New to cscart here. Seems like when users place orders (now order by phone or check orders) they are not sending an order email? Is there a setting for this or do I need to click on the order_placed event and do something there?
Depends which order statuses you use.
In the old order statuses, (admin> order statuses) you have a check box for which you want to email.
If you use new document editor (Settings -> Appearance -> Email templates mode), corresponding template should be enabled on the Design -> Email templates -> Customer notifications page