Skip to content
WelcoYour alerts, by text.

Email to SMS for any system that can send an alert

Email to SMS for any system means the panel, logger or app nobody wrote a plug-in for can still wake the right person. If it can send an email, its alarm can land on the on-call phone 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

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

  • Email or SMTP is enough
  • Nothing to install
  • No per-user fees

Works by email with

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

hmi-west raises “Urgent alarm triggered: CLR2_DRV_FLT”; the email lands in alarms@hmi-west.example.com and plain SMTP passes it on. The email reaches Welco and the phone shows: “Welco: [Secondary] Clarifier 2 drive fault at 4:18 AM. Reply STOP to opt out.”

Animation: a long Custom alarm system alert email is trimmed into one short text: "Welco: [Secondary] Clarifier 2 drive fault at 4:18 AM. Reply STOP to opt out."

What changes for a system with no plug-in

  • The alarm leaves the inbox

    An email nobody reads at night becomes a text the on-call person reads on the lock screen.

  • Nights go to the night phone

    Night and weekend routing picks who gets it by the hour, so the day crew sleeps.

  • Only your systems can text

    Mail from addresses you haven't approved is refused, so a copier or a stranger can't buzz anyone.

What you need

Check four things before you start. Most systems already have the first one, and setup takes 15 to 30 minutes. Named systems have their own pages in the directory of alert integrations.

  • A system with an email, SMTP or notify-by-email setting. If it emails you alerts today, it's ready.
  • A verified Welco account and the Welco address it gives you. Sign up free if you don't have one yet.
  • Staff who join from your Welco invite on their own mobile. 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 differ from system to system. These are the places to look, in order.

  1. Open the alert or notification menu

    Most systems call it Notifications, Alarm Actions, Email Recipients or Contacts. On a panel or a logger, check the network or communication settings.

  2. Check how the system sends mail

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

  3. Add your Welco address as a recipient

    Put your Welco address in the recipient field, next to the old address or in its place. If the field drops the + sign, use the dot form, such as yourteam.boilers@welco.ai.

  4. Approve the sending address

    Note the From address on a recent alert and add it to your trusted sender addresses. Mail from other addresses is refused.

  5. Trigger 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 quiet while you tune it.

Your system's next alarm can be a text

Sign up, verify your business and put your Welco address in 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

A remote telemetry logger at a booster site emails a reading when pressure crosses 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 92 characters: “Welco: [Booster Site 9] Pressure 91.3 PSI, above 85 PSI at 6:44 AM. Reply STOP to opt out.”

Text received: Welco: [Booster Site 9] Pressure 91.3 PSI, above 85 PSI at 6:44 AM. Reply STOP to opt out.

Characters261921 credit

Animation: the alert email "Alert: Pressure above threshold" is trimmed into one text: "Welco: [Booster Site 9] Pressure 91.3 PSI, above 85 PSI at 6:44 AM. Reply STOP to opt out."

One trim rule kept the station, the reading and the time, and dropped the footer. See how one-text trimming works.

SMTP relay notes for older equipment

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

  • Use an internal relay

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

  • Reuse the printer 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 sees

    After a relay or forward, the From line may show the mailbox instead of the device. Approve whatever address the Welco feed shows.

If the text doesn't come through

Work down the list. Most problems sit in the first two rows.

Nothing in the Welco feed

Where to look
The system never sent the email. Check its own mail log or event log.

A refused message in the feed

Where to look
The sending address isn't approved yet. The feed shows the reason.

A text with no alarm name

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

The feed shows the alert, but one phone got nothing

Where to look
That phone hasn't replied YES, or replied STOP once. Per-phone delivery status shows which.

Frequently asked questions

My system only has an SMTP server field. What do I put there?

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

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

Use the dot form of your address instead, such as yourteam.pumproom@welco.ai. It reaches the same account as the plus form, and it can have its own rules.

Can I forward alerts from Outlook or Gmail instead of changing the system?

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

Why did one alarm turn into three texts?

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

Our alerts come from a cloud service that emails many companies. Is that a problem?

No. Some hosted services send every customer's alerts from one shared address. Welco tells yours apart by the address they were sent to, so approving that shared From address is safe.

Can the person on call answer the alarm by replying?

They can reply, and the reply is emailed 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 replace a carrier email-to-text address in my system?

Yes. If the system emails an address like 5551234567@vtext.com, put your Welco address in its place. Carriers are closing those gateways, as the carrier email-to-text shutdown dates show. Your staff then confirm their own phones with YES.

What does texting a custom system's alerts cost?

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

Point your first system at Welco today

If it can send an email, it can text the person 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