Sending Emails using PHP with PHPMailer

Written by Rahul, Updated on June 19, 2019

All the programming languages provide functions for sending emails. PHP also provides mail() function to send emails. But the main point is to increase email delivery to inbox successfully. While sending simple emails the chances of getting email spam increase. Also, a simple PHP mail function has limited options for mail formatting and sending properly. To increase email deliverability and speed we are going to use PHPMailer, which providers lots of option for sending emails. It also provides an option to send email from SMTP servers.

Step 1 – Setup PHPMailer

Install the phpmailer module using composer under your application.

composer require phpmailer/phpmailer

Step 2 – Sending Emails using PHP and PHPMailer

Now create an simple php script sendMail.php in your web document root and add below content. Below script is using Gmail smtp server for sending mails. You may use any other SMTP server like Amazon SES, Sendgrid, Mailchimp or Mandril App etc.

<?php

use PHPMailer\PHPMailer\PHPMailer;
use PHPMailer\PHPMailer\Exception;
require 'vendor/autoload.php';

$mail = new PHPMailer(true); 
try {
    //Server settings
    $mail->SMTPDebug = 2;
    $mail->isSMTP();
    $mail->Host = 'smtp.gmail.com';
    $mail->SMTPAuth = true;
    $mail->Username = 'username@gmail.com';
    $mail->Password = '_password_';
    $mail->SMTPSecure = 'tls';
    $mail->Port = 587;

    $mail->setFrom('sender@example.com', 'Admin');
    $mail->addAddress('recipient1@example.net', 'Recipient1');
    $mail->addAddress('recipient2@example.com');
    $mail->addReplyTo('noreply@example.com', 'noreply');
    $mail->addCC('cc@example.com');
    $mail->addBCC('bcc@example.com');

    //Attachments
    $mail->addAttachment('/backup/myfile.tar.gz');

    //Content
    $mail->isHTML(true); 
    $mail->Subject = 'Test Mail Subject!';
    $mail->Body    = 'This is SMTP Email Test';

    $mail->send();
    echo 'Message has been sent';
} catch (Exception $e) {
    echo 'Message could not be sent.';
    echo 'Mailer Error: ' . $mail->ErrorInfo;
}

<?php

use PHPMailer\PHPMailer\PHPMailer;

use PHPMailer\PHPMailer\Exception;

require 'vendor/autoload.php';

$mail = new PHPMailer(true);

try {

//Server settings

$mail->SMTPDebug = 2;

$mail->isSMTP();

$mail->Host = 'smtp.gmail.com';

$mail->SMTPAuth = true;

$mail->Username = '[email protected]';

$mail->Password = '_password_';

$mail->SMTPSecure = 'tls';

$mail->Port = 587;

$mail->setFrom('[email protected]', 'Admin');

$mail->addAddress('[email protected]', 'Recipient1');

$mail->addAddress('[email protected]');

$mail->addReplyTo('[email protected]', 'noreply');

$mail->addCC('[email protected]');

$mail->addBCC('[email protected]');

//Attachments

$mail->addAttachment('/backup/myfile.tar.gz');

//Content

$mail->isHTML(true);

$mail->Subject = 'Test Mail Subject!';

$mail->Body = 'This is SMTP Email Test';

$mail->send();

echo 'Message has been sent';

} catch (Exception $e) {

echo 'Message could not be sent.';

echo 'Mailer Error: ' . $mail->ErrorInfo;

}

Now access this application using a browser with your domain name following by script name

  http://example.com/sendMail.php

8 Comments

Steve Reply to Steve
June 18, 2019 at 5:53 pm
Simple instruction with good example code. Sending attachments is now easy. Thanks you!
Oliver Russell Reply to Oliver
December 5, 2018 at 12:18 pm
It is also possible to use PHPMailer to send emails from local web server. For this you will have to define following variables
$mail->From
$mail->FromName
$mail->addAddress
$mail->isHTML(true)
$mail->Subject
$mail->Body
$mail->AltBody
Source: How to use PHPmailer
Adi Kwok Reply to Adi
July 19, 2018 at 2:47 pm
this line writen in my page when i go to
http://mydomain/sendmail.php
” b0nano 2.5.3xvrootvultr.ubuntusendmail.php ”
with no mail sent to mailbox i input in the sendmail.php
so. whats next and thank you. sir
Nathaviê Reply to Nathaviê
June 1, 2018 at 10:45 pm
Why I need this myfile.tar.gz? It’s making and error. I suppose it is because my server is Windows, but I don’t know what to do anyway..
“Could not access file: /backup/myfile.tar.gz
A mensagem não pode ser enviada.Mailer Error: Could not access file: /backup/myfile.tar.gz”
Amit Reply to Amit
June 7, 2016 at 8:31 am
Hi Pachak,
I have setup php 7 and try to use phpmailer 5.2 version. But its provide following error :
Connection: opening to host(this is my email host):465
Mailer Error: SMTP connect() failed.
I have used 465,25 and 587.
Is phpmailer 5.2 not compatible with PHP 7?
Looking for your help.
Best,
Amit
- Stijn Smits Reply to Stijn
  October 18, 2016 at 3:28 pm
  Same for me
Pachak Reply to Pachak
December 15, 2015 at 8:01 am
I tried with your code, but it returned blank page. It didn’t show “Message sent” nor any errors.
- Rahul Reply to Rahul
  December 15, 2015 at 12:37 pm
  Hi,
  Is there any error in Apache logs ?

Step 1 – Setup PHPMailer

Step 2 – Sending Emails using PHP and PHPMailer

Rahul

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