How to send email attachments?

Question

I am having problems understanding how to email an attachment using Python. I have successfully emailed simple messages with the smtplib. Could someone please explain how to send an attachment in an email. I know there are other posts online but as a Python beginner I find them hard to understand.

Answer 1

Here's another:

import smtplib
from os.path import basename
from email.mime.application import MIMEApplication
from email.mime.multipart import MIMEMultipart
from email.mime.text import MIMEText
from email.utils import COMMASPACE, formatdate


def send_mail(send_from, send_to, subject, text, files=None,
              server="127.0.0.1"):
    assert isinstance(send_to, list)

    msg = MIMEMultipart()
    msg['From'] = send_from
    msg['To'] = COMMASPACE.join(send_to)
    msg['Date'] = formatdate(localtime=True)
    msg['Subject'] = subject

    msg.attach(MIMEText(text))

    for f in files or []:
        with open(f, "rb") as fil:
            part = MIMEApplication(
                fil.read(),
                Name=basename(f)
            )
        # After the file is closed
        part['Content-Disposition'] = 'attachment; filename="%s"' % basename(f)
        msg.attach(part)


    smtp = smtplib.SMTP(server)
    smtp.sendmail(send_from, send_to, msg.as_string())
    smtp.close()

It's much the same as the first example... But it should be easier to drop in.

Answer 2

Here is the modified version from Oli for python 3

import smtplib
from pathlib import Path
from email.mime.multipart import MIMEMultipart
from email.mime.base import MIMEBase
from email.mime.text import MIMEText
from email.utils import COMMASPACE, formatdate
from email import encoders


def send_mail(send_from, send_to, subject, message, files=[],
              server="localhost", port=587, username='', password='',
              use_tls=True):
    """Compose and send email with provided info and attachments.

    Args:
        send_from (str): from name
        send_to (list[str]): to name(s)
        subject (str): message title
        message (str): message body
        files (list[str]): list of file paths to be attached to email
        server (str): mail server host name
        port (int): port number
        username (str): server auth username
        password (str): server auth password
        use_tls (bool): use TLS mode
    """
    msg = MIMEMultipart()
    msg['From'] = send_from
    msg['To'] = COMMASPACE.join(send_to)
    msg['Date'] = formatdate(localtime=True)
    msg['Subject'] = subject

    msg.attach(MIMEText(message))

    for path in files:
        part = MIMEBase('application', "octet-stream")
        with open(path, 'rb') as file:
            part.set_payload(file.read())
        encoders.encode_base64(part)
        part.add_header('Content-Disposition',
                        'attachment; filename="{}"'.format(Path(path).name))
        msg.attach(part)

    smtp = smtplib.SMTP(server, port)
    if use_tls:
        smtp.starttls()
    smtp.login(username, password)
    smtp.sendmail(send_from, send_to, msg.as_string())
    smtp.quit()

Answer 3

This is the code I ended up using:

import smtplib
from email.MIMEMultipart import MIMEMultipart
from email.MIMEBase import MIMEBase
from email import Encoders


SUBJECT = "Email Data"

msg = MIMEMultipart()
msg['Subject'] = SUBJECT 
msg['From'] = self.EMAIL_FROM
msg['To'] = ', '.join(self.EMAIL_TO)

part = MIMEBase('application', "octet-stream")
part.set_payload(open("text.txt", "rb").read())
Encoders.encode_base64(part)
    
part.add_header('Content-Disposition', 'attachment; filename="text.txt"')

msg.attach(part)

server = smtplib.SMTP(self.EMAIL_SERVER)
server.sendmail(self.EMAIL_FROM, self.EMAIL_TO, msg.as_string())

Code is much the same as Oli's post.

Code based from Binary file email attachment problem post.

Answer 4

from email.MIMEMultipart import MIMEMultipart
from email.MIMEText import MIMEText
from email.MIMEImage import MIMEImage
import smtplib

msg = MIMEMultipart()
msg.attach(MIMEText(file("text.txt").read()))
msg.attach(MIMEImage(file("image.png").read()))

# to send
mailer = smtplib.SMTP()
mailer.connect()
mailer.sendmail(from_, to, msg.as_string())
mailer.close()

Adapted from here.

Answer 5

Another way with python 3 (If someone is searching):

import smtplib
from email.mime.multipart import MIMEMultipart
from email.mime.text import MIMEText
from email.mime.base import MIMEBase
from email import encoders

fromaddr = "sender mail address"
toaddr = "receiver mail address"

msg = MIMEMultipart()

msg['From'] = fromaddr
msg['To'] = toaddr
msg['Subject'] = "SUBJECT OF THE EMAIL"

body = "TEXT YOU WANT TO SEND"

msg.attach(MIMEText(body, 'plain'))

filename = "fileName"
attachment = open("path of file", "rb")

part = MIMEBase('application', 'octet-stream')
part.set_payload((attachment).read())
encoders.encode_base64(part)
part.add_header('Content-Disposition', "attachment; filename= %s" % filename)

msg.attach(part)

server = smtplib.SMTP('smtp.gmail.com', 587)
server.starttls()
server.login(fromaddr, "sender mail password")
text = msg.as_string()
server.sendmail(fromaddr, toaddr, text)
server.quit()

Make sure to allow “less secure apps” on your Gmail account

Answer 6

Gmail version, working with Python 3.6 (note that you will need to change your Gmail settings to be able to send email via smtp from it:

import smtplib
from email.mime.text import MIMEText
from email.mime.multipart import MIMEMultipart
from email.mime.application import MIMEApplication
from os.path import basename


def send_mail(send_from: str, subject: str, text: str, 
send_to: list, files= None):

    send_to= default_address if not send_to else send_to

    msg = MIMEMultipart()
    msg['From'] = send_from
    msg['To'] = ', '.join(send_to)  
    msg['Subject'] = subject

    msg.attach(MIMEText(text))

    for f in files or []:
        with open(f, "rb") as fil: 
            ext = f.split('.')[-1:]
            attachedfile = MIMEApplication(fil.read(), _subtype = ext)
            attachedfile.add_header(
                'content-disposition', 'attachment', filename=basename(f) )
        msg.attach(attachedfile)


    smtp = smtplib.SMTP(host="smtp.gmail.com", port= 587) 
    smtp.starttls()
    smtp.login(username,password)
    smtp.sendmail(send_from, send_to, msg.as_string())
    smtp.close()

Usage:

username = 'my-address@gmail.com'
password = 'top-secret'
default_address = ['my-address2@gmail.com'] 

send_mail(send_from= username,
subject="test",
text="text",
send_to= None,
files= # pass a list with the full filepaths here...
)

To use with any other email provider, just change the smtp configurations.

Answer 7

The simplest code I could get to is:

#for attachment email
from django.core.mail import EmailMessage

    def attachment_email(request):
            email = EmailMessage(
            'Hello', #subject
            'Body goes here', #body
            'MyEmail@MyEmail.com', #from
            ['SendTo@SendTo.com'], #to
            ['bcc@example.com'], #bcc
            reply_to=['other@example.com'],
            headers={'Message-ID': 'foo'},
            )

            email.attach_file('/my/path/file')
            email.send()

It was based on the official Django documentation

Answer 8

Other answers are excellent, though I still wanted to share a different approach in case someone is looking for alternatives.

Main difference here is that using this approach you can use HTML/CSS to format your message, so you can get creative and give some styling to your email. Though you aren't enforced to use HTML, you can also still use only plain text.

Notice that this function accepts sending the email to multiple recipients and also allows to attach multiple files.

I've only tried this on Python 2, but I think it should work fine on 3 as well:

import os.path
import smtplib
from email.mime.multipart import MIMEMultipart
from email.mime.text import MIMEText
from email.mime.application import MIMEApplication

def send_email(subject, message, from_email, to_email=[], attachment=[]):
    """
    :param subject: email subject
    :param message: Body content of the email (string), can be HTML/CSS or plain text
    :param from_email: Email address from where the email is sent
    :param to_email: List of email recipients, example: ["a@a.com", "b@b.com"]
    :param attachment: List of attachments, exmaple: ["file1.txt", "file2.txt"]
    """
    msg = MIMEMultipart()
    msg['Subject'] = subject
    msg['From'] = from_email
    msg['To'] = ", ".join(to_email)
    msg.attach(MIMEText(message, 'html'))

    for f in attachment:
        with open(f, 'rb') as a_file:
            basename = os.path.basename(f)
            part = MIMEApplication(a_file.read(), Name=basename)

        part['Content-Disposition'] = 'attachment; filename="%s"' % basename
        msg.attach(part)

    email = smtplib.SMTP('your-smtp-host-name.com')
    email.sendmail(from_email, to_email, msg.as_string())

I hope this helps! :-)

Answer 9

from email.mime.text import MIMEText
from email.mime.multipart import MIMEMultipart
import smtplib
import mimetypes
import email.mime.application

smtp_ssl_host = 'smtp.gmail.com'  # smtp.mail.yahoo.com
smtp_ssl_port = 465
s = smtplib.SMTP_SSL(smtp_ssl_host, smtp_ssl_port)
s.login(email_user, email_pass)


msg = MIMEMultipart()
msg['Subject'] = 'I have a picture'
msg['From'] = email_user
msg['To'] = email_user

txt = MIMEText('I just bought a new camera.')
msg.attach(txt)

filename = 'introduction-to-algorithms-3rd-edition-sep-2010.pdf' #path to file
fo=open(filename,'rb')
attach = email.mime.application.MIMEApplication(fo.read(),_subtype="pdf")
fo.close()
attach.add_header('Content-Disposition','attachment',filename=filename)
msg.attach(attach)
s.send_message(msg)
s.quit()

For explanation, you can use this link it explains properly https://medium.com/@sdoshi579/to-send-an-email-along-with-attachment-using-smtp-7852e77623

Answer 10

from email.mime.multipart import MIMEMultipart
from email.mime.image import MIMEImage
from email.mime.text import MIMEText
import smtplib

msg = MIMEMultipart()

password = "password"
msg['From'] = "from_address"
msg['To'] = "to_address"
msg['Subject'] = "Attached Photo"
msg.attach(MIMEImage(file("abc.jpg").read()))
file = "file path"
fp = open(file, 'rb')
img = MIMEImage(fp.read())
fp.close()
msg.attach(img)
server = smtplib.SMTP('smtp.gmail.com: 587')
server.starttls()
server.login(msg['From'], password)
server.sendmail(msg['From'], msg['To'], msg.as_string())
server.quit()

Answer 11

Below is combination of what I've found from SoccerPlayer's post Here and the following link that made it easier for me to attach an xlsx file. Found Here

file = 'File.xlsx'
username=''
password=''
send_from = ''
send_to = 'recipient1 , recipient2'
Cc = 'recipient'
msg = MIMEMultipart()
msg['From'] = send_from
msg['To'] = send_to
msg['Cc'] = Cc
msg['Date'] = formatdate(localtime = True)
msg['Subject'] = ''
server = smtplib.SMTP('smtp.gmail.com')
port = '587'
fp = open(file, 'rb')
part = MIMEBase('application','vnd.ms-excel')
part.set_payload(fp.read())
fp.close()
encoders.encode_base64(part)
part.add_header('Content-Disposition', 'attachment', filename='Name File Here')
msg.attach(part)
smtp = smtplib.SMTP('smtp.gmail.com')
smtp.ehlo()
smtp.starttls()
smtp.login(username,password)
smtp.sendmail(send_from, send_to.split(',') + msg['Cc'].split(','), msg.as_string())
smtp.quit()

Answer 12

With my code you can send email attachments using gmail you will need to:

set your gmail address at "YOUR SMTP EMAIL HERE"

set your gmail account password at "YOUR SMTP PASSWORD HERE_"

In the ___EMAIL TO RECEIVE THE MESSAGE_ part you need to set the destination email address.

Alarm notification is the subject,

Someone has entered the room, picture attached is the body

["/home/pi/webcam.jpg"] is an image attachment.

#!/usr/bin/env python
import smtplib
from email.MIMEMultipart import MIMEMultipart
from email.MIMEBase import MIMEBase
from email.MIMEText import MIMEText
from email.Utils import COMMASPACE, formatdate
from email import Encoders
import os

USERNAME = "___YOUR SMTP EMAIL HERE___"
PASSWORD = "__YOUR SMTP PASSWORD HERE___"

def sendMail(to, subject, text, files=[]):
    assert type(to)==list
    assert type(files)==list

    msg = MIMEMultipart()
    msg['From'] = USERNAME
    msg['To'] = COMMASPACE.join(to)
    msg['Date'] = formatdate(localtime=True)
    msg['Subject'] = subject

    msg.attach( MIMEText(text) )

    for file in files:
        part = MIMEBase('application', "octet-stream")
        part.set_payload( open(file,"rb").read() )
        Encoders.encode_base64(part)
        part.add_header('Content-Disposition', 'attachment; filename="%s"'
                       % os.path.basename(file))
        msg.attach(part)

    server = smtplib.SMTP('smtp.gmail.com:587')
    server.ehlo_or_helo_if_needed()
    server.starttls()
    server.ehlo_or_helo_if_needed()
    server.login(USERNAME,PASSWORD)
    server.sendmail(USERNAME, to, msg.as_string())
    server.quit()

sendMail( ["___EMAIL TO RECEIVE THE MESSAGE__"],
        "Alarm notification",
        "Someone has entered the room, picture attached",
        ["/home/pi/webcam.jpg"] )

Answer 13

You can also specify the type of attachment you want in your e-mail, as an example I used pdf:

def send_email_pdf_figs(path_to_pdf, subject, message, destination, password_path=None):
    ## credits: http://linuxcursor.com/python-programming/06-how-to-send-pdf-ppt-attachment-with-html-body-in-python-script
    from socket import gethostname
    #import email
    from email.mime.application import MIMEApplication
    from email.mime.multipart import MIMEMultipart
    from email.mime.text import MIMEText
    import smtplib
    import json

    server = smtplib.SMTP('smtp.gmail.com', 587)
    server.starttls()
    with open(password_path) as f:
        config = json.load(f)
        server.login('me@gmail.com', config['password'])
        # Craft message (obj)
        msg = MIMEMultipart()

        message = f'{message}\nSend from Hostname: {gethostname()}'
        msg['Subject'] = subject
        msg['From'] = 'me@gmail.com'
        msg['To'] = destination
        # Insert the text to the msg going by e-mail
        msg.attach(MIMEText(message, "plain"))
        # Attach the pdf to the msg going by e-mail
        with open(path_to_pdf, "rb") as f:
            #attach = email.mime.application.MIMEApplication(f.read(),_subtype="pdf")
            attach = MIMEApplication(f.read(),_subtype="pdf")
        attach.add_header('Content-Disposition','attachment',filename=str(path_to_pdf))
        msg.attach(attach)
        # send msg
        server.send_message(msg)

inspirations/credits to: http://linuxcursor.com/python-programming/06-how-to-send-pdf-ppt-attachment-with-html-body-in-python-script