It may surprise many to know that you can use Python to send and receive emails. It may further surprise them to learn that you can almost entirely automate the task of sending and receiving emails.
Before we get into the details, let’s discuss the libraries we’ll be using. And yes, “libraries”, plural. There is because there are separate libraries for sending and receiving emails in Python.
We won’t be discussing how to actually use the libraries on this page. Please follow the individual links to each library instead.
Sending emails – SMTP
The rules of the internet are defined by the many protocols used on it. For instance, we have HTTP which is used in the transfer of web pages. Likewise, we have a protocol called SMTP or Simple Mail Transfer Protocol for sending emails across the internet.
SMTP defines how email messages should be formatted, encrypted, and relayed between mail servers, and any other small details that your computer has to deal with.
Follow this tutorial link to learn how to send emails in Python using SMTP.
Receiving emails – IMAP
IMAP is an acronym that stands for Internet Mail Access Protocol. It is an Internet standard protocol used by email clients to retrieve email messages from a mail server.
To access, read and display emails from our emails accounts over the IMAP protocol using Python code, we will be using the imaplib library for receiving mails.
Send and Receive Emails with Gmail
This is a tutorial for those interested in the details of connecting Gmail Accounts to Python for sending, receiving and displaying emails. If you attempt this yourself, you may run into certain problems regarding authentication. This tutorial will explain how to resolve these problems step-by-step.
This marks the end of our “How to send and receive emails in Python” Guide. If you have any suggestions or contributions to make, feel free to do so. Anything to help improve our site, CodersLegacy is always welcome.