The short answer
FROM-TO@txt.vocatech.com, both numbers ten digits. WhatsApp uses @whatsapp.vocatech.com.Vocatech runs an email gateway that sends a text or a WhatsApp message when you send an ordinary email. Anywhere you have email, you can reach a customer.
The shortcut
Fill in the two phone numbers on the generator page, pick Text or WhatsApp, and press Generate email. Your mail app opens with the address and the subject filled in. Type the message in the body and send.
How the address works
The email address is always the same pattern: your Vocatech number, a hyphen, the customer's number, at txt.vocatech.com for a text or whatsapp.vocatech.com for WhatsApp. Ten digits each, no leading 1, no dashes inside a number.
- Text:
7183951550-7185551234@txt.vocatech.com - WhatsApp:
7183951550-7185551234@whatsapp.vocatech.com
Whatever you put in the email body becomes the message, and your email signature is removed automatically. Leave the subject alone; it is not sent. Attachments on a text are limited by picture-message size limits; WhatsApp accepts the usual pictures, audio and documents.
Who receives the reply
The customer's reply comes back to the same Vocatech number. If the number delivers to email, the reply arrives as an email in the same thread, at the one address set for that number; texting by email goes to a single address, not to several. If the number is on Textdock, the reply appears in the Webex space instead. WhatsApp by email can go to several addresses, and every one of them gets every incoming message.
Common issues
Gmail does not open when you press Generate email
Most browsers hand mail links to a desktop mail app. To make Gmail the handler in Chrome, open Settings, then Privacy and security, then Site settings, then Additional permissions, then Protocol handlers, and allow sites to ask to become default handlers. Refresh Gmail, click the small icon that appears in the address bar, and choose Allow for mail.google.com.
"Invalid number format"
Each number must be exactly ten digits. Drop a leading 1 and strip dashes, brackets and spaces.
The message never arrived
The FROM number has to be one of your Vocatech numbers, sent from an address that is allowed to send for it, or the gateway rejects the email. If the number and the address are right and it still does not go through, the failure reason is on the message; see why a text failed, or call us at 718.395.1550.