This tutorial will show you how to send a basic mail via Spring framework’s email support. A class that comes in pretty handy when dealing with JavaMail messages is the org.springframework.mail.javamail.MimeMessageHelper class, which shields you from having to use the verbose JavaMail API.

Using the MimeMessageHelper it is pretty easy to create a MimeMessage. You can send simple text email as well as HTML email using MimeMessageHelper class.

Prerequisites

Eclipse 2019-12, Java at least 1.8, Gradle 6.4.1, Maven 3.6.3, Spring Boot Mail Starter 2.3.1, Java mail API 1.6.2

Project Setup

Create either gradle or maven based project in Eclipse. The name of the project is spring-email-javamailsender-mimemessagehelper.

If you are creating gradle based project then you can use below build.gradle script:

buildscript {
	ext {
		springBootVersion = '2.3.1.RELEASE'
	}
    repositories {
        mavenCentral()
    }
    dependencies {
        classpath("org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-gradle-plugin:${springBootVersion}")
    }
}

plugins {
    id 'java-library'
    id 'org.springframework.boot' version "${springBootVersion}"
}

sourceCompatibility = 12
targetCompatibility = 12

repositories {
    mavenCentral()
}

dependencies {
	implementation("org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-mail:${springBootVersion}")
	implementation('javax.mail:javax.mail-api:1.6.2')
}

If you are creating maven based project then you can use below pom.xml file:

<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0"
	xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
	xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
	<modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>

	<groupId>com.roytuts</groupId>
	<artifactId>spring-email-javamailsender-mimemessagehelper</artifactId>
	<version>0.0.1-SNAPSHOT</version>

	<parent>
		<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
		<artifactId>spring-boot-starter-parent</artifactId>
		<version>2.3.1.RELEASE</version>
	</parent>

	<properties>
		<project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
	</properties>

	<dependencies>
		<dependency>
			<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
			<artifactId>spring-boot-starter-mail</artifactId>
		</dependency>
		
		<dependency>
			<groupId>javax.mail</groupId>
			<artifactId>javax.mail-api</artifactId>
			<version>1.6.2</version>
		</dependency>
	</dependencies>

    <build>
        <plugins>
			<plugin>
				<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
				<artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
				<version>3.8.1</version>
				<configuration>
					<source>at least 8</source>
					<target>at least 8</target>
				</configuration>
			</plugin>
		</plugins>
	</build>
</project>

Email Configuration

We will create an email configuration class where we will configure SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) server details, from email address.

package com.roytuts.spring.email.javamailsender.mimemessagehelper;

import java.util.Properties;

import org.springframework.context.annotation.Bean;
import org.springframework.context.annotation.Configuration;
import org.springframework.mail.javamail.JavaMailSender;
import org.springframework.mail.javamail.JavaMailSenderImpl;

@Configuration
public class EmailConfig {

	@Bean
	public JavaMailSender mailSender() {
		JavaMailSenderImpl mailSender = new JavaMailSenderImpl();

		mailSender.setHost("smtp.gmail.com");
		mailSender.setPort(587);
		mailSender.setUsername("gmail@gmail.com");
		mailSender.setPassword("gmail password");

		Properties javaMailProperties = new Properties();
		javaMailProperties.put("mail.smtp.auth", true);
		javaMailProperties.put("mail.smtp.starttls.enable", true);

		mailSender.setJavaMailProperties(javaMailProperties);

		return mailSender;
	}

}

We need to issue STARTTLS command otherwise you will get the error message similar to the following:

#smtplib.SMTPSenderRefused: (530, b'5.7.0 Must issue a STARTTLS command first. p7sm24605501pfn.14 - gsmtp', 'gmailaddress@gmail.com')

You will get below error if your security level is high:

#smtplib.SMTPAuthenticationError: (535, b'5.7.8 Username and Password not accepted. Learn more at\n5.7.8  https://support.google.com/mail/?p=BadCredentials x10sm26098036pfn.36 - gsmtp')

Therefore you need to lower your Gmail’s security settings.

Email Sender

Email sender class just does the right job for sending the email to the intended recipient.

Here you can set either simple text message or HTML message to be sent to the recipient.

package com.roytuts.spring.email.javamailsender.mimemessagehelper;

import javax.mail.internet.MimeMessage;

import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
import org.springframework.mail.javamail.JavaMailSender;
import org.springframework.mail.javamail.MimeMessageHelper;
import org.springframework.stereotype.Component;

@Component
public class EmailSender {

	@Autowired
	private JavaMailSender mailSender;

	public void sendEmail(final String subject, final String message, final String fromEmailAddress,
			final String toEmailAddresses, final boolean isHtmlMail) {
		try {
			MimeMessage mimeMessage = mailSender.createMimeMessage();
			MimeMessageHelper helper = new MimeMessageHelper(mimeMessage);
			helper.setFrom(fromEmailAddress);
			helper.setTo(toEmailAddresses);
			helper.setSubject(subject);

			if (isHtmlMail) {
				helper.setText("<html><body>" + message + "</html></body>", true);
			} else {
				helper.setText(message);
			}

			mailSender.send(mimeMessage);

			System.out.println("Email sending complete.");
		} catch (Exception e) {
			e.printStackTrace();
		}
	}

}

Main Class

A class is having main method with @SpringBootApplication annotation is enough to start up the Spring Boot application.

In this class we specify the subject, message, true flag for an HTML email and the recipient to send the email.

package com.roytuts.spring.email.javamailsender.mimemessagehelper;

import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
import org.springframework.boot.CommandLineRunner;
import org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication;
import org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.SpringBootApplication;

@SpringBootApplication
public class MimeMessageHelperApp implements CommandLineRunner {

	@Autowired
	private EmailSender emailSender;

	public static void main(String[] args) {
		SpringApplication.run(MimeMessageHelperApp.class, args);
	}

	@Override
	public void run(String... args) throws Exception {
		emailSender.sendEmail("MimeMessageHelper", "Email Message using MimeMessageHelper", "gmail@gmail.com",
				"gmail@gmail.com", true);
	}

}

Testing the Application

Now executing the main class will send the email to the intended recipient and you will see the below output in console:

Email sending complete.

Check the inbox you will get a message. If you do not find the message in inbox then check the Spam folder.

I have sent email to myself, so I am seeing me as a from email address.

Email in inbox:

Email details:

Source Code

Download

Thanks for reading.