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MailMessage Class

.NET Framework 3.0
Represents an e-mail message that can be sent using the SmtpClient class.

Namespace: System.Net.Mail
Assembly: System (in system.dll)

C#
C++
VB
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public class MailMessage : IDisposable
J#
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public class MailMessage implements IDisposable
JScript
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public class MailMessage implements IDisposable
XAML
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Not applicable.

Instances of the MailMessage class are used to construct e-mail messages that are transmitted to an SMTP server for delivery using the SmtpClient class.

To specify the sender, recipient, and contents of an e-mail message, use the associated properties of the MailMessage class.

Mail part

Property

Sender

From

Recipient

To

Carbon copies (CC)

CC

Blind carbon copies (BCC)

Bcc

Attachments

Attachments

Subject

Subject

Message body

Body

Use the AlternateViews property to specify copies of an e-mail message in different formats. For example, if you send a message in HTML, you might also want to provide a plain text version in case some of the recipients use e-mail readers that cannot display HTML content. For an example that demonstrates creating a message with alternate views, see AlternateViews.

After assembling your e-mail message, you can send it by using the Send or SendAsync methods.

The following code example demonstrates creating and sending an e-mail message that includes an attachment.

C#
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public static void CreateMessageWithAttachment(string server)
{
    // 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 = "data.xls";
    // 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;
    client.Send(message);
    // Display the values in the ContentDisposition for the attachment.
    ContentDisposition cd = data.ContentDisposition;
    Console.WriteLine("Content disposition");
    Console.WriteLine(cd.ToString());
    Console.WriteLine("File {0}", cd.FileName);
    Console.WriteLine("Size {0}", cd.Size);
    Console.WriteLine("Creation {0}", cd.CreationDate);
    Console.WriteLine("Modification {0}", cd.ModificationDate);
    Console.WriteLine("Read {0}", cd.ReadDate);
    Console.WriteLine("Inline {0}", cd.Inline);
    Console.WriteLine("Parameters: {0}", cd.Parameters.Count);
    foreach (DictionaryEntry d in cd.Parameters)
    {
        Console.WriteLine("{0} = {1}", d.Key, d.Value);
    }
    data.Dispose();
}
System.Object
  System.Net.Mail.MailMessage
Any public static (Shared in Visual Basic) members of this type are thread safe. Any instance members are not guaranteed to be thread safe.

Windows 98, Windows Server 2000 SP4, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows Server 2003, Windows XP Media Center Edition, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, Windows XP SP2, Windows XP Starter Edition

The Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0 is supported on Windows Vista, Microsoft Windows XP SP2, and Windows Server 2003 SP1.

.NET Framework

Supported in: 3.0, 2.0
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Annotations FAQ
Content-Transfer-Encoding have your cake and eat it too!

You still have the ability to override the default body content transfer encoding settings of the MailMessage class, instead of setting the body properties of the mail message object set the body property to null, Then add an alternate view with the body and the desired content transfer encooding. You still cannot use 8bit encoding but you now have the option to override what the MailMessage thinks your message should be.

    message.Body = null
    using (AlternateView body = AlternateView.CreateAlternateViewFromString("My 7bit encoded Text message", message.BodyEncoding, message.IsBodyHtml ? "text/html" : null))
    {
     body.TransferEncoding = TransferEncoding.SevenBit;
     message.AlternateViews.Add(body);
     SmtpClient client = new SmtpClient(Host, Port);
     client.Send(message);
    }
History
content transer encoding
Giedrius - you the man - or woman as the case may be. Wasted 2 days trying to solve this. back to the old way. Thanks a bunch
History
System.Net.Mail and VS 2003

Note that System.Net.Mail is not available in .NET 1.1 framework. One will not be able to use this in Visual Studio 2003 or earlier. 
This namespace is available in .NET framework 2.0 or higher. 

History
Line ending symbols

if in a sended message body you'll find sequence =0D=0A and you email client can't get it right, you can do this:

change content-transfer-encoding - by default in .net 2.0 it's quoted-printable, in old .net it was 8bit.

if you think it's gonna work simply setting header like this emailMessage.Headers.Set("content-transfer-encoding", "8bit") you're sadly mistaken, .NET will add one more time content-transfer-encoding, and will add default one.

So you need to act in a wrong way - simply use old obsolete class: System.Web.Mail.MailMessage

Finding out this took some time for me :(

History
using() pattern is recommended

Adapting the code above to the using() pattern:

   using(MailMessage message = new MailMessage("jane@contoso.com","ben@contoso.com","report","See attachment."))
   using(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);
       /* REST OF CODE GOES HERE */
   }
   
  // what about the namespace for ContentDisposition ?
  // 1) of no consequence to this example 2) google, do you use it? 3) take questions to forums or newsgroups, not here

This ensures that Dispose is called on both the MailMessage and the Attachment when the executing thread exits the method.

History
Always call Dispose on MailMessage

Failing to call AttachmentBase.Dispose will result in locks being held on any files that were sent as attachments.

Calling MailMessage.Dispose is a way to ensure that any attachments will also be disposed.

 

History