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WelcoYour alerts, by text.

Email to SMS for any panel, logger or app that sends an alert

Email to SMS for any system means the controller, logger or app nobody built a plug-in for can still reach the right person. If it can send an email, its alarm can arrive on the on-call cellphone as one trimmed text. You add your Welco address to its email or SMTP setting and approve the sender.

Text me my system's alertsBook a demo

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  • Email or SMTP is all it takes
  • No software to install
  • No per-user fees

Works by email with

  • Any system that emails
  • PLC alarms
  • Data loggers
  • Microsoft 365 / Outlook

hmi-wwtp raises “Urgent alarm triggered: BLW3_FLT”; the email lands in alarms@hmi-wwtp.example.com and plain SMTP passes it on. The email reaches Welco and the phone shows: “Welco: [Secondary] Aeration blower 3 fault at 3:52 AM. Reply STOP to opt out.”

Animation: a long Custom alarm system alert email is trimmed into one short text: "Welco: [Secondary] Aeration blower 3 fault at 3:52 AM. Reply STOP to opt out."

What changes for a system without a plug-in

  • The alarm gets out of the inbox

    An email nobody opens overnight becomes a text the on-call person sees on the lock screen.

  • Night alarms reach the night phone

    Night and weekend routing chooses who gets it by the hour, so the day crew can sleep.

  • Only your own systems can text

    Mail from any address you haven't approved bounces, so a copier or a stranger can't buzz anyone.

What you need before you start

Check these four things first. Most systems already have the first one, and setup takes 15 to 30 minutes. Systems with their own guide are listed in the directory of alert integrations.

Building systems common in Canada, such as Delta Controls or Distech Controls, follow the same steps. Find where the system emails its alarms, then add your Welco address there.

  • A system with an email, SMTP or notify-by-email setting. If it emails you alerts now, it's ready.
  • A verified Welco account and the Welco address that comes with it. Sign up free if you don't have one.
  • Staff who join from your Welco invite with their own cellphone. Each person confirms with a YES reply.
  • Access to the system's mail settings, or to someone in IT who can change them.

Set up email to SMS for any system in 5 steps

Menu names vary from one system to the next. These are the places to check, in order.

  1. Find the alert or notification menu

    Systems tend to call it Notifications, Alarm Actions, Email Recipients or Contacts. On a panel or a logger, look under network or communication settings.

  2. See how the system sends mail

    Some systems send through your company mail server. Others need SMTP details (how systems send email): a server name, a port and sometimes a login. If alerts already reach your inbox, this part is done.

  3. Add your Welco address as a recipient

    Enter your Welco address in the recipient field, beside the old address or instead of it. If the field strips out the + sign, use the dot form, such as yourteam.chillers@welco.ai.

  4. Approve the sending address

    Copy the From address off a recent alert and add it to your trusted sender addresses. Mail from any other address bounces.

  5. Fire a test alarm

    Most systems have a Test or Send test email button. Check the result in the Welco feed, or use a no-send test to keep phones silent while you fine-tune.

Your system's next alarm can arrive as a text

Sign up, verify your business with your Canadian Business Number or EIN, and add your Welco address to one alert setting.

7-day free trial, 15 message creditsCard required for verificationNo charge for 7 daysEmail reminder before billing

Text me my system's alertsBook a demo

Before and after: a telemetry logger alert

In rural Saskatchewan, a remote telemetry logger at a booster station emails a reading when pressure passes a limit. The email is short but cluttered. Only the station, the pressure and the time make it into the text.

Alert email from notify@telemetry.example.net, subject “Alert: Pressure above threshold”. Welco trims it to one text of 95 characters: “Welco: [Booster Station 4] Pressure 628 kPa, above 590 kPa at 6:44 AM. Reply STOP to opt out.”

Text received: Welco: [Booster Station 4] Pressure 628 kPa, above 590 kPa at 6:44 AM. Reply STOP to opt out.

Characters264951 credit

Animation: the alert email "Alert: Pressure above threshold" is trimmed into one text: "Welco: [Booster Station 4] Pressure 628 kPa, above 590 kPa at 6:44 AM. Reply STOP to opt out."

A single trim rule kept the station, the reading and the time, and cut the footer. Here's how one-text trimming works.

SMTP relay tips for older equipment

Some older panels, HMIs and PLC gateways only send plain SMTP, with no encryption or modern sign-in. Many mail services reject that mail, so send it through a server you control.

  • Go through an internal relay

    Point the device at your Exchange server or a small relay run by your IT team. The relay passes each alert along to Welco.

  • Borrow the scanner connector

    Your Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace admin may already run a relay or connector for printers and scanners.

  • Forward from one fixed mailbox

    If the system can email only one address, forward from that mailbox. See forwarding Outlook alerts or Google Groups alerts.

  • Approve the address Welco receives

    After a relay or forward, the From line may show the mailbox rather than the device. Approve the address the Welco feed shows.

If no text comes through

Work through the list from the top. Most problems are in the first two rows.

Nothing in the Welco feed

Where to check
The system never sent the email. Look in its own mail log or event log.

A refused message in the feed

Where to check
The sending address isn't approved yet. The feed gives the reason.

A text without the alarm name

Where to check
The alarm is in the subject line, and the subject setting is off. It's off by default to save credits.

The alert is in the feed, but one phone got nothing

Where to check
That phone hasn't replied YES, or it replied STOP at some point. Per-phone delivery status shows which.

Frequently asked questions

My system only has a field for an SMTP server. What goes in it?

Enter the mail server your company already sends through, such as your Exchange server or Microsoft 365 relay. Your IT team can supply the port and login. Then put your Welco address in the recipient field and send a test.

What if my system drops the plus sign from email addresses?

Switch to the dot form of your address, such as yourteam.liftstations@welco.ai. It reaches the same account as the plus form, and it can carry its own rules.

Could I forward alerts from Outlook or Gmail and leave the system alone?

Yes. Forward the alerts to your Welco address, then approve the forwarding mailbox as a sender. Outlook forward headers and Gmail signatures are removed before the text goes out.

Why did a single alarm show up as three texts?

Your system likely sent three emails, one per contact on its list. Each email has its own ID, so each can become a text. List your Welco address once and let Welco send to every phone.

Our alerts come from a cloud service that emails lots of companies. Does that matter?

No. Some hosted services send every client's alerts from one shared address. Welco recognizes yours by the address it was sent to, so approving that shared From address is safe.

Can the on-call person deal with the alarm by replying?

They can reply, and Welco emails the reply back to the alert's sender. It doesn't clear or acknowledge anything in the system itself. Use the system's own screen for that.

Can Welco take the place of a carrier email-to-text address in my system?

Yes. Put your Welco address where the system used to email an address like 4165550123@txt.bell.ca. Bell switched off Text via Email on December 31, 2025, and Rogers and Fido gateways reportedly stopped around June 2023. Staff then confirm their own phones with YES, and the carrier email-to-text shutdown dates cover each network.

What does it cost to text a custom system's alerts?

The same as any other system: no per-user fees, no hardware and no setup fee. A short alert uses one message credit, and long alerts use more unless trimmed. Try your own panel or logger with a 7-day free trial, 15 message credits. Your card is charged only after you approve a plan on pricing, and plans never bill overage.

Connect your first system to Welco today

If it can send an email, it can text whoever is on call.

Text me my system's alertsBook a demo

7-day free trial, 15 message creditsCard required for verificationNo charge for 7 daysEmail reminder before billing