Question

I am using Outlook 2003.

What is the best way to send email (through Outlook 2003) using Python?

Answer 1

For a solution that uses outlook see TheoretiCAL’s answer.

Otherwise, use the smtplib that comes with python. Note that this will require your email account allows smtp, which is not necessarily enabled by default.

SERVER = "smtp.example.com"
FROM = "[e-mail]"
TO = ["listOfEmails"] # must be a list

SUBJECT = "Subject"
TEXT = "Your Text"

# Prepare actual message
message = """From: %s\r\nTo: %s\r\nSubject: %s\r\n\

%s
""" % (FROM, ", ".join(TO), SUBJECT, TEXT)

# Send the mail
import smtplib
server = smtplib.SMTP(SERVER)
server.sendmail(FROM, TO, message)
server.quit()

EDIT: this example uses reserved domains like described in RFC2606

SERVER = "smtp.example.com"
FROM = "[e-mail]"
TO = ["[e-mail]"] # must be a list

SUBJECT = "Hello!"
TEXT = "This is a test of emailing through smtp of example.com."

# Prepare actual message
message = """From: %s\r\nTo: %s\r\nSubject: %s\r\n\

%s
""" % (FROM, ", ".join(TO), SUBJECT, TEXT)

# Send the mail
import smtplib
server = smtplib.SMTP(SERVER)
server.login("MrDoe", "PASSWORD")
server.sendmail(FROM, TO, message)
server.quit()

_{For it to actually work with gmail, Mr. Doe will need to go to the options tab in gmail and set it to allow smtp connections.}

Note the addition of the login line to authenticate to the remote server. The original version does not include this, an oversight on my part.