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I'm having trouble sending my DataFrame through an e-mail. The DataFrame looks fine whenever I export it or print it. Through an e-mail however, it looks messed up.

Of course, I've tried the to_html option that Pandas offers. And also the build_table from the pretty_html_table package.

Whenever I send my dataFrame through an e-mail, it returns this:


Dear mister X,

Please have a look at these numbers. There is a big change in revenue since 11-10-2021 compared to 10-10-2021:

 <p><table border="0" class="dataframe">
  <thead>
    <tr style="text-align: right;">
      <th style = "background-color: #FFFFFF;font-family: Century Gothic, sans-serif;font-size: medium;color: #305496;text-align: left;border-bottom: 2px solid #305496;padding: 0px 20px 0px 0px;width: auto">Product Category</th>
      <th style = "background-color: #FFFFFF;font-family: Century Gothic, sans-serif;font-size: medium;color: #305496;text-align: left;border-bottom: 2px solid #305496;padding: 0px 20px 0px 0px;width: auto">Source / Medium</th>
      <th style = "background-color: #FFFFFF;font-family: Century Gothic, sans-serif;font-size: medium;color: #305496;text-align: left;border-bottom: 2px solid #305496;padding: 0px 20px 0px 0px;width: auto">Avg. Rev. Period 1</th>
      <th style = "background-color: #FFFFFF;font-family: Century Gothic, sans-serif;font-size: medium;color: #305496;text-align: left;border-bottom: 2px solid #305496;padding: 0px 20px 0px 0px;width: auto">Avg. Rev. Period 2</th>
      <th style = "background-color: #FFFFFF;font-family: Century Gothic, sans-serif;font-size: medium;color: #305496;text-align: left;border-bottom: 2px solid #305496;padding: 0px 20px 0px 0px;width: auto">Percentage Change</th>
    </tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td style = "background-color: #D9E1F2;font-family: Century Gothic, sans-serif;font-size: medium;text-align: left;padding: 0px 20px 0px 0px;width: auto">TEST</td>
      <td style = "background-color: #D9E1F2;font-family: Century Gothic, sans-serif;font-size: medium;text-align: left;padding: 0px 20px 0px 0px;width: auto">TEST</td>
      <td style = "background-color: #D9E1F2;font-family: Century Gothic, sans-serif;font-size: medium;text-align: left;padding: 0px 20px 0px 0px;width: auto">0.01</td>
      <td style = "background-color: #D9E1F2;font-family: Century Gothic, sans-serif;font-size: medium;text-align: left;padding: 0px 20px 0px 0px;width: auto">100</td>
      <td style = "background-color: #D9E1F2;font-family: Century Gothic, sans-serif;font-size: medium;text-align: left;padding: 0px 20px 0px 0px;width: auto">-52</td>
    </tr>
.........

I think it probably has to do with the code I use to send the e-mail. I want to insert different variables in it. Here's the code for the e-mail:


email_df = build_table(df, "blue_light")
subject = f"Subject: blablabla - {today}"
message = f"\n\nDear mister X, \n\n Please have a look at these numbers. There is a big change in revenue since {period 1} compared to {period 2}: \n\n {email_df}"
emailcontent = f'{subject}{message}'

context = ssl.create_default_context()
with smtplib.SMTP_SSL(smtp_server, port, context=context) as server:
    server.login(sender_email, password)
    server.sendmail(sender_email, receiver_email, emailcontent)

Any help is welcome! :)

Jorginton
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  • You seem to be inserting an HTML table into a plain-text email. Have you tried just inserting the `df` directly? `print("... ... \n{df}")` This will provide a plain text table. – Stuart Oct 11 '21 at 15:37
  • Alternatively, [make the whole message HTML](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/882712/sending-html-email-using-python) – Stuart Oct 11 '21 at 15:39
  • I've tried adding the DF directly. The lay-out does not make sense that way. The columns and rows are correct but the spacing is all over the place. How do you add the DF in a whole HTML e-mail? – Jorginton Oct 12 '21 at 11:41

1 Answers1

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You are currently sending the email in plain text format, which makes it impossible to ensure the column spacing is correct unless the recipient happens to view their emails in a plain text reader.

To ensure the table is spaced correctly you have to send an HTML email - see the example here and this answer. Something like the following (untested) should work:

from email.message import EmailMessage
import smptlib

email = EmailMessage()
email['Subject'] = f"Subject: blablabla - {today}"
email['From'] = sender_email
email['To'] = receiver_email
email.set_content(f"""\
    <html><head></head><body>
    <p>Dear mister X,</p>
    <p>Please have a look at these numbers. There is a big change in revenue since {period 1} 
    compared to {period 2}:</p>
    {df.to_html()}   # or use build_table(df) for prettier formatting
    </body></html>""", subtype='html')

context = ssl.create_default_context()
with smtplib.SMTP_SSL(smtp_server, port, context=context) as server:
    server.login(sender_email, password)
    server.send_message(email)
Stuart
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