Sending email from Command-line via outlook without having to click send

Question

I need to send email via command-line without any human interactions for automation.

I know we can use mailto command but that would compose email, subject,body and everything but it wouldn't send it unless I click send.

I read online we can use blat but I cannot use anything other than outlook.

This is closed post I have found Link to SOF post.

just for your information: I am looking into some telnet commands to send email haven't gotten success in that yet either. telnet commands to send email

Answer 1

Option 1
You didn't say much about your environment, but assuming you have it available you could use a PowerShell script; one example is here. The essence of this is:

$smtp = New-Object Net.Mail.SmtpClient("ho-ex2010-caht1.exchangeserverpro.net")
$smtp.Send("reports@exchangeserverpro.net","administrator@exchangeserverpro.net","Test Email","This is a test")

You could then launch the script from the command line as per this example:

powershell.exe -noexit c:\scripts\test.ps1

Note that PowerShell 2.0, which is installed by default on Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008R2, includes a simpler Send-MailMessage command, making things easier.

Option 2
If you're prepared to use third-party software, an option is something like this SendEmail command-line tool. It depends on your target environment, though; if you're deploying your batch file to multiple machines, that will obviously require inclusion (but not formal installation) each time.

Option 3
You could drive Outlook directly from a VBA script, which in turn you would trigger from a batch file; this would let you send an email using Outlook itself, which looks to be closest to what you're wanting. There are two parts to this; first, figure out the VBA scripting required to send an email. There are lots of examples for this online, including from Microsoft here. Essence of this is:

Sub SendMessage(DisplayMsg As Boolean, Optional AttachmentPath)
    Dim objOutlook As Outlook.Application
    Dim objOutlookMsg As Outlook.MailItem
    Dim objOutlookRecip As Outlook.Recipient
    Dim objOutlookAttach As Outlook.Attachment
    
    Set objOutlook = CreateObject("Outlook.Application")
    Set objOutlookMsg  = objOutlook.CreateItem(olMailItem)
    
    With objOutlookMsg
        Set objOutlookRecip = .Recipients.Add("Nancy Davolio")
        objOutlookRecip.Type = olTo
        ' Set the Subject, Body, and Importance of the message.
        .Subject = "This is an Automation test with Microsoft Outlook"
        .Body = "This is the body of the message." &vbCrLf & vbCrLf
        .Importance = olImportanceHigh  'High importance
        
        If Not IsMissing(AttachmentPath) Then
            Set objOutlookAttach = .Attachments.Add(AttachmentPath)
        End If
        
        For Each ObjOutlookRecip In .Recipients
            objOutlookRecip.Resolve
        Next
        
        .Save
        .Send
    End With
    Set objOutlook = Nothing
End Sub

Then, launch Outlook from the command line with the /autorun parameter, as per this answer (alter path/macroname as necessary):

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office11\Outlook.exe" /autorun macroname

Option 4
You could use the same approach as option 3, but move the Outlook VBA into a PowerShell script (which you would run from a command line). Example here. This is probably the tidiest solution, IMO.

Answer 2

Using Powershell you can send a Email and integrate this into Bat file script. But you need to have outlook installed for this on your machine. This worked for me on local PC but not on server. On server, it asks me to give permission everytime I use this command, also installing outlook on server might not be preferred for many. This works perfectly when ran on local PC

$Outlook = New-Object -ComObject Outlook.Application
$Mail = $Outlook.CreateItem(0)
$Mail.To = "xyz@mail.com"
$Mail.Subject = "Action"
$Mail.Body ="Pay rise please"
$Mail.Send()

Answer 3

Send SMS/Text Messages from Command Line with VBScript!

If VBA meets the rules for VB Script then it can be called from command line by simply placing it into a text file - in this case there's no need to specifically open Outlook.

I had a need to send automated text messages to myself from the command line, so I used the code below, which is just a compressed version of @Geoff's answer above.

Most mobile phone carriers worldwide provide an email address "version" of your mobile phone number. For example in Canada with Rogers or Chatr Wireless, an email sent to <YourPhoneNumber> @pcs.rogers.com will be immediately delivered to your Rogers/Chatr phone as a text message.

* ^{You may need to "authorize" the first message on your phone, and some carriers may charge an additional fee for theses message although as far as I know, all Canadian carriers provide this little-known service for free. Check your carrier's website for details.}

There are further instructions and various compiled lists of worldwide carrier's Email-to-Text addresses available online such as this and this and this.

---

Code & Instructions

1. Copy the code below and paste into a new file in your favorite text editor.
2. Save the file with any name with a .VBS extension, such as TextMyself.vbs.

That's all!
Just double-click the file to send a test message, or else run it from a batch file using START.

Sub SendMessage()
    Const EmailToSMSAddy = "3215551212@pcs.rogers.com"
    Dim objOutlookRecip
    With CreateObject("Outlook.Application").CreateItem(0)
        Set objOutlookRecip = .Recipients.Add(EmailToSMSAddy)
        objOutlookRecip.Type = 1
        .Subject = "The computer needs your attention!"
        .Body = "Go see why Windows Command Line is texting you!"
        .Save
        .Send
    End With
End Sub

---

Example Batch File Usage:

START x:\mypath\TextMyself.vbs

Of course there are endless possible ways this could be adapted and customized to suit various practical or creative needs.

Answer 4

You can use cURL and CRON to run .php files at set times.

Here's an example of what cURL needs to run the .php file:

curl http://localhost/myscript.php

Then setup the CRON job to run the above cURL:

nano -w /var/spool/cron/root
or
crontab -e

Followed by:

01 * * * * /usr/bin/curl http://www.yoursite.com/script.php

For more info about, check out this post: https://www.scalescale.com/tips/nginx/execute-php-scripts-automatically-using-cron-curl/

For more info about cURL: What is cURL in PHP?

For more info about CRON: http://code.tutsplus.com/tutorials/scheduling-tasks-with-cron-jobs--net-8800

Also, if you would like to learn about setting up a CRON job on your hosted server, just inquire with your host provider, and they may have a GUI for setting it up in the c-panel (such as http://godaddy.com, or http://1and1.com/ )

NOTE: Technically I believe you can setup a CRON job to run the .php file directly, but I'm not certain.

Best of luck with the automatic PHP running :-)