Ho to send mail not from Gmail

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I don’t know about you, but I’ve had major issues sending formatted emails with Coda. To specify one of the problems: it involves using a professional email address from a Microsoft account of my company (like Exchange) AND sending an email with formatting (Bold, italic, etc.)

No problem in generating the formatting with a Compose in a Canva field of my table, however, I faced these problems:

  • OpenWindow(mailto:?Subject=thisRow.Title?Body=thisRow.Object) does not retrieve the formatting of the email but opens Outlook to generate the email
  • Hyperlink(mailto:?Subject=thisRow.Title?Body=thisRow.Object) does not retrieve the formatting of the email but opens Outlook to generate the email
  • Gmail, well Gmail… but retrieves the formatting
  • The MailToLink() pack does not retrieve the formatting and especially does not open Outlook
  • The $3 Microsoft Outlook Mail pack does not work with exotic accounts (SMTP servers different from Exchange servers)
  • Did not test the $30 Microsoft Outlook Mail pack

So I searched and found a perfect solution that

  • Allows you to use any email address for SMTP or IMAP base
  • Allows you to send mass emails
  • Keeps the formatting of the texts you pass in the body (everything! colors, bold, etc.)
  • Displays the choice of the sending email

###How to do it?

0/ First, install the Gmail pack in your doc Gmail Pack, extend Coda with Gmail - Coda
1/ In your Gmail account, go to settings > See all settings > Accounts and Import
In the section Send emails as:, add the account with which you want to send an email. This can be an SMTP or IMAP account
2/ In Coda, use a Canvas type field, where you generate the text with Compose. In the field, you can put the formatting you want including on calculations and data calls. This field is the body of your email
3/ From a button, you call the Gmail > Sendemail() function. Now SUBTLE
→ Through the function management window (not the formula one), then click on the Add More… button to add the “From…” field. In this field, you add

the address with which you want to send your emails, i.e., the one you entered in Gmail.
→ It also works by going through the formula, but the field is optional, refer to the formula to correctly place the sending email.
That’s it!
Now, from your Gmail account, Coda sends an email under the desired address, retrieving the formatting. And as Gmail is robust and has a good email management system, you can send batches of 99 addresses at once. However, be careful not to blacklist your SMTP account.
If you have any comments, they are welcome!

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