> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://plivo.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Forward SMS Messages to Email

> Route incoming SMS messages to an email address for centralized archiving

Businesses get communications through many channels. It can be handy to have a searchable archive of messages in one place. Forwarding SMS messages to email lets you keep both kinds of messages in one spot. Plivo makes it easy to forward SMS messages to email using the most popular web development languages. Here we walk through the process with Java.

<h2 id="api-{{'Prerequisites' | slugify}}">Prerequisites</h2>

To get started, you need a Plivo account —  [sign up](https://cx.plivo.com/signup) with your work email address if you don’t have one already. To receive incoming messages, you must have a Plivo phone number that supports SMS; you can rent numbers from the [Numbers](https://cx.plivo.com/phone-numbers) page of the Plivo console or by using the [Numbers API](/docs/numbers/). If this is your first time using Plivo APIs, follow our instructions to set up a Java development environment.

The code example below presumes you have a Gmail account, but it’s easy to edit the code to support another SMTP client.

<h2 id="api-{{'Create the forward SMS application' | slugify}}">Create the forward SMS application</h2>

Edit the PlivoSmsApplication.java file in the src/main/java/com.example.demo/ folder and paste into it this code.

```java theme={null}
package com.example.plivo;

import org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication;
import org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.SpringBootApplication;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.*;

import javax.mail.*;
import javax.mail.Message;
import javax.mail.internet.InternetAddress;
import javax.mail.internet.MimeMessage;
import java.util.Properties;

@SpringBootApplication
@RestController

public class PlivoApplication {
	public static void main(String[] args) {
		SpringApplication.run(PlivoApplication.class, args);
	}

	@PostMapping("/email_sms/")
	public void postBody(String From, String To, String Text) {
		System.out.println(From + " " + To + " " + Text);
		final String username = "<email_address>";
		final String password = "<password>";
	
		Properties prop = new Properties();
		prop.put("mail.smtp.host", "smtp.gmail.com");
		prop.put("mail.smtp.port", "587");
		prop.put("mail.smtp.auth", "true");
		prop.put("mail.smtp.starttls.enable", "true"); //TLS
	
		Session session = Session.getInstance(prop,
				new javax.mail.Authenticator() {
					protected PasswordAuthentication getPasswordAuthentication() {
						return new PasswordAuthentication(username, password);
					}
				});
	
		try {
			Message message = new MimeMessage(session);
			message.setFrom(new InternetAddress("<from_email_address>"));
			message.setRecipients(
					Message.RecipientType.TO,
					InternetAddress.parse("<recipient_address>")
			);
			message.setSubject("SMS from" + From);
			message.setText(Text);
			Transport.send(message);
			System.out.println("Email sent");
	
		} catch (MessagingException e) {
			e.printStackTrace();
		}
	}
}
```

Save the file and run it.

<Note>
  <strong>Note:</strong> If you use Gmail to send email, you must use an <a href="https://support.google.com/mail/answer/185833?hl=en">app password</a>, which will be treated as your password to send email from the application.
</Note>

Save the file and run it.

<h2 id="api-{{'Create a Plivo application' | slugify}}">Create a Plivo application</h2>

Associate the controller you created with Plivo by creating a Plivo application. Visit Messaging > [Applications](https://cx.plivo.com/xml-applications) and click **Add New Application**. You can also use Plivo's [Application API](/docs/account/api/application/#create-an-application).

Give your application a name — we called ours `Email SMS`. Enter the server URL you want to use (for example `https://<yourdomain>.com/email_sms/`) in the `Message URL` field and set the method to `POST`. Click **Create Application** to save your application.

<Frame>
  <img src="https://mintcdn.com/plivo/2OFvQXVNT3srKLUy/images/create_SMSEmail_app.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=2OFvQXVNT3srKLUy&q=85&s=c96746f9ea84a8b608af97f8f1a8b7d7" alt="Create Application" width="1440" height="789" data-path="images/create_SMSEmail_app.png" />
</Frame>

<h2 id="api-{{'Assign a Plivo number to your app' | slugify}}">Assign a Plivo number to your application</h2>

Navigate to the [Numbers](https://cx.plivo.com/phone-numbers) page and select the phone number you want to use for this application.

From the Application Type drop-down, select `XML Application`.

From the Plivo Application drop-down, select `Email SMS` (the name we gave the application).

Click **Update Number** to save.

<Frame>
  <img src="https://mintcdn.com/plivo/NFI9_HRHTMInDf93/images/assign-application.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=NFI9_HRHTMInDf93&q=85&s=2a8d226838fda0ea9d84f2b45207ab0b" alt="Assign Application" width="1440" height="821" data-path="images/assign-application.png" />
</Frame>

<h2 id="api-{{'Test' | slugify}}">Test</h2>

Send a text message to the Plivo number you associated with the application using a regular mobile phone. The incoming message should be forwarded to the email address you specified.