Email to SMS lets you send a text message from any email account, with no software to install. Write an email, address it to a mobile number at @emsg.me.uk, and we deliver it as an SMS. This guide covers how to address your email, what gets sent, how to keep disclaimers and signatures out of your texts, the account settings that control length and delivery receipts, and how replies come back to your inbox.
In short: send an email to 07700900123@emsg.me.uk and the message body arrives as a text on that mobile. Your account settings decide whether the subject or the body is sent, how long a message can be, and whether you get a delivery receipt. Send from a two-way mobile number and replies come back to you as emails.
How it works
- Register your email address. Your email address is your everymessage login. We only accept email to SMS from registered addresses, so your credit can’t be used by anyone else.
- Address the email to a mobile number. Put the number in front of
@emsg.me.uk. Add as many numbers as you need in To, Cc or Bcc. - Write your message. We take the email body (or the subject, if your account is set up that way), remove signatures and quoted replies, and send it as an SMS.
- Get receipts and replies by email. Delivery receipts and replies from the mobile come back to your inbox, if your account is set up for them.
Addressing your email
The part of the address before the @ is the mobile number. Use digits only. We convert UK numbers to international format for you.
| You send to | We send the SMS to | Notes |
|---|---|---|
07700900123@emsg.me.uk | +44 7700 900123 | UK mobile in national format. |
447700900123@emsg.me.uk | +44 7700 900123 | UK mobile in international format. |
33612345678@emsg.me.uk | +33 6 12 34 56 78 | International: start with the country code. A leading 00 also works. |
sales@emsg.me.uk | Every member of your sales contact group | Use a contact group’s name or email alias from the portal. Members who have unsubscribed are skipped. |
credits@emsg.me.uk | Nothing is sent | We reply with your account’s remaining credit (pay-as-you-go accounts). |
- Several recipients: add each number as a separate address. To, Cc and Bcc all work, so you can Bcc mobiles without the others seeing them.
- Other email addresses: you can copy in colleagues on ordinary email addresses. They get the email as normal; only the
@emsg.me.ukaddresses are sent as texts. - Avoid the + sign and spaces in the address. Some email programs change or reject them.
Body or subject: what gets sent
By default, the email body becomes the SMS and the subject is ignored. If you’d rather type short messages in the subject line, turn on Use subject as SMS for your account. The subject is then sent, and the body is ignored.
| Use subject as SMS: off (default) | Use subject as SMS: on | |
|---|---|---|
| Sent as the SMS | The email body | The subject line |
| Best for | Longer messages, and messages sent by business systems | Quick one-line messages from a phone or email client |
| Signatures and disclaimers | Removed using the options below | Not an issue: the body isn’t sent |
| Maximum length | Set by your account’s Max segments (see below) | |
When we read the body, we:
- use the plain-text version of the email, or convert HTML email to plain text;
- stop at the first quoted reply or signature break: a line starting
--,-----Original Message-----,On ... wrote:,From:, a line of underscores, or a line starting>; - tidy up extra spaces and blank lines.
Attachments are not sent. For the best results, send plain-text email and keep to standard characters: see SMS character limits for why that matters.
Choosing the sender
Your texts come from your account’s default sender, which is a sender name (up to 11 letters and numbers) or one of your mobile numbers. To use a different sender for one message, add sender= at the end of the subject line:
| To | 07700900123@emsg.me.uk |
|---|---|
| Subject | Appointment reminder sender=BRIGHTCARE |
| Body | Your appointment is tomorrow at 10:30. Call 01234 567890 to change it. |
Put the sender= token last, because everything after it is read as the sender. The sender must be a name you’re allowed to use, or a number on your account.
Keeping disclaimers and signatures out of your texts
Most business email adds a signature or legal disclaimer. Signatures that start with a standard -- line are removed automatically. For anything else, there are two ways to stop it reaching the text.
1. The Email disclaimer setting
In the portal, enter the first few words of your disclaimer in Email disclaimer, exactly as they appear in your emails, for example This email is confidential. We cut the message at the first place that text appears, so the disclaimer and everything after it are removed.
The setting holds up to 50 characters and must be at least 3. Capital letters don’t matter. Enter * or leave it blank for no disclaimer.
2. Custom end tags
Wrap your message between #%# and ##. Only the text between the tags is sent, whatever comes before or after it.
This is the most reliable option when a disclaimer is added by your mail server after you press send, or when an automated system writes the email and you can’t control the rest of the body.
| To | 07700900123@emsg.me.uk |
|---|---|
| Body | #%#Your engineer will arrive between 10:00 and 12:00 today.## Kind regards, Service team This email and any attachments are confidential… |
The text above sends only Your engineer will arrive between 10:00 and 12:00 today. Don’t use ## inside the message itself, because the first ## ends it.
A third option is Use subject as SMS: the body, and any disclaimer in it, isn’t sent at all.
Account settings for email to SMS
An administrator sets these for each user in the portal (Users, then Edit).
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Max segments | The longest message the user can send, from 1 to 6 SMS parts. One part holds 160 characters; six joined parts hold 918. A longer message isn’t sent. Keeping this low means a long email thread sent by mistake can’t use up your credit. |
| Daily limit (£) | The most the user can spend in a day. Messages over the limit are rejected and the sender is told why. |
| Email receipt | When on, every email to SMS message asks for a delivery receipt. When off, you can still ask for one per message by turning on a read receipt (return receipt) in your email client. |
| Delivery rule | Where delivery receipts go: Via Email, Via URL (to your system’s webhook), Via Email & URL, or Collect / Portal (held for you to collect through the API or portal). |
| Use subject as SMS | Sends the email subject instead of the body. |
| Email disclaimer | The text at which the email body is cut, to remove a disclaimer. |
| Originator | The user’s default sender: a sender name, or a two-way mobile number if you want replies. |
Delivery receipt emails
With the delivery rule set to email, you get an email when the network confirms the outcome. The subject says whether the message was delivered, expired or rejected, and the original message is quoted underneath.
Each receipt comes from the mobile number itself, for example 447700900123@emsg.me.uk. Reply to the receipt and your reply is sent to that mobile as a new text.
Replies: SMS back to your email
People can’t reply to a sender name such as BRIGHTCARE. To have a conversation, send from a two-way mobile number on your account:
- Set the user’s Originator to your two-way number, or add
sender=with the number to the subject. - Set the number’s Reply handling to Email (or Email & URL, to also send replies to your system).
- Replies arrive in your inbox, sent to the email address of the user who sent the original message. Each one comes from the mobile, for example
447700900123@emsg.me.uk, with your original message quoted below. - Reply to the email to answer. Your reply goes back to the mobile as a text. The quoted history in your reply is removed automatically, so only your new words are sent.
A text that isn’t a reply to a recent message, such as a customer texting your number first, is emailed to the number’s owner with the subject Incoming SMS. You can reply to it in the same way.
Security
- Registered senders only. Email from addresses that aren’t registered users is rejected.
- Checked at the door. Incoming email must pass SPF, and can also be required to pass DKIM, so messages pretending to come from your domain are refused.
- Spam and viruses are filtered before anything is read. Automatic replies, out-of-office messages and bounces are ignored, so they never become texts.
- Whole-domain sign-up (optional). Your administrator can let anyone at your company’s email domain send without being added one by one. New senders get your company’s default settings.
If a message isn’t sent
We email the sender with the reason. The common ones:
| Reason | What to do |
|---|---|
| No valid mobile recipient | Check the number before the @: digits only, starting 07, 44 or another country code. |
| No group found | Check the group name or alias in the portal. Groups are per company. |
| Message body was empty | Everything was removed as signature or disclaimer, or Use subject as SMS is on and the subject was blank. Check your Email disclaimer setting, or use end tags. |
| Insufficient credits / daily limit reached | Top up your account, or ask your administrator about the user’s daily limit. |
| Message authentication (DKIM) failed | Your company requires DKIM. Ask your email administrator to check DKIM signing for your domain. |
| Message too long | The message needs more SMS parts than your Max segments allows. Shorten it, check that a long signature or reply thread isn’t being included, or ask your administrator to raise the limit. |
Frequently asked questions
What email address do I send to?
Put the mobile number in front of @emsg.me.uk, for example 07700900123@emsg.me.uk. You can use UK numbers starting 07 or 447, or any international number starting with its country code.
Can I send one email to several mobiles?
Yes. Add each number as its own address in To, Cc or Bcc. Every number receives the same message. You can also send to a contact group by using the group’s name as the address.
Is the email subject sent?
Not by default. The message body becomes the SMS. If you turn on Use subject as SMS for your account, the subject line is sent instead and the body is ignored.
How do I stop my email disclaimer appearing in the text?
Enter the first words of your disclaimer in the Email disclaimer setting, and everything from that point is removed. Or wrap your message in #%# and ## so only the text between them is sent.
How do I know my message was delivered?
Turn on Email receipt for your account, or request a read receipt in your email client. You’ll get an email when the network confirms delivery or failure.
Can people reply to my texts?
Yes, if you send from a two-way mobile number on your account and its replies are set to Email. Replies arrive in your inbox, and you answer them by replying to the email.
Who can send email to SMS?
Only email addresses registered to your account. Mail from anyone else is rejected, so nobody can spend your credit by sending to our address.
Start sending texts from email
We’ll set up your users, sender names and two-way numbers so you can send and receive texts from the email you already use.