Programmatically Sending Emails using Python - Complete SMT

📧 Sending Emails with Python (SMTP Guide)

Introduction: Why Send Emails with Python?

“How do I send emails directly from my code?”

✅ Benefits of Sending Emails with Python

• Built-in smtplib library (no extra installations)

• Works with any SMTP provider (including Tempusmail)

• Easy integration with Django, Flask, and FastAPI

• Supports HTML emails, attachments, and bulk sending

🧰 What You Need Before Starting

• ✅ Python 3.6+ installed

• ✅ Email account (example: you@yourcompany.com)

• ✅ Email password

• ✅ SMTP server details (listed below)

💡 Where to Find SMTP Settings

📌 SMTP Settings Reference (Tempusmail)

🧩 Step 1: Import Required Libraries

import smtplib
from email.mime.textimport MIMEText
from email.mime.multipartimport MIMEMultipart

⚙️ Step 2: Configure SMTP Connection

SMTP_SERVER ="smtp.qboxmail.com"
SMTP_PORT =465# Use 587 for STARTTLS
SENDER_EMAIL ="your-email@yourdomain.com"
SENDER_PASSWORD ="your-password"

✉️ Step 3: Create the Email Message

defcreate_email(to_email, subject, body):
    message = MIMEMultipart("alternative")
    message["Subject"] = subject
    message["From"] = SENDER_EMAIL
    message["To"] = to_email

    text_part = MIMEText(body,"plain")
    message.attach(text_part)

return message

🚀 Step 4: Send the Email

defsend_email(to_email, subject, body):
    message = create_email(to_email, subject, body)

try:
with smtplib.SMTP_SSL(SMTP_SERVER, SMTP_PORT)as server:
            server.login(SENDER_EMAIL, SENDER_PASSWORD)
            server.sendmail(SENDER_EMAIL, to_email, message.as_string())

print("✅ Email sent successfully!")
returnTrue

except Exceptionas e:
print(f"❌ Failed to send email: {e}")
returnFalse

🧪 Step 5: Test Your Code

send_email(
    to_email="recipient@example.com",
    subject="Hello from Python 🐍",
    body="This email was sent using Python and Tempusmail."
)

🎨 Sending HTML Emails

defsend_html_email(to_email, subject, html_content):
    message = MIMEMultipart("alternative")
    message["Subject"] = subject
    message["From"] = SENDER_EMAIL
    message["To"] = to_email

    html_part = MIMEText(html_content,"html")
    message.attach(html_part)

with smtplib.SMTP_SSL(SMTP_SERVER, SMTP_PORT)as server:
        server.login(SENDER_EMAIL, SENDER_PASSWORD)
        server.sendmail(SENDER_EMAIL, to_email, message.as_string())

print("✅ HTML email sent!")

📎 Sending Emails with Attachments

from email.mime.baseimport MIMEBase
from emailimport encoders
import os

defsend_email_with_attachment(to_email, subject, body, file_path):
    message = MIMEMultipart()
    message["Subject"] = subject
    message["From"] = SENDER_EMAIL
    message["To"] = to_email

    message.attach(MIMEText(body,"plain"))

    filename = os.path.basename(file_path)
withopen(file_path,"rb")as attachment:
        part = MIMEBase("application","octet-stream")
        part.set_payload(attachment.read())
        encoders.encode_base64(part)
        part.add_header(
"Content-Disposition",
f"attachment; filename={filename}"
        )
        message.attach(part)

with smtplib.SMTP_SSL(SMTP_SERVER, SMTP_PORT)as server:
        server.login(SENDER_EMAIL, SENDER_PASSWORD)
        server.sendmail(SENDER_EMAIL, to_email, message.as_string())

print(f"✅ Email with attachment '{filename}' sent!")

🔐 Using Environment Variables (Recommended)

Step 1: Install python-dotenv

pip install python-dotenv

Step 2: Create .env

SMTP_SERVER=smtp.qboxmail.com
SMTP_PORT=465
SENDER_EMAIL=your-email@yourdomain.com
SENDER_PASSWORD=your-password

Step 3: Load Variables

import os
from dotenvimport load_dotenv

load_dotenv()

SMTP_SERVER = os.getenv("SMTP_SERVER")
SMTP_PORT =int(os.getenv("SMTP_PORT"))
SENDER_EMAIL = os.getenv("SENDER_EMAIL")
SENDER_PASSWORD = os.getenv("SENDER_PASSWORD")

🧱 Production-Ready Email Service Class

🛠 Troubleshooting Common Errors

❌ Connection refused / timeout

• Verify SMTP server

• Try port 465 or 587

• Check firewall/network

❌ Authentication failed

• Use full email address

• Double-check password

• Reset password if needed

❌ SSL Certificate Error (Testing Only)

import ssl

context = ssl.create_default_context()
context.check_hostname =False
context.verify_mode = ssl.CERT_NONE

❓ FAQs

• 465 → SSL immediately

• 587 → STARTTLS upgrade

🎯 Conclusion

• ✅ Send text & HTML emails

• ✅ Attach files

• ✅ Secure credentials

• ✅ Build a reusable email service

• ✅ Debug SMTP issues

🚀 Get Started with Professional Email