How to send an email with PowerShell using SendGrid API

24 Replies to “How to send an email with PowerShell using SendGrid API”

1. Hello Paolo,
   can I suggest the use of splatting to pass the parameters to your function
   i.e.
   $MailParams = @{
   From = “[email protected]”
   To = “[email protected]”
   APIKEY = “MY_API_KEY”
   Subject = “TEST”
   Body =”SENDGRID 123″
   }
   Send-EmailWithSendGrid @MailParams

   The commandline is shoter, and more readable and easily customizable.

   Regards
   Olivier

   Reply

   1. Hi Oliver,
      Thanks for your comment, yes splatting can make the line for the cmd-let shorter, as much as I like hash tables and I wanted to make the code even simpler.
      I will edit this post and include your comment, I didn’t think to include splatting in this, but, in general, you’re right and it’s a nice option to have all parameters into a single hash table object if you want for instance iterate or manipulate it.

      Reply

2. what about attachments?

   Reply

3. how can you add an attachment?

   Reply

   1. Hi Spizzy,
      Thanks for your comment. According to the official documentation of SendGrid https://sendgrid.com/docs/api-reference/ you can send attachments(an array of objects) but you need to convert your file with base64 into a string the attachment yourself you cannot pass the absolute path of the file.
      Each attachment in the array will be a set of 2 required strings filename and content.
      I suggest breaking this into a separate helper function where you pass a filename as an argument and it returns 2 strings (or a hash table) filename and content. So you can keep your code still close to a one-liner.

      I will publish an article tomorrow on how to encode in base64 using .NET framework, but I’ve already pasted in my github repository the code if you want to have a look: https://github.com/PaoloFrigo/scriptinglibrary/blob/master/Blog/PowerShell/Encode-FileToBase64.ps1

      I hope that I have answered your question. Regards

      Reply

      1. Hey Paolo, this helps. That part im missing is what the json request with the attachment part added in. json is totally new to me and the structure is strange. how would the attachment in the json structure look?

         thanks, sir.

         Reply

         1. Hi Spizzy,
            I strongly encourage you to get familiar with XML, JSON, YAML. It doesn’t matter what role you’re in right now, you’ll soon need to use them and know pros and cons of all of these especially when you are the developer and you need to choose which one to implement.

            Have you read this article on how to convert a file into a base64 string?
            https://www.scriptinglibrary.com/languages/powershell/base64-encoding-with-powershell-and-net-framework/

            My script above doesn’t require an attachment, but on the JSON request add the previous article and this code, it should be a matter of just joining all the pieces together.

            
attachments: [
{
content: "attachment_converted_into_base64string",
filename: "name_of_your_attachment_with_extension",

            }
]

            Experiment and let me know if you need help.

            Regards

            Reply

   2. Use the below code

      $attachmentContent = @()
      foreach($file in $AttachmentFileArray)
      {
      $attachmentContent += New-Object PSObject -Property @{
      ‘content’ = [Convert]::ToBase64String([IO.File]::ReadAllBytes($file))
      ‘filename’ = $file.Split(‘\’)[-1]
      }
      }

      Reply

4. I have been trying to send to multiple recipients using Splatting but getting the below error, Please help.

   To = “[email protected]” , “[email protected]”
   ——————————————————————–
   Send-EmailWithSendGrid : Cannot process argument transformation on parameter ‘To’. Cannot convert value to type System.String.
   At line:82 char:24
   + Send-EmailWithSendGrid @MailParams
   + ~~~~~~~~~~~
   + CategoryInfo : InvalidData: (:) [Send-EmailWithSendGrid], ParameterBindingArgumentTransformationException
   + FullyQualifiedErrorId : ParameterArgumentTransformationError,Send-EmailWithSendGrid

   Reply

   1. Hi Ayush,
      Thanks for your comment. If you look at the beginning of the Send-EmailWithSendGrid function definition you will notice that To is not an Array or List of Strings, but a simple String object. So the error you are getting is espected.

      If you want to pass an array of strings as mentioned in your comment changing that function is the first change needed.

      The second step and most important one is consulting the SendGrid API to double-check if that change is allowed:
      https://sendgrid.com/docs/API_Reference/Web_API_v3/Mail/index.html
      Ideally, knowing that function depends on this API this research should be done upfront to avoid wasting time.
      Yes, this is possible, the only limitation is that the size of that array must be less than 1000, so I suggest to validate the size of the To array and making your function a little bit smarter.

      This is what I’m referring to:
      —
      The total number of recipients must be less than 1000. This includes all recipients defined within the to, cc, and bcc parameters, across each object that you include in the personalizations array.
      —
      If you are not successful in your attempts, feel free to reach out.

      Another option (more like a workaround) if you want to send the same email to your list of recipients, you can call the same function sending it out one user at a time by simply using a for loop.
      This would be like sending individual emails, instead of an email with the same ‘to’ list of addresses in the mail header. In your comment I guess you want all users to know each other address and can reply-to-all, instead of in this workaround method each one will receive an email with one single address in the ‘to’ field.
      It may work for you anyway, but it depends on the result you want to achieve.

      Regards

      Reply

5. Hi Paolo,

   Thanks for your response.

   I am very new to PowerShell, I have tried to change the string type of $To to array of string but no lock. I am just trying to send emails to multiple recipients and will definitely less than 1000 recipients, not individually but to everyone added to the $To list. Also I have tried to add cc and bcc to the function it didn’t work.

   Can you please suggest what changes you are referring to in the above reply for changing the function which will allow me to send emails to multiple recipients. Also if you can suggest me how to add cc and bcc into the function.

   Reply

   1. You need to pass the list of emails as array of string

      Reply

6. Is there a way to pass an array into the content?
   Much as the question above, but within the body

   So in this case, the result of a cmdlet call to a child runbook, which is stored as array.

   Reply

   1. Hi Jamie,
      Thanks for your comment. This question is more about data types and conversions than using sendgrid api.

      I can show you a simple code snippet to hopefully will point you in the right direction:
      
# This is a simple array
$MyArray = 1..10

      # This is using a join command to turn it into a single string with the comma separator
$MyString= $MyArray -join ","

      $MyArray is mocking the output of your cmd-let or function. $MyString will be the string variable that you can add the body.

      I hope that example is simple and clear enough.
      Thanks,
      Regards

      Reply

7. can I get the code snippet to send zipped attachment?

   Reply

   1. Hi Veera,
      Thanks for your comment. A zip file is like any other file or attachment so it needs to be encoded into base64 format, please see some of my previous responses.
      Regards

      Reply

8. I used your solution in my send email scripts, I added a couple things, now you can send to multiple emails by supplying a comma separated list of addresses, it also will send a bcc to another email – only 1 per SG api. The type is also html so you can send a html formatted email

   if($To.Contains(“,”) -eq $true){

   [array]$emails = $To.Split(“,”)

   }else{

   [array]$emails = $To
   }

   $jsonRequest = [ordered]@{ personalizations= @(
   @{to = @($emails | %{ @{email = “$_”} })
   bcc = @( @{email = “$($TechEmail)”})
   subject = “$SubJect” })
   from = @{email = “[email protected]”}
   content = @( @{ type = “text/html”
   value = “$body” })} | ConvertTo-Json -Depth 10

   Reply

   1. Hi Mike,
      Thanks for your comment and for adding your code snippet. I’m sure it will be useful to other users as well!
      Regards

      Reply

9. A bit out of the wheel-house, runs but no error in PS and no email received. Any hints to share? Thanks in advance.

   Reply

   1. Hi,
      thanks for your comment.

      The script is basically a one-liner, if all arguments passed are correct you should have the expected result.

      The only thing I would try is to double-check if I’ve copied correctly my API token and eventually review the official documentation
      https://sendgrid.com/docs/for-developers/sending-email/curl-examples/#hello-world
      to use the same API key with CURL like this one:

      curl –request POST \
      –url https://api.sendgrid.com/v3/mail/send \
      –header ‘Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY’ \
      –header ‘Content-Type: application/json’ \
      –data ‘{“personalizations”: [{“to”: [{“email”: “[email protected]”}]}],”from”: {“email”: “[email protected]”},”subject”: “Hello, World!”,”content”: [{“type”: “text/plain”, “value”: “Heya!”}]}’

      I hope this answers your question or at least it will point you in the right direction.

      Regards

      Reply

10. I still don’t get how to send to multiple recipients.
    function Send-SendGridEmail {
    param(
    [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)]
    [String] $destEmailAddress,
    [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)]
    [String] $fromEmailAddress,
    [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)]
    [String] $subject,
    [Parameter(Mandatory = $false)]
    [string]$contentType = ‘text/plain’,
    [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)]
    [String] $contentBody,

    [parameter(Mandatory = $false)]
    [string]$FileName,
    [parameter(Mandatory = $false)]
    [string]$FileNameWithFilePath,
    [parameter(Mandatory = $false)]
    [string]$AttachementType
    )

    ############ Update with your SendGrid API Key ####################
    $apiKey = “key”

    $headers = @{
    ‘Authorization’ = ‘Bearer ‘ + $apiKey
    ‘Content-Type’ = ‘application/json’
    }

    $base64string = [Convert]::ToBase64String([IO.File]::ReadAllBytes($FileNameWithFilePath))

    $body = @{
    personalizations = @(
    @{
    to = @(
    @{email = $destEmailAddress}
    )
    }
    )
    from = @{
    email = $fromEmailAddress
    }
    subject = $subject
    content = @(
    @{
    type = $contentType
    value = $contentBody
    }
    )
    attachments = @(
    @{

    #content=$EncodedFile
    #content=$content
    content=$base64string
    filename=$FileName
    type= $AttachementType
    disposition=”attachment”
    }
    )
    }

    try {
    $bodyJson = $body | ConvertTo-Json -Depth 4
    }
    catch {
    $ErrorMessage = $_.Exception.message
    write-error (‘Error converting body to json ‘ + $ErrorMessage)
    Break
    }

    try {
    Invoke-RestMethod -Uri https://api.sendgrid.com/v3/mail/send -Method Post -Headers $headers -Body $bodyJson
    }
    catch {
    $ErrorMessage = $_.Exception.message
    write-error (‘Error with Invoke-RestMethod ‘ + $ErrorMessage)
    Break
    }

    }

    #CALL
    $splat2 = @{
    destEmailAddress = ’[email protected],[email protected]’
    fromEmailAddress = ‘[email protected]’
    subject = ‘Test Email’
    contentType = ‘text/html’
    contentBody = $htmlBody
    FileName = “file.xlsx”
    FileNameWithFilePath = “path\file.xlsx”
    AttachementType = “application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet”
    }
    the above works for sending to one person but i don’t know the format for sending to multiple recipients. This will run in a loop so the number of recipients if dynamic.

    Reply

    1. Hi Milan,
       Thanks for your comment, I’m happy that you are using the script and you have found the article useful.
       In one of the comments, Mike has suggested a solution to add multiple addresses, you should try that option if that is what you are looking for.

       Regards

       Reply

       1. Thats the thing. My code strcuture is different because i used the skeleton from a different github. So i don’t see how to implement it in mine. This API is very new to me and I am having a hard time working it.
          Thank you for responding

          Reply

       2. Hi Paolo,
          The trick to sending to multiple emails is creating the JSON request object with multiple to – I did it by checking the $To variable, if it is a comma separated list it created an array object using .split otherwise it creates an array of 1 email.

          if($To.Contains(“,”) -eq $true){
          [array]$emails = $To.Split(“,”)
          }else{
          [array]$emails = $To
          }

          Then when you create the JSNO object this line adds however many emails there are to the object
          @{to = @($emails | %{ @{email = “$_”} })

          part of this code block
          $jsonRequest = [ordered]@{ personalizations= @(
          @{to = @($emails | %{ @{email = “$_”} })
          bcc = @( @{email = “$($TechEmail)”})
          subject = “$SubJect” })
          from = @{email = “[email protected]”}
          content = @( @{ type = “text/html”
          value = “$body” })} | ConvertTo-Json -Depth 10

          Send Grid handles the looping etc, you can remove the bcc if you dont use it

          Reply

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