Sending Emails with Python – Learn How to Do It Like a Pro
Are you looking to improve your email sending skills using Python? You’re in the right place.
Python is an easy-to-use, high-level programming language that provides several libraries for sending and receiving emails. In this article, we will discuss how we can use Python to send emails using Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP).
We will also discuss the necessary prerequisites for setting up Python to send emails.
Overview of Sending Emails with Python
To send emails using Python, you need to understand Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP). SMTP is a protocol used for sending emails from one server to another.
It is a client-server based protocol that ensures proper routing and delivery of emails. SMTP uses TCP/IP for communication between hosts, and it usually operates on port 25.
Python provides a built-in smtplib library, which can be used for sending emails over SMTP. This library allows you to send emails using an SMTP server from within your Python script.
To send an email using Python, we need to connect to an SMTP server and authenticate ourselves. Once we are authenticated, we can use the SMTP server to send emails.
The SMTP server can be a remote server or a local server running on our machine.
Prerequisite Setup for Sending Emails with Python
Before we can start sending emails using Python, we need to set up a dummy Gmail account. Gmail is a free email service provided by Google.
It is widely used and provides a reliable SMTP server for sending emails. To set up a dummy account:
- Go to the Gmail website and create a new account.
- Verify your account and sign in.
- Go to the Settings page by clicking on the gear icon in the upper-right corner of the screen.
- Click on the ‘Accounts and Import’ tab.
- In the ‘Send mail as’ section, click on ‘Add another email address’.
- Enter a name for your account and tick the option ‘Treat as an alias’.
- In the ‘SMTP Server’ field, enter ‘smtp.gmail.com’.
- In the ‘Username’ field, enter your Gmail email address.
- In the ‘Password’ field, enter your Gmail password.
- In the ‘Port’ field, enter ‘587’.
- Ensure that the ‘Secured connection using TLS’ option is selected.
- Click on ‘Add Account’. You’re now ready to send emails using your dummy Gmail account.
Enabling Access from Less Secure Applications
By default, Gmail blocks access from apps or devices that use less secure login methods. Since we will be using Python to send emails, we need to enable access from less secure applications.
To do this:
- Go to your Google Account settings page.
- Click on the ‘Security’ tab.
- Scroll down to the ‘Less secure app access’ section.
- Toggle the switch to ‘ON’.
- You’ll receive a warning message.
- Click on ‘Turn on’ to enable access for less secure apps. Although enabling access from less secure applications makes your account more vulnerable to hacking, it is necessary for sending emails using Python.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Python provides an easy and reliable method for sending emails using SMTP. By following the steps outlined in this article, you can set up a Gmail account and enable access from less secure applications to start sending emails using Python.
Keep in mind that sending too many emails from one account may result in your account being flagged as spam, so use this method responsibly.
Sending Emails using Python SMTP
In the previous section, we discussed the prerequisites for setting up a Gmail account and enabling access from less secure applications to send emails using Python. In this section, we will dive deeper into sending emails using Python SMTP.
We will discuss the smtplib library, email contents required to send an email, sending a test email, using secure SMTP, and sending a message to a receiver using smtp_server.sendmail().
SMTP client library (smtplib)
The smtplib Python module provides a way to send emails over SMTP. It contains a class named SMTP that can be used to establish a connection to an SMTP server and send emails using various methods.
The SMTP class in smtplib provides several methods, such as connect(), login(), sendmail(), etc. We can use these methods to establish a connection to an SMTP server, authenticate ourselves, and send emails.
Email contents required
Before we can send an email, we need to provide some essential email contents, such as the sender’s address, receiver’s address, subject, and body of the email. The sender’s address is the email address of the person sending the email.
The receiver’s address is the email address of the person receiving the email. The subject of the email should give a brief idea of what the email is about, and the email’s body should contain the main message.
Script for sending a test email
To send a test email, we need to create a Python script that uses the smtplib library and our Gmail account details. We will also need to provide the email contents, such as the sender’s address, receiver’s address, subject, and body of the email.
Here is an example of a simple Python script that sends a test email:
import smtplib
# email contents
sender = '[email protected]'
receiver = '[email protected]'
subject = 'Test Email from Python'
body = 'Hello, this is a test email sent from Python!'
# login details
username = '[email protected]'
password = 'password'
# SMTP server details
smtp_server = 'smtp.gmail.com'
port = 587
# establish a connection to the SMTP server and login
server = smtplib.SMTP(smtp_server, port)
server.starttls()
server.login(username, password)
# send email
message = f'Subject: {subject}nn{body}'
server.sendmail(sender, receiver, message)
# close the connection
server.quit()
In the script above, we first define the email contents, such as the sender’s address, receiver’s address, subject, and body. We then provide the login details for our Gmail account and the SMTP server details.
We use the smtplib.SMTP() method to establish a connection to the SMTP server and then login using server.starttls() and server.login(). We then create the email message using the subject and body and use server.sendmail() to send the email.
Finally, we close the connection to the SMTP server using server.quit().
Use of Secure SMTP (SMTP_SSL)
While the SMTP class provides a way to connect to an SMTP server and send emails over a non-secured connection, we can also use secure SMTP (SMTP_SSL) to send emails securely. To use the SMTP_SSL class, we need to replace the SMTP() method with SMTP_SSL() and use port 465 instead of port 587.
We also need to remove the server.starttls() method as it is not required for secure SMTP. Here is an example of sending a test email using SMTP_SSL:
import smtplib
# email contents
sender = '[email protected]'
receiver = '[email protected]'
subject = 'Test Email from Python'
body = 'Hello, this is a test email sent from Python over a secure connection!'
# login details
username = '[email protected]'
password = 'password'
# SMTP server details
smtp_server = 'smtp.gmail.com'
port = 465
# establish a connection to the secure SMTP server and login
server = smtplib.SMTP_SSL(smtp_server, port)
server.login(username, password)
# send email
message = f'Subject: {subject}nn{body}'
server.sendmail(sender, receiver, message)
# close the connection
server.quit()
Sending message to receiver using smtp_server.sendmail()
Another way to send an email is by using smtp_server.sendmail(). This method requires us to create a message object from the email contents and then pass it to the smtp_server.sendmail() method.
Here is an example of sending a test email using smtp_server.sendmail():
import smtplib
from email.mime.text import MIMEText
# email contents
sender = '[email protected]'
receiver = '[email protected]'
subject = 'Test Email from Python'
body = 'Hello, this is a test email sent from Python using smtp_server.sendmail() method!'
# login details
username = '[email protected]'
password = 'password'
# SMTP server details
smtp_server = 'smtp.gmail.com'
port = 587
# establish a connection to the SMTP server and login
server = smtplib.SMTP(smtp_server, port)
server.starttls()
server.login(username, password)
# create the message object and send email
msg = MIMEText(body)
msg['Subject'] = subject
msg['From'] = sender
msg['To'] = receiver
server.sendmail(sender, receiver, msg.as_string())
# close the connection
server.quit()
Improving the Code
Using context managers
While the code above works fine for sending a test email, it can be improved by using Python’s built-in context managers. Context managers provide a clean and efficient way to manage resources (such as network connections) that require setup and teardown.
Here is the improved code using context managers:
import smtplib
from email.mime.text import MIMEText
# email contents
sender = '[email protected]'
receiver = '[email protected]'
subject = 'Test Email from Python'
body = 'Hello, this is a test email sent from Python using context managers!'
# login details
username = '[email protected]'
password = 'password'
# SMTP server details
smtp_server = 'smtp.gmail.com'
port = 587
# connect to the SMTP server using a context manager
with smtplib.SMTP(smtp_server, port) as server:
server.starttls()
server.login(username, password)
# create the message object and send email
msg = MIMEText(body)
msg['Subject'] = subject
msg['From'] = sender
msg['To'] = receiver
server.sendmail(sender, receiver, msg.as_string())
In the improved code above, we use a context manager to connect to the SMTP server and send the email. We also remove the server.quit() method since the context manager takes care of closing the connection.
Improved code for sending email
Finally, we can encapsulate the code for sending an email into a function. This provides a cleaner and reusable way to send emails.
Here is the improved code for sending an email:
import smtplib
from email.mime.text import MIMEText
def send_email(sender, receiver, subject, body, username, password):
"""Sends an email using smtplib."""
# SMTP server details
smtp_server = 'smtp.gmail.com'
port = 587
with smtplib.SMTP(smtp_server, port) as server:
server.starttls()
server.login(username, password)
# create the message object and send email
msg = MIMEText(body)
msg['Subject'] = subject
msg['From'] = sender
msg['To'] = receiver
server.sendmail(sender, receiver, msg.as_string())
# email contents
sender = '[email protected]'
receiver = '[email protected]'
subject = 'Test Email from Python'
body = 'Hello, this is a test email sent from Python using a function!'
username = '[email protected]'
password = 'password'
# send email
send_email(sender, receiver, subject, body, username, password)
In the improved code above, we encapsulate the code for sending an email into the send_email() function. We pass in the email contents and login details as arguments to the function.
We can now reuse the send_email() function to send multiple emails.
Conclusion
Python provides a straightforward and efficient way to send emails using Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP). With the built-in smtplib library, we can connect to an SMTP server and send emails using various methods.
Setting up a dummy Gmail account is a prerequisite for sending emails using Python SMTP. By enabling access from less secure applications, we can use our Gmail account to send emails using Python.
To send an email using Python, we need to provide the essential email contents such as the sender’s address, recipient’s address, subject, and body of the email. We can then create a message object using the email content and send the email using the SMTP server.
Python provides several methods for sending emails, such as using non-secured SMTP or secure SMTP (SMTP_SSL). The SMTP_SSL class provides a way to send emails securely by establishing an encrypted SSL/TLS connection.
We can also use the smtp_server.sendmail() method to send emails by creating a message object from the email contents and passing it to the sendmail() method. Using context managers can improve the code for sending emails by providing a clean and efficient way to manage resources that require setup and teardown, such as network connections.
Finally, we can encapsulate the code for sending emails into a function, providing a reusable and cleaner way to send multiple emails. In conclusion, Python provides an easy-to-use way for sending emails using Gmail’s SMTP server.
By following the steps outlined in this article, you can set up a Python script to send emails with minimal effort or technical knowledge. With the robust smtplib library, you can customize your emails and streamline your email-sending workflows to improve productivity and communication.
In summary, this article explains how to use Python’s built-in smtplib library to send emails using Gmail’s SMTP server. It discusses the prerequisites for setting up a dummy Gmail account and enabling access from less secure applications.
It also covers the essential email contents required, various email-sending methods such as using secure SMTP (SMTP_SSL), the smtp_server.sendmail() method, and using context managers to improve the code. The main takeaway is that sending emails using Python is easy and efficient, providing a customizable and streamlined way to improve productivity and communication.
So, whether you’re a beginner or an experienced developer, adding this skill to your arsenal can help you achieve your goals and enhance your success.