The addressing channel extracts addressing information from within a message body, constructs a To: address list from the extracted information, and then remails the message, less the addressing information, to the constructed To: address list. Use of such a channel is not the preferred way of handling mail but is often the only way by which some mail systems (e.g., PROFS with its eight-by-eight naming space) can interoperate with other mail systems and networks.

The addressing channel can be used in conjunction with the queue to e-mail symbiont in order to allow applications, such as word processors, to "print" documents directly for transmission as FAXes. This functionality even works with remote printing clients which have access to OpenVMS print queues (e.g., Pathworks, LPD clients, etc.).