Python Script for Automating Daily Email Reports: Step-by-Step Tutorial

Let’s break this down step-by-step. We’ll create a Python script to automate sending daily email reports. For this, we’ll use the ‘smtplib‘ library for sending emails, ‘email.mime‘ for creating the email content, and ‘schedule‘ for scheduling the task to run daily.

Step 1: Install Required Libraries

First, you need to install the necessary libraries if you haven’t already. You can do this using pip:

pip install schedule

Step 2: Write the Script

Here’s a basic script to get you started:

import smtplib
from email.mime.multipart import MIMEMultipart
from email.mime.text import MIMEText
import schedule
import time

# Function to send the email
def send_email():
    # Email configuration
    from_email = "your_email@example.com"
    to_email = "recipient_email@example.com"
    subject = "Daily Report"
    body = "This is your daily report."

    # SMTP configuration
    smtp_server = "smtp.example.com"
    smtp_port = 587
    smtp_user = "your_email@example.com"
    smtp_password = "your_password"

    # Create the email
    msg = MIMEMultipart()
    msg['From'] = from_email
    msg['To'] = to_email
    msg['Subject'] = subject
    msg.attach(MIMEText(body, 'plain'))

    try:
        # Connect to the server and send the email
        server = smtplib.SMTP(smtp_server, smtp_port)
        server.starttls()
        server.login(smtp_user, smtp_password)
        server.sendmail(from_email, to_email, msg.as_string())
        server.quit()
        print("Email sent successfully.")
    except Exception as e:
        print(f"Failed to send email: {e}")

# Schedule the email to be sent daily at a specific time
schedule.every().day.at("09:00").do(send_email)  # Set the time you want the email to be sent

print("Email scheduler started. Press Ctrl+C to exit.")

# Keep the script running
while True:
    schedule.run_pending()
    time.sleep(1)

Step 3: Set Up Email Account for SMTP

You’ll need to set up an email account that allows sending emails via SMTP. Common providers like Gmail can be used, but you might need to enable “less secure apps” or create an app-specific password.

Step 4: Customize the Script

Replace the placeholders in the script with your actual email details:

• your_email@example.com
• recipient_email@example.com
• smtp.example.com
• your_password

Step 5: Run the Script

Save your script as ‘send_email_report.py' and run it:

python send_email_report.py

This script will keep running and send an email at the scheduled time every day. To stop the script, you can use Ctrl+C.

Additional Tips:

1. Security: Avoid hardcoding your email password directly in the script. Use environment variables or a configuration file with proper access controls.
2. Logs: Implement logging to keep track of successful and failed email attempts.
3. Error Handling: Improve error handling to manage network issues or authentication failures more gracefully.

This should get you started with automating your daily email reports. Let me know if you need any further assistance or enhancements to the script!