choose **IVR** (Interactive Voice Response, the automated menu that answers the call), then select the IVR you want to use.

   b. Enable the **Fax Detection** switch.

   c. In the **Fax Destination** drop-down list, choose **Fax To Email**.

   d. In the **Extension's Email** drop-down list, pick the extension user who should receive the faxes.

   :::note
   Fax Detection listens for the fax calling tone at the start of each call. When it hears that tone, it treats the call as a fax and sends it to the **Fax Destination** you set here. Any call without that tone continues on to the IVR menu as a normal voice call.
   :::

4. Click **Save**, then **Apply**.

   :::caution
   Your changes are not live until you click **Apply**. Clicking **Save** alone stores the settings but does not put them into effect, so incoming faxes will still follow the old route until you apply.
   :::

:::tip
Once the route is applied, send a test fax to the number and confirm the PDF arrives in the user's inbox. Testing now is far easier than discovering later that a customer's faxes were never getting through.
:::

## Result

From now on, whenever a fax comes in, Cloud Voice converts it and forwards it to the selected user's email address as a PDF attachment.