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This article describes how you can use the .NET Multi-platform App UI (.NET MAUI) IEmail interface to open the default email app. When the email app is loaded, it can be set to create a new email with the specified recipients, subject, and body.

The default implementation of the IEmail interface is available through the Email.Default property. Both the IEmail interface and Email class are contained in the Microsoft.Maui.ApplicationModel.Communication namespace.

Get started

To access the email functionality, the following platform specific setup is required.

If your project's Target Android version is set to Android 11 (R API 30) or higher, you must update your Android Manifest with queries that use Android's package visibility requirements.

In the Platforms/Android/AndroidManifest.xml file, add the following queries/intent nodes in the manifest node:

<queries>
  <intent>
    <action android:name="android.intent.action.SENDTO" />
    <data android:scheme="mailto" />
  </intent>
</queries>

Using Email

The Email functionality works by providing the email information as an argument to the ComposeAsync method. In this example, the EmailMessage type is used to represent the email information:

if (Email.Default.IsComposeSupported)
{

    string subject = "Hello friends!";
    string body = "It was great to see you last weekend.";
    string[] recipients = new[] { "john@contoso.com", "jane@contoso.com" };

    var message = new EmailMessage
    {
        Subject = subject,
        Body = body,
        BodyFormat = EmailBodyFormat.PlainText,
        To = new List<string>(recipients)
    };

    await Email.Default.ComposeAsync(message);
}

File attachments

When creating the email provided to the email client, you can add file attachments. The file type (MIME) is automatically detected, so you don't need to specify it. Some mail clients may restrict the types of files you send, or possibly prevent attachments altogether.

Use the EmailMessage.Attachments collection to manage the files attached to an email.

The following example demonstrates adding an image file to the email attachments.

if (Email.Default.IsComposeSupported)
{

    string subject = "Hello friends!";
    string body = "It was great to see you last weekend. I've attached a photo of our adventures together.";
    string[] recipients = new[] { "john@contoso.com", "jane@contoso.com" };

    var message = new EmailMessage
    {
        Subject = subject,
        Body = body,
        BodyFormat = EmailBodyFormat.PlainText,
        To = new List<string>(recipients)
    };

    string picturePath = Path.Combine(FileSystem.CacheDirectory, "memories.jpg");

    message.Attachments.Add(new EmailAttachment(picturePath));

    await Email.Default.ComposeAsync(message);
}

Platform Differences

Not all email clients for Android support EmailBodyFormat.Html, since there is no way to detect this, we recommend using EmailBodyFormat.PlainText when sending emails.