How do I send email using Gmail via TLS?

The following example show you how to send email using Gmail SMTP via TLS connection. The username and password is used to authenticate you against the Gmail.

The configuration / properties used for connection to the Gmail SMTP is defined in the createConfiguration() method. The properties include information such as the SMTP host address, port number, etc.

To send email using Gmail via SSL see the following code snippet How do I send email using Gmail via SSL?.

Let’s see the code snippet below:

package org.kodejava.mail;

import javax.mail.*;
import javax.mail.internet.InternetAddress;
import javax.mail.internet.MimeMessage;
import java.util.Date;
import java.util.Properties;

public class GmailSendEmailTLS {
    private static final String USERNAME = "[email protected]";
    private static final String PASSWORD = "password";

    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
        // Email information such as from, to, subject and contents.
        String mailFrom = "[email protected]";
        String mailTo = "[email protected]";
        String mailSubject = "TLS - Gmail Send Email Demo";
        String mailText = "TLS - Gmail Send Email Demo";

        GmailSendEmailTLS gmail = new GmailSendEmailTLS();
        gmail.sendMail(mailFrom, mailTo, mailSubject, mailText);
    }

    private void sendMail(String mailFrom, String mailTo, String mailSubject,
                          String mailText) throws Exception {

        Properties config = createConfiguration();

        // Creates a mail session. We need to supply username and
        // password for Gmail authentication.
        Session session = Session.getInstance(config, new Authenticator() {
            @Override
            protected PasswordAuthentication getPasswordAuthentication() {
                return new PasswordAuthentication(
                        GmailSendEmailTLS.USERNAME,
                        GmailSendEmailTLS.PASSWORD
                );
            }
        });

        // Creates email message
        Message message = new MimeMessage(session);
        message.setSentDate(new Date());
        message.setFrom(new InternetAddress(mailFrom));
        message.setRecipient(Message.RecipientType.TO,
                new InternetAddress(mailTo));
        message.setSubject(mailSubject);
        message.setText(mailText);

        // Send a message
        Transport.send(message);
    }

    private Properties createConfiguration() {
        return new Properties() {{
            put("mail.smtp.auth", "true");
            put("mail.smtp.host", "smtp.gmail.com");
            put("mail.smtp.port", "587");
            put("mail.smtp.starttls.enable", "true");
            put("mail.smtp.ssl.protocols", "TLSv1.2");
        }};
    }
}

Maven Dependencies

<dependencies>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>javax.mail</groupId>
        <artifactId>javax.mail-api</artifactId>
        <version>1.5.6</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>javax.mail</groupId>
        <artifactId>mail</artifactId>
        <version>1.4.7</version>
    </dependency>
</dependencies>

Maven Central Maven Central

How do I send email using Gmail via SSL?

In another example you’ve seen how to send email using Gmail SMTP via TLS. See the following example How do I send email using Gmail via TLS?.

In this example you will use the SSL connection to connect to Gmail SMTP server. The difference with this is in the properties / configuration that we used to create the mail session object.

package org.kodejava.mail;

import javax.mail.*;
import javax.mail.internet.InternetAddress;
import javax.mail.internet.MimeMessage;
import java.util.Date;
import java.util.Properties;

public class GmailSendEmailSSL {
    private static final String USERNAME = "[email protected]";
    private static final String PASSWORD = "password";

    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
        // Email information such as from, to, subject and contents.
        String mailFrom = "[email protected]";
        String mailTo = "[email protected]";
        String mailSubject = "SSL - Gmail Send Email Demo";
        String mailText = "SSL - Gmail Send Email Demo";

        GmailSendEmailSSL gmail = new GmailSendEmailSSL();
        gmail.sendMail(mailFrom, mailTo, mailSubject, mailText);
    }

    private void sendMail(String mailFrom, String mailTo, String mailSubject,
                          String mailText) throws Exception {

        Properties config = createConfiguration();

        // Creates a mail session. We need to supply username and
        // password for Gmail authentication.
        Session session = Session.getInstance(config, new Authenticator() {
            @Override
            protected PasswordAuthentication getPasswordAuthentication() {
                return new PasswordAuthentication(
                        GmailSendEmailSSL.USERNAME,
                        GmailSendEmailSSL.PASSWORD
                );
            }
        });

        // Creates email message
        Message message = new MimeMessage(session);
        message.setSentDate(new Date());
        message.setFrom(new InternetAddress(mailFrom));
        message.setRecipient(Message.RecipientType.TO, new InternetAddress(mailTo));
        message.setSubject(mailSubject);
        message.setText(mailText);

        // Send a message
        Transport.send(message);
    }

    private Properties createConfiguration() {
        return new Properties() {{
            put("mail.smtp.host", "smtp.gmail.com");
            put("mail.smtp.auth", "true");
            put("mail.smtp.port", "465");
            put("mail.smtp.socketFactory.port", "465");
            put("mail.smtp.socketFactory.class", "javax.net.ssl.SSLSocketFactory");
            put("mail.smtp.ssl.protocols", "TLSv1.2");
        }};
    }
}

There is a chance that you can get an error that tell you cannot connect to the smtp.gmail.com port 465. If this is the case please check your connection to the server using telnet command. The command is telnet smtp.gmail.com 465, and see if there is a reply.

Maven Dependencies

<dependencies>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>javax.mail</groupId>
        <artifactId>javax.mail-api</artifactId>
        <version>1.5.6</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>javax.mail</groupId>
        <artifactId>mail</artifactId>
        <version>1.4.7</version>
    </dependency>
</dependencies>

Maven Central Maven Central

How do I debug application that uses JavaMail APIs?

To ask Java mail to print out a debug message when you run a Java mail program you can add the mail.debug and set the value to true into the properties used to create the session object.

The other way is to set the debug setting of the session using the session.setDebug() method and pass true as the parameter. This will also turn on the debug message in your Java mail program.

package org.kodejava.mail;

import javax.mail.*;
import javax.mail.internet.InternetAddress;
import javax.mail.internet.MimeMessage;
import java.util.Date;
import java.util.Properties;

public class MailDebugDemo {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        MailDebugDemo.sendMail("[email protected]", "[email protected]",
                "Debug Demo", "Mail Debug Demo");
    }

    private static void sendMail(String mailFrom, String mailTo, String mailSubject,
                                 String mailText) {
        Properties props = new Properties() {{
            put("mail.smtp.auth", "true");
            put("mail.smtp.host", "smtp.gmail.com");
            put("mail.transport.protocol", "smtp");
            put("mail.smtp.port", "587");
            put("mail.smtp.starttls.enable", "true");
            put("mail.smtp.ssl.protocols", "TLSv1.2");
            put("mail.debug", "true");
        }};

        // Creates a mail session. We need to supply username and
        // password for GMail authentication.
        Session session = Session.getInstance(props, new Authenticator() {
            @Override
            protected PasswordAuthentication getPasswordAuthentication() {
                return new PasswordAuthentication("[email protected]", "password");
            }
        });

        try {
            // Creates email message
            Message message = new MimeMessage(session);
            message.setSentDate(new Date());
            message.setFrom(new InternetAddress(mailFrom));
            message.setRecipient(Message.RecipientType.TO,
                    new InternetAddress(mailTo));
            message.setSubject(mailSubject);
            message.setText(mailText);

            // Send a message
            Transport.send(message);
        } catch (MessagingException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }
}

Here is an example of debug information produce by the JavaMail API when sending an email using Gmail SMTP server.

DEBUG: JavaMail version 1.5.6
DEBUG: successfully loaded resource: /META-INF/javamail.default.providers
DEBUG: Tables of loaded providers
DEBUG: Providers Listed By Class Name: {com.sun.mail.smtp.SMTPSSLTransport=javax.mail.Provider[TRANSPORT,smtps,com.sun.mail.smtp.SMTPSSLTransport,Oracle], com.sun.mail.smtp.SMTPTransport=javax.mail.Provider[TRANSPORT,smtp,com.sun.mail.smtp.SMTPTransport,Oracle], com.sun.mail.imap.IMAPSSLStore=javax.mail.Provider[STORE,imaps,com.sun.mail.imap.IMAPSSLStore,Oracle], com.sun.mail.pop3.POP3SSLStore=javax.mail.Provider[STORE,pop3s,com.sun.mail.pop3.POP3SSLStore,Oracle], com.sun.mail.imap.IMAPStore=javax.mail.Provider[STORE,imap,com.sun.mail.imap.IMAPStore,Oracle], com.sun.mail.pop3.POP3Store=javax.mail.Provider[STORE,pop3,com.sun.mail.pop3.POP3Store,Oracle]}
DEBUG: Providers Listed By Protocol: {imaps=javax.mail.Provider[STORE,imaps,com.sun.mail.imap.IMAPSSLStore,Oracle], imap=javax.mail.Provider[STORE,imap,com.sun.mail.imap.IMAPStore,Oracle], smtps=javax.mail.Provider[TRANSPORT,smtps,com.sun.mail.smtp.SMTPSSLTransport,Oracle], pop3=javax.mail.Provider[STORE,pop3,com.sun.mail.pop3.POP3Store,Oracle], pop3s=javax.mail.Provider[STORE,pop3s,com.sun.mail.pop3.POP3SSLStore,Oracle], smtp=javax.mail.Provider[TRANSPORT,smtp,com.sun.mail.smtp.SMTPTransport,Oracle]}
DEBUG: successfully loaded resource: /META-INF/javamail.default.address.map
DEBUG: getProvider() returning javax.mail.Provider[TRANSPORT,smtp,com.sun.mail.smtp.SMTPTransport,Oracle]
DEBUG SMTP: useEhlo true, useAuth true
DEBUG SMTP: useEhlo true, useAuth true
DEBUG SMTP: trying to connect to host "smtp.gmail.com", port 587, isSSL false
220 smtp.gmail.com ESMTP b2sm4488826pgh.33 - gsmtp
DEBUG SMTP: connected to host "smtp.gmail.com", port: 587
...
...

Maven Dependencies

<dependencies>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>javax.mail</groupId>
        <artifactId>javax.mail-api</artifactId>
        <version>1.5.6</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>javax.mail</groupId>
        <artifactId>mail</artifactId>
        <version>1.4.7</version>
    </dependency>
</dependencies>

Maven Central Maven Central

How do I validate email address using Java Mail API?

This code snippet shows you how to validate an email address using the javax.mail.internet.InternetAddress class. The validate() method throws a javax.mail.internet.AddressException when the email address passed to the constructor is not a valid email address.

Here is the complete code snippet:

package org.kodejava.mail;

import javax.mail.internet.AddressException;
import javax.mail.internet.InternetAddress;

public class ValidateEmail {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        ValidateEmail demo = new ValidateEmail();

        String email = "[email protected]";
        boolean isValid = demo.validateEmail(email);
        demo.printStatus(email, isValid);

        email = "kodejava.example";
        isValid = demo.validateEmail(email);
        demo.printStatus(email, isValid);
    }

    private boolean validateEmail(String email) {
        boolean isValid = false;
        try {
            // Create InternetAddress object and validated the supplied
            // address which is this case is an email address.
            InternetAddress internetAddress = new InternetAddress(email);
            internetAddress.validate();
            isValid = true;
        } catch (AddressException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
        return isValid;
    }

    private void printStatus(String email, boolean valid) {
        System.out.println(email + " is " + (valid ? "a" : "not a") +
                " valid email address");
    }
}

When running the program you will get the following message printed on the screen.

[email protected] is a valid email address
kodejava.example is not a valid email address
javax.mail.internet.AddressException: Missing final '@domain' in string ``kodejava.example''
    at javax.mail.internet.InternetAddress.checkAddress(InternetAddress.java:1279)
    at javax.mail.internet.InternetAddress.validate(InternetAddress.java:1154)
    at org.kodejava.mail.ValidateEmail.validateEmail(ValidateEmail.java:25)
    at org.kodejava.mail.ValidateEmail.main(ValidateEmail.java:15)

Maven Dependencies

<dependencies>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>javax.mail</groupId>
        <artifactId>javax.mail-api</artifactId>
        <version>1.5.6</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>javax.mail</groupId>
        <artifactId>mail</artifactId>
        <version>1.4.7</version>
    </dependency>
</dependencies>

Maven Central Maven Central

How do I send an email with attachment?

In this example we create a small program to send email with a file attachment. To send message with attachment we need to create an email with javax.mail.Multipart object which basically will contain the email text message and then add a file to the second block, which both of them is an object of javax.mail.internet.MimeBodyPart. In this example we also use the javax.activation.FileDataSource.

package org.kodejava.mail;

import javax.activation.DataHandler;
import javax.activation.FileDataSource;
import javax.mail.*;
import javax.mail.internet.InternetAddress;
import javax.mail.internet.MimeBodyPart;
import javax.mail.internet.MimeMessage;
import javax.mail.internet.MimeMultipart;
import java.util.Date;
import java.util.Properties;

public class SendEmailWithAttachment {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        SendEmailWithAttachment demo = new SendEmailWithAttachment();
        demo.sendEmail();
    }

    public void sendEmail() {
        // Defines the E-Mail information.
        String from = "[email protected]";
        String to = "[email protected]";
        String subject = "Important Message";
        String bodyText = "This is a important message with attachment.";

        // The attachment file name.
        String attachmentName = "data.txt";

        // Creates a Session with the following properties.
        Properties props = new Properties();
        props.put("mail.smtp.host", "smtp.gmail.com");
        props.put("mail.transport.protocol", "smtp");
        props.put("mail.smtp.starttls.enable", "true");
        props.put("mail.smtp.port", "587");
        props.put("mail.smtp.ssl.protocols", "TLSv1.2");
        Session session = Session.getDefaultInstance(props);

        try {
            InternetAddress fromAddress = new InternetAddress(from);
            InternetAddress toAddress = new InternetAddress(to);

            // Create an Internet mail msg.
            MimeMessage msg = new MimeMessage(session);
            msg.setFrom(fromAddress);
            msg.setRecipient(Message.RecipientType.TO, toAddress);
            msg.setSubject(subject);
            msg.setSentDate(new Date());

            // Set the email msg text.
            MimeBodyPart messagePart = new MimeBodyPart();
            messagePart.setText(bodyText);

            // Set the email attachment file
            FileDataSource fileDataSource = new FileDataSource(attachmentName);

            MimeBodyPart attachmentPart = new MimeBodyPart();
            attachmentPart.setDataHandler(new DataHandler(fileDataSource));
            attachmentPart.setFileName(fileDataSource.getName());

            // Create Multipart E-Mail.
            Multipart multipart = new MimeMultipart();
            multipart.addBodyPart(messagePart);
            multipart.addBodyPart(attachmentPart);

            msg.setContent(multipart);

            // Send the msg. Don't forget to set the username and password
            // to authenticate to the mail server.
            Transport.send(msg, "kodejava", "password");
        } catch (MessagingException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }
}

Maven Dependencies

<dependencies>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>javax.mail</groupId>
        <artifactId>javax.mail-api</artifactId>
        <version>1.5.6</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>javax.mail</groupId>
        <artifactId>mail</artifactId>
        <version>1.4.7</version>
    </dependency>
</dependencies>

Maven Central Maven Central