Create a new email with c# and attach a file Outlook 2016

Question

I have a list of documents and email addresses.

I am trying to create a method I can use to iterate throw the list of emailAddresses and for each creates a new email I Outlook and attaches the corresponding document.

The Creating the MailItem is was I get stuck. Found a sample on MSDN that should work from Office 2013 and forward.

This is what I have so far:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook;

namespace Test_Invoice
{
    class SendviaMail
    {
        string demofile = @"C:\Desktop\test-inv\1_Test Testesen_1_010.pdf";
        public void Send()
        {
            MailItem eMail = new MailItem();

            eMail.Subject = "Here is Your Invoice";
            eMail.To = "test@testesen.dk";
            eMail.Body = "Dette er en test mail for TestMailApp";

        }

        public void Send(string email, string filename)
        {

        }
    }
}

I've been trying to understand the documentation on MSDN and read thru a few posts on here.

As far as I can figure out, the next step is to add the attachment (the demo file) If I understand it right I need something like

eMail.AttachmentAdd = demofile;

But that does not work.

It might be me that does not understand the library correctly. Looking at this sample from MSDN https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb644320.aspx

Results in this code:

using Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook;
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using Outlook = Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook;

namespace Test_Invoice
{
    class SendviaMail
    {
        string demofile = @"C:\Desktop\test-inv\1_Test Testesen_1_010.pdf";
        public void Send()
        {
            Outlook.MailItem mail = Application.CreateItem(Outlook.OlItemType.olMailItem) as Outlook.MailItem;
            mail.Subject = "Quarterly Sales Report FY06 Q4";

            //MailItem eMail = new MailItem();

            //eMail.Subject = "tilmelding og faktura";
            //eMail.To = "test@testesen.dk";
            //eMail.Body = "Dette er en test mail for TestMailApp";
            //eMail.AttachmentAdd
        }

        public void Send(string email, string filename)
        {

        }
    }
}

Answer 1

use .Net class for that:

public static void CreateMessageWithAttachment(string server,string filePath)
{
    // Specify the file to be attached and sent.
    // This example assumes that a file named Data.xls exists in the
    // current working directory.
    string file = filePath;
    // Create a message and set up the recipients.
    MailMessage message = new MailMessage(
       "jane@contoso.com",
       "ben@contoso.com",
       "Quarterly data report.",
       "See the attached spreadsheet.");

    // Create  the file attachment for this e-mail message.
    Attachment data = new Attachment(file, MediaTypeNames.Application.Octet);
    // Add time stamp information for the file.
    ContentDisposition disposition = data.ContentDisposition;
    disposition.CreationDate = System.IO.File.GetCreationTime(file);
    disposition.ModificationDate = System.IO.File.GetLastWriteTime(file);
    disposition.ReadDate = System.IO.File.GetLastAccessTime(file);
    // Add the file attachment to this e-mail message.
    message.Attachments.Add(data);

    //Send the message.
    SmtpClient client = new SmtpClient(server);
    // Add credentials if the SMTP server requires them.
    client.Credentials = CredentialCache.DefaultNetworkCredentials;

    try {
      client.Send(message);
    }
    catch (Exception ex) {
      Console.WriteLine("Exception caught in CreateMessageWithAttachment(): {0}", 
                  ex.ToString() );            
    }
    data.Dispose();
}

after that just iterate the list from loop and send it to the function

more example you can use https://www.codeproject.com/Tips/286952/create-a-simple-smtp-server-in-csharp

Answer 2

The fixed sample code should look like this:

var ol = new Outlook.Application();
Outlook.MailItem mail = ol.CreateItem(Outlook.OlItemType.olMailItem) as Outlook.MailItem;

note that you need to declare the Outlook alias with your using statement:

using Outlook = Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook;

(as you already did) ... but must also remove

using Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook;

to avoid Visual Studio confusing your references.

The rest of the MSDN example should work as expected I don't have any other samples I can point you to, so your best bet is searching for Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook or explore linked questions here.