Users.messages: send

Note: Requires authorization.

Sends the specified message to the recipients in the To, Cc, and Bcc headers. Try it now or see an example.

This method supports an /upload URI and accepts uploaded media with the following characteristics:

• Maximum file size: 35MB
• Accepted Media MIME types: message/rfc822

Request

HTTP request

This method provides media upload functionality through two separate URIs. For more details, see the document on media upload.

• Upload URI, for media upload requests:

  POST https://www.googleapis.com/upload/gmail/v1/users/userId/messages/send

• Metadata URI, for metadata-only requests:

  POST https://www.googleapis.com/gmail/v1/users/userId/messages/send

Parameters

Parameter name	Value	Description
Path parameters
userId	string	The user's email address. The special value me can be used to indicate the authenticated user.
Required query parameters
uploadType	string	The type of upload request to the /upload URI. Acceptable values are: media - Simple upload. Upload the media only, without any metadata. multipart - Multipart upload. Upload both the media and its metadata, in a single request. resumable - Resumable upload. Upload the file in a resumable fashion, using a series of at least two requests where the first request includes the metadata.

Authorization

This request requires authorization with at least one of the following scopes:

Scope
https://mail.google.com/
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/gmail.modify
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/gmail.compose
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/gmail.send

For more information, see the authentication and authorization page.

Request body

In the request body, supply a Users.messages resource with the following properties as the metadata. For more information, see the document on media upload.

Property name	Value	Description	Notes
Required Properties
raw	bytes	The entire email message in an RFC 2822 formatted and base64url encoded string. Returned in messages.get and drafts.get responses when the format=RAW parameter is supplied.	writable
Optional Properties
threadId	string	The ID of the thread the message belongs to. To add a message or draft to a thread, the following criteria must be met: The requested threadId must be specified on the Message or Draft.Message you supply with your request. The References and In-Reply-To headers must be set in compliance with the RFC 2822 standard. The Subject headers must match.	writable

Response

If successful, this method returns a Users.messages resource in the response body.

Examples

Note: The code examples available for this method do not represent all supported programming languages (see the client libraries page for a list of supported languages).

Java

Uses the Java client library.

import com.google.api.client.repackaged.org.apache.commons.codec.binary.Base64;
import com.google.api.services.gmail.Gmail;
import com.google.api.services.gmail.model.Message;

import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStream;
import java.nio.file.FileSystems;
import java.nio.file.Files;
import java.util.Enumeration;
import java.util.Properties;

import javax.activation.DataHandler;
import javax.activation.DataSource;
import javax.activation.FileDataSource;
import javax.mail.MessagingException;
import javax.mail.Multipart;
import javax.mail.Session;
import javax.mail.internet.InternetAddress;
import javax.mail.internet.MimeBodyPart;
import javax.mail.internet.MimeMessage;
import javax.mail.internet.MimeMultipart;

// ...

public class MyClass {

  // ...

  /**
   * Send an email from the user's mailbox to its recipient.
   *
   * @param service Authorized Gmail API instance.
   * @param userId User's email address. The special value "me"
   * can be used to indicate the authenticated user.
   * @param email Email to be sent.
   * @throws MessagingException
   * @throws IOException
   */
  public static void sendMessage(Gmail service, String userId, MimeMessage email)
      throws MessagingException, IOException {
    Message message = createMessageWithEmail(email);
    message = service.users().messages().send(userId, message).execute();

    System.out.println("Message id: " + message.getId());
    System.out.println(message.toPrettyString());
  }

  /**
   * Create a Message from an email
   *
   * @param email Email to be set to raw of message
   * @return Message containing base64url encoded email.
   * @throws IOException
   * @throws MessagingException
   */
  public static Message createMessageWithEmail(MimeMessage email)
      throws MessagingException, IOException {
    ByteArrayOutputStream baos = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
    email.writeTo(baos);
    String encodedEmail = Base64.encodeBase64URLSafeString(baos.toByteArray());
    Message message = new Message();
    message.setRaw(encodedEmail);
    return message;
  }

  // ...

}

.NET

Uses the .NET client library.

using Google.Apis.Gmail.v1;
using Google.Apis.Gmail.v1.Data;
using System;
using System.Text;

// ...

public class MyClass {

  // ...

  /// <summary>
  /// Send an email from the user's mailbox to its recipient.
  /// </summary>
  /// <param name="service">Gmail API service instance.</param>
  /// <param name="userId">User's email address. The special value "me"
  /// can be used to indicate the authenticated user.</param>
  /// <param name="email">MIME-encoded email to be sent.</param>
  public static Message SendMessage(GmailService service, String userId, string email)
  {
      try
      {
          Message message = new Message();
          message.Raw = StringToBase64url(email);
          return service.Users.Messages.Send(message, userId).Execute();
      }
      catch (Exception e)
      {
          Console.WriteLine("An error occurred: " + e.Message);
      }

      return null;
  }

  /// <summary>
  /// This method converts a string to a Base64url-encoded string.
  /// See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Base64#URL_applications.
  /// </summary>
  /// <param name="data">The raw data to be converted.</param>
  /// <returns>A Base64url-encoded string.</returns>
  static string StringToBase64url(string data)
  {
      return Convert.ToBase64String(Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(data))
          .TrimEnd('=').Replace('+', '-').Replace('/', '_');
  }

  // ...

}

PHP

Does not use a client library.

/**
 * Send Message.
 *
 * @param  Google_Service_Gmail $service Authorized Gmail API instance.
 * @param  string $userId User's email address. The special value 'me'
 * can be used to indicate the authenticated user.
 * @param  Google_Service_Gmail_Message $message Message to send.
 * @return Google_Service_Gmail_Message sent Message.
 */
function sendMessage($service, $userId, $message) {
  try {
    $message = $service->users_messages->send($userId, $message);
    print 'Message with ID: ' . $message->getId() . ' sent.';
    return $message;
  } catch (Exception $e) {
    print 'An error occurred: ' . $e->getMessage();
  }
}

Python

Uses the Python client library.

"""Send an email message from the user's account.
"""

import base64
from email.mime.audio import MIMEAudio
from email.mime.base import MIMEBase
from email.mime.image import MIMEImage
from email.mime.multipart import MIMEMultipart
from email.mime.text import MIMEText
import mimetypes
import os

from apiclient import errors


def SendMessage(service, user_id, message):
  """Send an email message.

  Args:
    service: Authorized Gmail API service instance.
    user_id: User's email address. The special value "me"
    can be used to indicate the authenticated user.
    message: Message to be sent.

  Returns:
    Sent Message.
  """
  try:
    message = (service.users().messages().send(userId=user_id, body=message)
               .execute())
    print 'Message Id: %s' % message['id']
    return message
  except errors.HttpError, error:
    print 'An error occurred: %s' % error


def CreateMessage(sender, to, subject, message_text):
  """Create a message for an email.

  Args:
    sender: Email address of the sender.
    to: Email address of the receiver.
    subject: The subject of the email message.
    message_text: The text of the email message.

  Returns:
    An object containing a base64url encoded email object.
  """
  message = MIMEText(message_text)
  message['to'] = to
  message['from'] = sender
  message['subject'] = subject
  return {'raw': base64.urlsafe_b64encode(message.as_string())}


def CreateMessageWithAttachment(sender, to, subject, message_text, file_dir,
                                filename):
  """Create a message for an email.

  Args:
    sender: Email address of the sender.
    to: Email address of the receiver.
    subject: The subject of the email message.
    message_text: The text of the email message.
    file_dir: The directory containing the file to be attached.
    filename: The name of the file to be attached.

  Returns:
    An object containing a base64url encoded email object.
  """
  message = MIMEMultipart()
  message['to'] = to
  message['from'] = sender
  message['subject'] = subject

  msg = MIMEText(message_text)
  message.attach(msg)

  path = os.path.join(file_dir, filename)
  content_type, encoding = mimetypes.guess_type(path)

  if content_type is None or encoding is not None:
    content_type = 'application/octet-stream'
  main_type, sub_type = content_type.split('/', 1)
  if main_type == 'text':
    fp = open(path, 'rb')
    msg = MIMEText(fp.read(), _subtype=sub_type)
    fp.close()
  elif main_type == 'image':
    fp = open(path, 'rb')
    msg = MIMEImage(fp.read(), _subtype=sub_type)
    fp.close()
  elif main_type == 'audio':
    fp = open(path, 'rb')
    msg = MIMEAudio(fp.read(), _subtype=sub_type)
    fp.close()
  else:
    fp = open(path, 'rb')
    msg = MIMEBase(main_type, sub_type)
    msg.set_payload(fp.read())
    fp.close()

  msg.add_header('Content-Disposition', 'attachment', filename=filename)
  message.attach(msg)

  return {'raw': base64.urlsafe_b64encode(message.as_string())}

JavaScript

Does not use a client library.

/**
 * Send Message.
 *
 * @param  {String} userId User's email address. The special value 'me'
 * can be used to indicate the authenticated user.
 * @param  {String} email RFC 5322 formatted String.
 * @param  {Function} callback Function to call when the request is complete.
 */
function sendMessage(userId, email, callback) {
  // Using the js-base64 library for encoding:
  // https://www.npmjs.com/package/js-base64
  var base64EncodedEmail = Base64.encodeURI(email);
  var request = gapi.client.gmail.users.messages.send({
    'userId': userId,
    'resource': {
      'raw': base64EncodedEmail
    }
  });
  request.execute(callback);
}

Try it!

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