Sending Email with attachments of more than 3mb using nodejs sdk

Question and Answers
1

Nodejs sdk do not support to send email with multipart form data with attachments more than 3MB.

The sdk requires a model of SendMessageRequest, but there isn’t a way to pass multipart form data.

Using the following code to send the

===============SDK code =================

export const sendEmailWithAttachments = async ({
  grantId,
  from,
  fromName,
  to,
  subject,
  text,
  replyToMessageId,
  files = [],
  cc = [],
}: SendEmailParams) => {
  console.log(`SendEmail with reply to: ${replyToMessageId}, subject: ${subject}`)

  const filesToUpload = Array.isArray(files) ? files : [files]
  const attachments: CreateAttachmentRequest[] = []

  for (const file of filesToUpload) {
    attachments.push({
      content: file.data.split("base64,")?.[1] ?? "",
      filename: file.filename,
      contentType: getContentType(file.filename),
    })
  }

  const message: SendMessageRequest = {
    subject,
    body: text,
    to: [{ email: to }],
    cc: cc.map((email) => ({ email })),
    from: [{ email: from, name: fromName }],
    ...(replyToMessageId && { replyToMessageId: replyToMessageId }),
    trackingOptions: {
      threadReplies: true,
      opens: true,
    },
    attachments: attachments,
  }
  const resp = await nylas.messages.send({
    identifier: grantId,
    requestBody: message,
  })
  return resp.data
}

How can i send attachments of more than 3MB using nodejs sdk?

What i’m doing wrong here?

2

Hello @zeshanvirk I know there we some conversations around this topic…and a fix was released…are you using Gmail or Outlook?

Will tag @ram who is our Node expert… :slight_smile:

3

Hello @Blag ,

I’m using gmail, and nylas 7.5.2 is being used which is latest.

4

@zeshanvirk thanks for posting, let me take a look at this shortly.

5

@zeshanvirk so to clarify, all SDKs are setup to send via multipart/form-data so this should not be a blocker.

Taking a look at your code, are you receiving an error message from the API or SDK?

6

Yes, it throws and error which says files larger than 3MB are not supported.

BTW, if you can write some sample code to send multipart/form-data it would be easier for me to understand. or may be you can confirm if my code should work, but is not working.

7

@zeshanvirk thanks for confirming, I’m just following up with our team on this. Will share any working code sample as soon as possible.

8

Hi @zeshanvirk, here is a working code sample, we need to specify the file size:

import 'dotenv/config';
import Nylas from 'nylas';
import fs from 'fs';
import path from 'path';

const NylasConfig = {
  apiKey: process.env.NYLAS_API_KEY as string,
  apiUri: process.env.NYLAS_API_URI as string,
};

const nylas = new Nylas(NylasConfig);

async function sendEmail() {
  const attachmentPath = path.resolve('./src/example.jpg');
    
  if (!fs.existsSync(attachmentPath)) {
    throw new Error(`File not found: ${attachmentPath}`);
  }

  const fileContent = fs.readFileSync(attachmentPath);

  try {
    const sentMessage = await nylas.messages.send({
        identifier: process.env.GRANT_ID as string,
        requestBody: {
          to: [{ name: "Ram", email: process.env.EMAIL as string}],
          replyTo: [{ name: "Ram", email: process.env.EMAIL as string}],
          subject: "Subject",
          body: "Email Body",
          attachments: [{
            content: fileContent.toString('base64'),
            contentType: "image/jpeg",
            filename: 'example.jpg',
            size: 4549260 // specify the file size
          }]
        },
    });
    
    console.log('Email sent:', sentMessage);
  } catch (error) {
    console.error('Error sending email:', error);
  }
}


sendEmail();
9

Hello @ram ,

Sepcifying the size does send the email with attachments more than 3MB, but there is one problem occurring. The file which is being sent is corrupted.

I have file data like data:application/pdf;base64,JVBERi0xLjcKCjEgMCBv…

I’m sending the JVBERi0xLjcKCjEgMCBv… part as content, but the file in attachement doesn’t opens correctly.

I get the following error:

image
image1866×996 22 KB

What i’m doing wrong here?

export const sendEmailWithAttachments = async ({
grantId,
from,
fromName,
to,
subject,
text,
replyToMessageId,
files = ,
cc = ,
}: SendEmailParams) => {
console.log(SendEmail with reply to: ${replyToMessageId}, subject: ${subject})

const filesToUpload = Array.isArray(files) ? files : [files]
const attachments: CreateAttachmentRequest =

for (const file of filesToUpload) {
attachments.push({
content: file.data.split(“base64,”)?.[1] ?? “”,
filename: file.filename,
contentType: getContentType(file.filename),
size: file.size,
})
}

const message: SendMessageRequest = {
subject,
body: text,
to: [{ email: to }],
cc: cc.map((email) => ({ email })),
from: [{ email: from, name: fromName }],
trackingOptions: {
threadReplies: true,
opens: true,
},
attachments,
}

const sentMessage = await nylas.messages.send({
identifier: grantId,
requestBody: message,
})

return sentMessage.data
}

10

@ram waiting for you to reply here.

Whats the best way to send attachments?

11

Hi,
If the SDK imposes a restriction on attachment size (e.g., 3MB), it can be challenging to bypass this limit directly within the SDK.

You can try by utilizing a third-party file storage service (like AWS S3, Google Cloud Storage) to handle large file attachments. Upload the file to the storage service, then include a link to the file in the email body instead of attaching the file directly.

In addition, here’s how you can modify your sendEmailWithAttachments function to include a link to an attachment:

JavaScript

import { getContentType } from './utils'; // Assume this is a utility to get content type

export const sendEmailWithAttachments = async ({
  grantId,
  from,
  fromName,
  to,
  subject,
  text,
  replyToMessageId,
  files = [],
  cc = [],
  fileLinks = [], // New parameter for file links
}: SendEmailParams) => {
  console.log(`SendEmail with reply to: ${replyToMessageId}, subject: ${subject}`)

  const filesToUpload = Array.isArray(files) ? files : [files]
  const attachments: CreateAttachmentRequest[] = []

  // Handle file links
  for (const fileLink of fileLinks) {
    attachments.push({
      content: '', // No content here since it's just a link
      filename: '', // Not needed
      contentType: 'text/plain', // Or another appropriate type
      url: fileLink, // Use fileLink instead of file content
    })
  }

  // Handle file uploads
  for (const file of filesToUpload) {
    attachments.push({
      content: file.data.split("base64,")?.[1] ?? "",
      filename: file.filename,
      contentType: getContentType(file.filename),
    })
  }

  const message: SendMessageRequest = {
    subject,
    body: text,
    to: [{ email: to }],
    cc: cc.map((email) => ({ email })),
    from: [{ email: from, name: fromName }],
    ...(replyToMessageId && { replyToMessageId: replyToMessageId }),
    trackingOptions: {
      threadReplies: true,
      opens: true,
    },
    attachments: attachments,
  }

  const resp = await nylas.messages.send({
    identifier: grantId,
    requestBody: message,
  })
  
  return resp.data
}

I hope this will help you.

Thanks :slightly_smiling_face:

1 Like