There are two types of Accounts in the Portal.
Both of these can be sent fax to e-mail but only the virtualFax accounts can be sent faxes as PDFs and can send out fax as PDFs. ATA accounts are always sent faxes as TIFF files. Presently there is no other option.
Another major difference is that Virtual FAX account can send and receive fax through email while ATA Fax account only can receive fax through email. For sending out fax, ATA Fax account can only send out fax through the fax machine which is connected to the ATA device.
The confusion comes from the customer account screen which combines the Virtual and ATA account settings. Often agents and clients alike put information in both when they only one service or the other. This is especially problematic for ATA users who see the Virtual Account setting option.