Master Python Email Sending: 3 Powerful Methods with Code Samples

1. Introduction

Email is a formal communication method widely used in daily work, and Python provides built‑in support for SMTP, allowing sending of plain‑text, rich‑text, and HTML emails.

2. Preparation

Using a 126.com mailbox as an example, enable the SMTP service, create an authorization code, and note the account, authorization code, and server address needed for connection.

3. Method 1: smtplib

smtplib is a built‑in Python library that can be imported directly.

def __init__(self):
    # Initialize
    self.smtp = smtplib.SMTP()
    # Connect to the mail server
    self.smtp.connect('smtp.126.com')
    # Create a mixed MIME container
    self.email_body = MIMEMultipart('mixed')
    # Sender address and authorization code
    self.email_from_username = '**@126.com'
    self.email_from_password = 'authorization_code'
    # Login
    self.smtp.login(self.email_from_username, self.email_from_password)

After initializing, add recipients, subject, body, and attachments to the MIME container, then send the email and quit the service.

def generate_email_body(self, email_to_list, email_title, email_content, attchment_path, files):
    """Compose the email body"""
    self.email_body['Subject'] = email_title
    self.email_body['From'] = self.email_from_username
    self.email_body['To'] = ",".join(email_to_list)
    for file in files:
        file_path = attchment_path + '/' + file
        if os.path.isfile(file_path):
            att = MIMEText(open(file_path, 'rb').read(), 'base64', 'utf-8')
            att["Content-Type"] = 'application/octet-stream'
            att.add_header("Content-Disposition", "attachment", filename=("gbk", "", file))
            self.email_body.attach(att)
    text_plain = MIMEText(email_content, 'plain', 'utf-8')
    self.email_body.attach(text_plain)

# Recipients list
email_to_list = ['[email protected]', '[email protected]']
# Send email
self.smtp.sendmail(self.email_from_username, email_to_list, self.email_body.as_string())

def exit(self):
    """Quit the service"""
    self.smtp.quit()

4. Method 2: zmail

zmail simplifies email handling; it automatically configures server address, port, and protocol.

pip3 install zmail

class ZMailObject(object):
    def __init__(self):
        self.username = '**@126.com'
        self.authorization_code = 'authorization_code'
        self.server = zmail.server(self.username, self.authorization_code)

mail_body = {
    'subject': 'Test Report',
    'content_text': 'This is a test report',
    'attachments': ['./attachments/report.png'],
}
self.server.send_mail('recipient1', mail_body)

5. Method 3: yagmail

yagmail offers a concise API for sending emails.

pip3 install yagmail

import yagmail
yag_server = yagmail.SMTP(user='**@126.com', password='authorization_code', host='smtp.126.com')

email_to = ['[email protected]']
email_title = 'Test Report'
email_content = "This is the content of the test report"
email_attachments = ['./attachments/report.png']
yag_server.send(email_to, email_title, email_content, email_attachments)

yag_server.close()

6. Conclusion

The article presented three ways to send emails with Python; in real projects the latter two methods (zmail and yagmail) are generally recommended.