Step one: Determine your phone's email address
Your phone's SMS "address" is your 10-digit number followed by your carrier's SMS gateway. For example, to forward an email to a Verizon phone, enter "5555555555@vtext.com". We have included a link to a list of carriers and their SMS email addresses, but you will want to test it out before relying on it. Best way to test it is to send an email from your computer to that SMS address.
List of popular email to SMS gateways
Step two: Forward urgent mail to your phone
- Create a rule that forwards messages from a specific address to your phone's SMS gateway.
To open the rules wizard in Outlook 2013 and 2010, click File > Info > Manage Rules & Alerts.
In Outlook 2007 and 2003, select Tools > Rules and Alerts. - Click E-mail Rules > New Rule, select the option to "Start from a blank rule," check "Apply rules on messages I receive," and click Next.
- Choose either "From people or public group" or "From people or distribution list," depending on your version of Outlook, and select any other conditions you wish to apply to the rule.
- Click either "people or public group" or "people or distribution list" in the Step 2 window.
- Select the sender's address from your Contacts list or enter it in the From text box at the bottom of the window.
- Click OK and then Next.
- Under "What do you want to do with the message?", check "Forward it to people or public group" (or "people or distribution list").
- Select "people or public group" or "people or distribution list" in the Step 2 window, enter your phone's SMS gateway address in the To field at the bottom of the dialog box, and click OK.
- Click Finish if you want to be notified of all messages from the address, or click Next to add one or more exceptions for your rule. For example, you could exclude alerts for messages that have a specific word in the subject line, or that don't have your name in the To field.
- Once you're satisfied with the rule, click OK to exit the rules wizard.