PowerShell script to send email with optional attachments

Here’s a PowerShell script for a function to send email with optional attachments. It accepts a comma-separated list of attachments, or no attachments at all.

You can include this in other PowerShell scripts to make this function available, rather than having the email sending functionality repeated in multiple scripts.

Example usage

# dot-source include the Send-Email powershell script
. "c:\scripts\powershell\Send-Email.ps1"

Send-Email -EmailTo "user@yourdomain.co.uk" -EmailSubject "Log files attached" -EmailBody "Please find attached the log files" -EmailAttachments "C:\logs\Logfile.txt","C:\logs\Logfile2.txt"

Send-Email.ps1

<#
.SYNOPSIS

Send email with optional attachments

.DESCRIPTION

PowerShelll script for a function to send email with optional attachments. It accepts a comma-separated list of attachments, or no attachments at all.

For dot-source inclusion to work if the script is hosted on a UNC path, you may need to add the url "file:\\unc-path-to-share" to the Internet Explorer local Intranet site list on the server running the script.


.INPUTS

None

.OUTPUTS

None

.EXAMPLE

PS> .\Send-Email.ps1
Send-Email -EmailTo "user@yourdomain.co.uk" -EmailSubject "Log files attached" -EmailBody "Please find attached the log files" -EmailAttachments "C:\logs\Logfile.txt","C:\logs\Logfile2.txt"

This command sends an email with 2 attachments

.EXAMPLE

PS> .\Send-Email.ps1
$EmailRecipients = @("user@yourdomain.co.uk","user2@yourdomain.co.uk","admin@yourdomain.co.uk")
Send-Email -EmailTo $EmailRecipients -EmailSubject "Test message" -EmailBody "Hello"

These commands send an email to multiple recipients

.EXAMPLE

PS> .\Send-Email.ps1
Send-Email -EmailTo "user@yourdomain.co.uk" -EmailFrom "admin@yourdomain.co.uk" -EmailSMTPServer "mailserver.yourdomain.co.uk" -EmailSubject "Log file attached" -EmailBody "Please find attached the log file" -EmailAttachments "C:\logs\Logfile.txt"

This command shows all parameters

.LINK
https://www.techexplorer.co.uk/powershell-script-to-send-email-with-optional-attachments

#>



#--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#        Script: Send-Email.ps1
#      Author: Dan Tonge, www.techexplorer.co.uk
#     Version:  1.0 2013-04-11
#     Version:  1.1 2015-06-01  Added multiple recipient syntax examples
#     Version:  1.2 2020-06-08  Added comment-based help for the script
#--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Function Send-Email
{
    Param
        (
            [parameter(Mandatory=$true,HelpMessage="Email To Address")] $EmailTo,
            [parameter(HelpMessage="Email From Address")] $EmailFrom = [String]$env:computerName.ToLower() + '@yourdomain.co.uk',
            [parameter()] $EmailSMTPServer = 'mailserver.yourdomain.co.uk',
            [parameter(Mandatory=$true,HelpMessage="Email subject line")] $EmailSubject,
            [parameter(Mandatory=$true,HelpMessage="Email content")] $EmailBody,
            [parameter(HelpMessage="Optional Attachments")] $EmailAttachments
         ) #end Param

    # build a "splat" parameter: a hash of {parameter name, parameter value} to avoid passing the Attachments parameter when not needed
    # http://stackoverflow.com/questions/14560270/send-mailmessage-attachments-will-not-accept-null-for-any-variables
    $attachments = @()
        if ($EmailAttachments) 
            {
                $attachments += $EmailAttachments
            }

    $params = @{}
        if ($attachments.Length -gt 0)
            {
                $params['Attachments'] = $attachments
            }

    Send-MailMessage @params -To $EmailTo -From $EmailFrom -SmtpServer $EmailSMTPServer -Subject $EmailSubject -Body $EmailBody
}