Sending email through Amazon SES using an AWS SDK - Amazon Simple Email Service
PrerequisitesCode examples

Sending email through Amazon SES using an AWS SDK

You can use an AWS SDK to send email through Amazon SES. AWS SDKs are available for several programming languages. For more information, see Tools for Amazon Web Services.

Prerequisites

The following prerequisites must be completed in order to complete any of the code samples in the next section:

Code examples

Important

In the following tutorials, you send an email to yourself so that you can check to see if you received it. For further experimentation or load testing, use the Amazon SES mailbox simulator. Emails that you send to the mailbox simulator do not count toward your sending quota or your bounce and complaint rates. For more information, see Using the mailbox simulator manually.

Select a programing language to view the example for that language:
    .NET

    The following procedure shows you how to send an email through Amazon SES using Visual Studio and the AWS SDK for .NET.

    This solution was tested using the following components:

    • Microsoft Visual Studio Community 2017, version 15.4.0.

    • Microsoft .NET Framework version 4.6.1.

    • The AWSSDK.Core package (version 3.3.19), installed using NuGet.

    • The AWSSDK.SimpleEmail package (version 3.3.6.1), installed using NuGet.

    Before you begin, perform the following tasks:
    To send an email using the AWS SDK for .NET

    1. Create a new project by performing the following steps:

      1. Start Visual Studio.

      2. On the File menu, choose New, Project.

      3. On the New Project window, in the panel on the left, expand Installed, and then expand Visual C#.

      4. In the panel on the right, choose Console App (.NET Framework).

      5. For Name, type AmazonSESSample, and then choose OK.

    2. Use NuGet to include the Amazon SES packages in your solution by completing the following steps:

      1. In the Solution Explorer pane, right-click your project, and then choose Manage NuGet Packages.

      2. On the NuGet: AmazonSESSample tab, choose Browse.

      3. In the search box, type AWSSDK.SimpleEmail.

      4. Choose the AWSSDK.SimpleEmail package, and then choose Install.

      5. On the Preview Changes window, choose OK.

    3. On the Program.cs tab, paste the following code:

      using Amazon;
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using Amazon.SimpleEmail;
using Amazon.SimpleEmail.Model;

namespace AmazonSESSample 
{
    class Program
    {
        // Replace sender@example.com with your "From" address.
        // This address must be verified with Amazon SES.
        static readonly string senderAddress = "sender@example.com";

        // Replace recipient@example.com with a "To" address. If your account
        // is still in the sandbox, this address must be verified.
        static readonly string receiverAddress = "recipient@example.com";

        // The configuration set to use for this email. If you do not want to use a
        // configuration set, comment out the following property and the
        // ConfigurationSetName = configSet argument below. 
        static readonly string configSet = "ConfigSet";

        // The subject line for the email.
        static readonly string subject = "Amazon SES test (AWS SDK for .NET)";

        // The email body for recipients with non-HTML email clients.
        static readonly string textBody = "Amazon SES Test (.NET)\r\n" 
                                        + "This email was sent through Amazon SES "
                                        + "using the AWS SDK for .NET.";
        
        // The HTML body of the email.
        static readonly string htmlBody = @"<html>
<head></head>
<body>
  <h1>Amazon SES Test (AWS SDK for .NET)</h1>
  <p>This email was sent with
    <a href='https://aws.amazon.com/ses/'>Amazon SES</a> using the
    <a href='https://aws.amazon.com/sdk-for-net/'>
      AWS SDK for .NET</a>.</p>
</body>
</html>";

        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            // Replace USWest2 with the AWS Region you're using for Amazon SES.
            // Acceptable values are EUWest1, USEast1, and USWest2.
            using (var client = new AmazonSimpleEmailServiceClient(RegionEndpoint.USWest2))
            {
                var sendRequest = new SendEmailRequest
                {
                    Source = senderAddress,
                    Destination = new Destination
                    {
                        ToAddresses =
                        new List<string> { receiverAddress }
                    },
                    Message = new Message
                    {
                        Subject = new Content(subject),
                        Body = new Body
                        {
                            Html = new Content
                            {
                                Charset = "UTF-8",
                                Data = htmlBody
                            },
                            Text = new Content
                            {
                                Charset = "UTF-8",
                                Data = textBody
                            }
                        }
                    },
                    // If you are not using a configuration set, comment
                    // or remove the following line 
                    ConfigurationSetName = configSet
                };
                try
                {
                    Console.WriteLine("Sending email using Amazon SES...");
                    var response = client.SendEmail(sendRequest);
                    Console.WriteLine("The email was sent successfully.");
                }
                catch (Exception ex)
                {
                    Console.WriteLine("The email was not sent.");
                    Console.WriteLine("Error message: " + ex.Message);

                }
            }

            Console.Write("Press any key to continue...");
            Console.ReadKey();
        }
    }
}

    4. In the code editor, do the following:

      • Replace sender@example.com with the "From:" email address. This address must be verified. For more information, see Verified identities in Amazon SES.

      • Replace recipient@example.com with the "To:" address. If your account is still in the sandbox, this address must also be verified.

      • Replace ConfigSet with the name of the configuration set to use when sending this email.

      • Replace USWest2 with the name of the AWS Region endpoint you use to send email using Amazon SES. For a list of regions where Amazon SES is available, see Amazon Simple Email Service (Amazon SES) in the AWS General Reference.

      When you finish, save Program.cs.

    5. Build and run the application by completing the following steps:

      1. On the Build menu, choose Build Solution.

      2. On the Debug menu, choose Start Debugging. A console window appears.

    6. Review the output of the console. If the email was successfully sent, the console displays "The email was sent successfully."

    7. If the email was successfully sent, sign in to the email client of the recipient address. You will see the message that you sent.

    Java

    The following procedure shows you how to use Eclipse IDE for Java EE Developers and AWS Toolkit for Eclipse to create an AWS SDK project and modify the Java code to send an email through Amazon SES.

    Before you begin, perform the following tasks:

    • Install Eclipse—Eclipse is available at https://www.eclipse.org/downloads. The code in this tutorial was tested using Eclipse Neon.3 (version 4.6.3), running version 1.8 of the Java Runtime Environment.

    • Install the AWS Toolkit for Eclipse—Instructions for adding the AWS Toolkit for Eclipse to your Eclipse installation are available at https://aws.amazon.com/eclipse. The code in this tutorial was tested using version 2.3.1 of the AWS Toolkit for Eclipse.

    To send an email using the AWS SDK for Java

    1. Create an AWS Java Project in Eclipse by performing the following steps:

      1. Start Eclipse.

      2. On the File menu, choose New, and then choose Other. On the New window, expand the AWS folder, and then choose AWS Java Project.

      3. In the New AWS Java Project dialog box, do the following:

        1. For Project name, type a project name.

        2. Under AWS SDK for Java Samples, select Amazon Simple Email Service JavaMail Sample.

        3. Choose Finish.

    2. In Eclipse, in the Package Explorer pane, expand your project.

    3. Under your project, expand the src/main/java folder, expand the com.amazon.aws.samples folder, and then double-click AmazonSESSample.java.

    4. Replace the entire contents of AmazonSESSample.java with the following code:

      package com.amazonaws.samples;

import java.io.IOException;

import com.amazonaws.regions.Regions;
import com.amazonaws.services.simpleemail.AmazonSimpleEmailService;
import com.amazonaws.services.simpleemail.AmazonSimpleEmailServiceClientBuilder;
import com.amazonaws.services.simpleemail.model.Body;
import com.amazonaws.services.simpleemail.model.Content;
import com.amazonaws.services.simpleemail.model.Destination;
import com.amazonaws.services.simpleemail.model.Message;
import com.amazonaws.services.simpleemail.model.SendEmailRequest; 

public class AmazonSESSample {

  // Replace sender@example.com with your "From" address.
  // This address must be verified with Amazon SES.
  static final String FROM = "sender@example.com";

  // Replace recipient@example.com with a "To" address. If your account
  // is still in the sandbox, this address must be verified.
  static final String TO = "recipient@example.com";

  // The configuration set to use for this email. If you do not want to use a
  // configuration set, comment the following variable and the 
  // .withConfigurationSetName(CONFIGSET); argument below.
  static final String CONFIGSET = "ConfigSet";

  // The subject line for the email.
  static final String SUBJECT = "Amazon SES test (AWS SDK for Java)";
  
  // The HTML body for the email.
  static final String HTMLBODY = "<h1>Amazon SES test (AWS SDK for Java)</h1>"
      + "<p>This email was sent with <a href='https://aws.amazon.com/ses/'>"
      + "Amazon SES</a> using the <a href='https://aws.amazon.com/sdk-for-java/'>" 
      + "AWS SDK for Java</a>";

  // The email body for recipients with non-HTML email clients.
  static final String TEXTBODY = "This email was sent through Amazon SES "
      + "using the AWS SDK for Java.";

  public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {

    try {
      AmazonSimpleEmailService client = 
          AmazonSimpleEmailServiceClientBuilder.standard()
          // Replace US_WEST_2 with the AWS Region you're using for
          // Amazon SES.
            .withRegion(Regions.US_WEST_2).build();
      SendEmailRequest request = new SendEmailRequest()
          .withDestination(
              new Destination().withToAddresses(TO))
          .withMessage(new Message()
              .withBody(new Body()
                  .withHtml(new Content()
                      .withCharset("UTF-8").withData(HTMLBODY))
                  .withText(new Content()
                      .withCharset("UTF-8").withData(TEXTBODY)))
              .withSubject(new Content()
                  .withCharset("UTF-8").withData(SUBJECT)))
          .withSource(FROM)
          // Comment or remove the next line if you are not using a
          // configuration set
          .withConfigurationSetName(CONFIGSET);
      client.sendEmail(request);
      System.out.println("Email sent!");
    } catch (Exception ex) {
      System.out.println("The email was not sent. Error message: " 
          + ex.getMessage());
    }
  }
}

    5. In AmazonSESSample.java, replace the following with your own values:

      Important

      The email addresses are case-sensitive. Make sure that the addresses are exactly the same as the ones you verified.

      • SENDER@EXAMPLE.COM—Replace with your "From" email address. You must verify this address before you run this program. For more information, see Verified identities in Amazon SES.

      • RECIPIENT@EXAMPLE.COM—Replace with your "To" email address. If your account is still in the sandbox, you must verify this address before you use it. For more information, see Request production access (Moving out of the Amazon SES sandbox).

      • (Optional) us-west-2—If you want to use Amazon SES in a Region other than US West (Oregon), replace this with the Region you want to use. For a list of Regions where Amazon SES is available, see Amazon Simple Email Service (Amazon SES) in the AWS General Reference.

    6. Save AmazonSESSample.java.

    7. To build the project, choose Project and then choose Build Project.

      Note

      If this option is disabled, automatic building may be enabled; if so, skip this step.

    8. To start the program and send the email, choose Run and then choose Run again.

    9. Review the output of the console pane in Eclipse. If the email was successfully sent, the console displays "Email sent!" Otherwise, it displays an error message.

    10. If the email was successfully sent, sign in to the email client of the recipient address. You will see the message that you sent.

    PHP

    This topic shows how to use the AWS SDK for PHP to send an email through Amazon SES.

    Before you begin, perform the following tasks:

    • Install PHP—PHP is available at http://php.net/downloads.php. This tutorial requires PHP version 5.5 or higher. After you install PHP, add the path to PHP in your environment variables so that you can run PHP from any command prompt. The code in this tutorial was tested using PHP 7.2.7.

    • Install the AWS SDK for PHP version 3—For download and installation instructions, see the AWS SDK for PHP documentation. The code in this tutorial was tested using version 3.64.13 of the SDK.

    To send an email through Amazon SES using the AWS SDK for PHP

    1. In a text editor, create a file named amazon-ses-sample.php. Paste the following code:

      <?php

// If necessary, modify the path in the require statement below to refer to the 
// location of your Composer autoload.php file.
require 'vendor/autoload.php';

use Aws\Ses\SesClient;
use Aws\Exception\AwsException;

// Create an SesClient. Change the value of the region parameter if you're 
// using an AWS Region other than US West (Oregon). Change the value of the
// profile parameter if you want to use a profile in your credentials file
// other than the default.
$SesClient = new SesClient([
    'profile' => 'default',
    'version' => '2010-12-01',
    'region'  => 'us-west-2'
]);

// Replace sender@example.com with your "From" address.
// This address must be verified with Amazon SES.
$sender_email = 'sender@example.com';

// Replace these sample addresses with the addresses of your recipients. If
// your account is still in the sandbox, these addresses must be verified.
$recipient_emails = ['recipient1@example.com','recipient2@example.com'];

// Specify a configuration set. If you do not want to use a configuration
// set, comment the following variable, and the
// 'ConfigurationSetName' => $configuration_set argument below.
$configuration_set = 'ConfigSet';

$subject = 'Amazon SES test (AWS SDK for PHP)';
$plaintext_body = 'This email was sent with Amazon SES using the AWS SDK for PHP.' ;
$html_body =  '<h1>AWS Amazon Simple Email Service Test Email</h1>'.
              '<p>This email was sent with <a href="https://aws.amazon.com/ses/">'.
              'Amazon SES</a> using the <a href="https://aws.amazon.com/sdk-for-php/">'.
              'AWS SDK for PHP</a>.</p>';
$char_set = 'UTF-8';

try {
    $result = $SesClient->sendEmail([
        'Destination' => [
            'ToAddresses' => $recipient_emails,
        ],
        'ReplyToAddresses' => [$sender_email],
        'Source' => $sender_email,
        'Message' => [
          'Body' => [
              'Html' => [
                  'Charset' => $char_set,
                  'Data' => $html_body,
              ],
              'Text' => [
                  'Charset' => $char_set,
                  'Data' => $plaintext_body,
              ],
          ],
          'Subject' => [
              'Charset' => $char_set,
              'Data' => $subject,
          ],
        ],
        // If you aren't using a configuration set, comment or delete the
        // following line
        'ConfigurationSetName' => $configuration_set,
    ]);
    $messageId = $result['MessageId'];
    echo("Email sent! Message ID: $messageId"."\n");
} catch (AwsException $e) {
    // output error message if fails
    echo $e->getMessage();
    echo("The email was not sent. Error message: ".$e->getAwsErrorMessage()."\n");
    echo "\n";
}

    2. In amazon-ses-sample.php, replace the following with your own values:

      • path_to_sdk_inclusion—Replace with the path required to include the AWS SDK for PHP in the program. For more information, see the AWS SDK for PHP documentation.

      • sender@example.com—Replace with an email address that you have verified with Amazon SES. For more information, see Verified identities. Email addresses in Amazon SES are case-sensitive. Make sure that the address you enter is exactly the same as the one you verified.

      • recipient1@example.com, recipient2@example.com—Replace with the addresses of your recipients. If your account is still in the sandbox, your recipients' addresses must also be verified. For more information, see Request production access (Moving out of the Amazon SES sandbox). Make sure that the address you enter is exactly the same as the one you verified.

      • (Optional) ConfigSet—If you want to use a configuration set when sending this email, replace this value with the name of the configuration set. For more information about configuration sets, see Using configuration sets in Amazon SES.

      • (Optional) us-west-2—If you want to use Amazon SES in a Region other than US West (Oregon), replace this with the Region you want to use. For a list of Regions where Amazon SES is available, see Amazon Simple Email Service (Amazon SES) in the AWS General Reference.

    3. Save amazon-ses-sample.php.

    4. To run the program, open a command prompt in the same directory as amazon-ses-sample.php, and then type the following command:

      $ php amazon-ses-sample.php

    5. Review the output. If the email was successfully sent, the console displays "Email sent!" Otherwise, it displays an error message.

      Note

      If you encounter a "cURL error 60: SSL certificate problem" error when you run the program, download the latest CA bundle as described in the AWS SDK for PHP documentation. Then, in amazon-ses-sample.php, add the following lines to the SesClient::factory array, replace path_of_certs with the path to the CA bundle you downloaded, and re-run the program.

      'http' => [
   'verify' => 'path_of_certs\ca-bundle.crt'
]

    6. Sign in to the email client of the recipient address. You will see the message that you sent.

    Ruby

    This topic shows how to use the AWS SDK for Ruby to send an email through Amazon SES.

    Before you begin, perform the following tasks:
    To send an email through Amazon SES using the AWS SDK for Ruby

    1. In a text editor, create a file named amazon-ses-sample.rb. Paste the following code into the file:

      require 'aws-sdk'

# Replace sender@example.com with your "From" address.
# This address must be verified with Amazon SES.
sender = "sender@example.com"

# Replace recipient@example.com with a "To" address. If your account 
# is still in the sandbox, this address must be verified.
recipient = "recipient@example.com"

# Specify a configuration set. If you do not want to use a configuration
# set, comment the following variable and the 
# configuration_set_name: configsetname argument below. 
configsetname = "ConfigSet"
  
# Replace us-west-2 with the AWS Region you're using for Amazon SES.
awsregion = "us-west-2"

# The subject line for the email.
subject = "Amazon SES test (AWS SDK for Ruby)"

# The HTML body of the email.
htmlbody =
  '<h1>Amazon SES test (AWS SDK for Ruby)</h1>'\
  '<p>This email was sent with <a href="https://aws.amazon.com/ses/">'\
  'Amazon SES</a> using the <a href="https://aws.amazon.com/sdk-for-ruby/">'\
  'AWS SDK for Ruby</a>.'

# The email body for recipients with non-HTML email clients.  
textbody = "This email was sent with Amazon SES using the AWS SDK for Ruby."

# Specify the text encoding scheme.
encoding = "UTF-8"

# Create a new SES resource and specify a region
ses = Aws::SES::Client.new(region: awsregion)

# Try to send the email.
begin

  # Provide the contents of the email.
  resp = ses.send_email({
    destination: {
      to_addresses: [
        recipient,
      ],
    },
    message: {
      body: {
        html: {
          charset: encoding,
          data: htmlbody,
        },
        text: {
          charset: encoding,
          data: textbody,
        },
      },
      subject: {
        charset: encoding,
        data: subject,
      },
    },
  source: sender,
  # Comment or remove the following line if you are not using 
  # a configuration set
  configuration_set_name: configsetname,
  })
  puts "Email sent!"

# If something goes wrong, display an error message.
rescue Aws::SES::Errors::ServiceError => error
  puts "Email not sent. Error message: #{error}"

end

    2. In amazon-ses-sample.rb, replace the following with your own values:

      • sender@example.com—Replace with an email address that you have verified with Amazon SES. For more information, see Verified identities. Email addresses in Amazon SES are case-sensitive. Make sure that the address you enter is exactly the same as the one you verified.

      • recipient@example.com—Replace with the address of the recipient. If your account is still in the sandbox, you must verify this address before you use it. For more information, see Request production access (Moving out of the Amazon SES sandbox). Make sure that the address you enter is exactly the same as the one you verified.

      • (Optional) us-west-2—If you want to use Amazon SES in a Region other than US West (Oregon), replace this with the Region you want to use. For a list of Regions where Amazon SES is available, see Amazon Simple Email Service (Amazon SES) in the AWS General Reference.

    3. Save amazon-ses-sample.rb.

    4. To run the program, open a command prompt in the same directory as amazon-ses-sample.rb, and type ruby amazon-ses-sample.rb

    5. Review the output. If the email was successfully sent, the console displays "Email sent!" Otherwise, it displays an error message.

    6. Sign in to the email client of the recipient address. You will find the message that you sent.

    Python

    This topic shows how to use the AWS SDK for Python (Boto) to send an email through Amazon SES.

    Before you begin, perform the following tasks:

    • Verify your email address with Amazon SES—Before you can send an email with Amazon SES, you must verify that you own the sender's email address. If your account is still in the Amazon SES sandbox, you must also verify the recipient email address. We recommend you use the Amazon SES console to verify email addresses. For more information, see Creating an email address identity.

    • Get your AWS credentials—You need an AWS access key ID and AWS secret access key to access Amazon SES using an SDK. You can find your credentials by using the Security Credentials page of the AWS Management Console. For more information about credentials, see Types of Amazon SES credentials.

    • Install Python—Python is available at https://www.python.org/downloads/. The code in this tutorial was tested using Python 2.7.6 and Python 3.6.1. After you install Python, add the path to Python in your environment variables so that you can run Python from any command prompt.

    • Install the AWS SDK for Python (Boto)—For download and installation instructions, see the AWS SDK for Python (Boto) documentation. The sample code in this tutorial was tested using version 1.4.4 of the SDK for Python.

    To send an email through Amazon SES using the SDK for Python

    1. In a text editor, create a file named amazon-ses-sample.py. Paste the following code into the file:

      import boto3
from botocore.exceptions import ClientError

# Replace sender@example.com with your "From" address.
# This address must be verified with Amazon SES.
SENDER = "Sender Name <sender@example.com>"

# Replace recipient@example.com with a "To" address. If your account 
# is still in the sandbox, this address must be verified.
RECIPIENT = "recipient@example.com"

# Specify a configuration set. If you do not want to use a configuration
# set, comment the following variable, and the 
# ConfigurationSetName=CONFIGURATION_SET argument below.
CONFIGURATION_SET = "ConfigSet"

# If necessary, replace us-west-2 with the AWS Region you're using for Amazon SES.
AWS_REGION = "us-west-2"

# The subject line for the email.
SUBJECT = "Amazon SES Test (SDK for Python)"

# The email body for recipients with non-HTML email clients.
BODY_TEXT = ("Amazon SES Test (Python)\r\n"
             "This email was sent with Amazon SES using the "
             "AWS SDK for Python (Boto)."
            )
            
# The HTML body of the email.
BODY_HTML = """<html>
<head></head>
<body>
  <h1>Amazon SES Test (SDK for Python)</h1>
  <p>This email was sent with
    <a href='https://aws.amazon.com/ses/'>Amazon SES</a> using the
    <a href='https://aws.amazon.com/sdk-for-python/'>
      AWS SDK for Python (Boto)</a>.</p>
</body>
</html>
            """            

# The character encoding for the email.
CHARSET = "UTF-8"

# Create a new SES resource and specify a region.
client = boto3.client('ses',region_name=AWS_REGION)

# Try to send the email.
try:
    #Provide the contents of the email.
    response = client.send_email(
        Destination={
            'ToAddresses': [
                RECIPIENT,
            ],
        },
        Message={
            'Body': {
                'Html': {
                    'Charset': CHARSET,
                    'Data': BODY_HTML,
                },
                'Text': {
                    'Charset': CHARSET,
                    'Data': BODY_TEXT,
                },
            },
            'Subject': {
                'Charset': CHARSET,
                'Data': SUBJECT,
            },
        },
        Source=SENDER,
        # If you are not using a configuration set, comment or delete the
        # following line
        ConfigurationSetName=CONFIGURATION_SET,
    )
# Display an error if something goes wrong.	
except ClientError as e:
    print(e.response['Error']['Message'])
else:
    print("Email sent! Message ID:"),
    print(response['MessageId'])

    2. In amazon-ses-sample.py, replace the following with your own values:

      • sender@example.com—Replace with an email address that you have verified with Amazon SES. For more information, see Verified identities. Email addresses in Amazon SES are case sensitive. Make sure that the address you enter is exactly the same as the one you verified.

      • recipient@example.com—Replace with the address of the recipient. If your account is still in the sandbox, you must verify this address before you use it. For more information, see Request production access (Moving out of the Amazon SES sandbox). Make sure that the address you enter is exactly the same as the one you verified.

      • (Optional) us-west-2—If you want to use Amazon SES in a Region other than US West (Oregon), replace this with the Region you want to use. For a list of Regions where Amazon SES is available, see Amazon Simple Email Service (Amazon SES) in the AWS General Reference.

    3. Save amazon-ses-sample.py.

    4. To run the program, open a command prompt in the same directory as amazon-ses-sample.py, and then type python amazon-ses-sample.py.

    5. Review the output. If the email was successfully sent, the console displays "Email sent!" Otherwise, it displays an error message.

    6. Sign in to the email client of the recipient address. You will see the message that you sent.