#Send an email with a send task

A send task sends one email through an email adapter, with recipients, subject and body filled from the process data and files from earlier steps attached.

#What happens when the process reaches it

flowchart LR
  A["Send task starts"] --> B["Fill in recipients,<br/>subject and body"]
  B --> C["Send through the<br/>email adapter's server"]
  C -- "accepted" --> N["Next step"]
  C -- "server busy,<br/>network error" --> R["Retry after<br/>1 s, 2 s, 4 s"] --> C
  C -- "login refused, bad address,<br/>message rejected" --> F["The task fails<br/>at once"]

#Configure a send task

1. Connection settings → Email adapter: click + and pick the system and its email adapter. Only email adapters are offered, and there is no action to pick.
2. Recipients & subject:
   • To — required. A list of addresses, such as ["alice@example.com", "bob@example.com"], or a variable holding one. A text with commas between the addresses works too.
   • Subject — required.
   • Add optional adds CC, BCC, From (override) and Reply-To.
3. Email content: write the email like a normal one. + inserts a value from the process at the cursor; ƒ inserts a calculation — a small piece of code whose result appears in the text, for example a list or a formatted number.
4. Attachments (collapsed): Add attachment and pick a variable that holds a file, or a list of files, from an earlier step. A web address (https://…) is downloaded and attached as well.

Every field accepts fixed text, a variable or an expression.

To send one email per item of a list — per customer, per order — switch on Multi-instance and use __loop.item in the fields. See Run a step once per item.

#Where the mail server is set

The mail server, its login, the default sender and the default Reply-To belong to the email adapter, under Systems. A send task has no Environment and no Credentials field: the same server is used for development and production deployments. See Systems and adapters.

If From (override) is empty, the adapter's sender address and name are used, and its Reply-To.

#When sending fails

When the task fails, an error boundary event on it takes over if there is one; otherwise the instance fails. The reason, with its code such as EMAIL_AUTH_FAILED, is in the instance's history.

A value whose expression cannot be worked out fails the task, too. An empty To or Subject at run time fails it without a retry.

#What the task hands on

Nothing. A send task adds no data to the process — not even the message id — so later steps cannot check that the email went out.

#What a send task cannot do

• ⚠️ Guarantee the attachments. An attachment that is not a file, cannot be loaded or cannot be downloaded is left out with only a warning in the log, and the email is sent without it.
• ⚠️ Report a partly rejected recipient list. If the server accepts some addresses and refuses others, the task still counts as done.
• ⚠️ Keep the default Reply-To with a sender override. When From (override) is set, the adapter's default Reply-To is dropped, and the sender appears without a display name. Set Reply-To on the task as well if you need one.
• ⚠️ Fail on a broken calculation. A calculation in the body that fails is left empty, and the email is sent.
• ⚠️ Show calculations in the plain-text part. Every email is also sent as plain text, and there the calculations are missing.
• ⚠️ The Email adapter field still says "Click + to select an action" while it is empty.
• ❌ Templates. The body is written on the task itself.
• ❌ Other channels than email.
• ❌ Rename an attachment. The file is sent under its own name.

#What validation checks

An email adapter must be selected — a send task accepts no other kind of adapter — and To, Subject and the email content must be filled in. The messages are shown in German. See Check that a process can run.