email.message : Representing an email message¶
The central class in the email package is the EmailMessage class, imported from the email.message module. It is the base class for the email object model. EmailMessage provides the core functionality for setting and querying header fields, for accessing message bodies, and for creating or modifying structured messages.
An email message consists of headers and a payload (which is also referred to as the content). Headers are RFC 5322 or RFC 6532 style field names and values, where the field name and value are separated by a colon. The colon is not part of either the field name or the field value. The payload may be a simple text message, or a binary object, or a structured sequence of sub-messages each with their own set of headers and their own payload. The latter type of payload is indicated by the message having a MIME type such as multipart/* or message/rfc822.
The conceptual model provided by an EmailMessage object is that of an ordered dictionary of headers coupled with a payload that represents the RFC 5322 body of the message, which might be a list of sub- EmailMessage objects. In addition to the normal dictionary methods for accessing the header names and values, there are methods for accessing specialized information from the headers (for example the MIME content type), for operating on the payload, for generating a serialized version of the message, and for recursively walking over the object tree.
The EmailMessage dictionary-like interface is indexed by the header names, which must be ASCII values. The values of the dictionary are strings with some extra methods. Headers are stored and returned in case-preserving form, but field names are matched case-insensitively. Unlike a real dict, there is an ordering to the keys, and there can be duplicate keys. Additional methods are provided for working with headers that have duplicate keys.
If policy is specified use the rules it specifies to update and serialize the representation of the message. If policy is not set, use the default policy, which follows the rules of the email RFCs except for line endings (instead of the RFC mandated \r\n , it uses the Python standard \n line endings). For more information see the policy documentation.
Return the entire message flattened as a string. When optional unixfrom is true, the envelope header is included in the returned string. unixfrom defaults to False . For backward compatibility with the base Message class maxheaderlen is accepted, but defaults to None , which means that by default the line length is controlled by the max_line_length of the policy. The policy argument may be used to override the default policy obtained from the message instance. This can be used to control some of the formatting produced by the method, since the specified policy will be passed to the Generator .
Note that this method is provided as a convenience and may not be the most useful way to serialize messages in your application, especially if you are dealing with multiple messages. See email.generator.Generator for a more flexible API for serializing messages. Note also that this method is restricted to producing messages serialized as “7 bit clean” when utf8 is False , which is the default.
Return the entire message flattened as a bytes object. When optional unixfrom is true, the envelope header is included in the returned string. unixfrom defaults to False . The policy argument may be used to override the default policy obtained from the message instance. This can be used to control some of the formatting produced by the method, since the specified policy will be passed to the BytesGenerator .
Note that this method is provided as a convenience and may not be the most useful way to serialize messages in your application, especially if you are dealing with multiple messages. See email.generator.BytesGenerator for a more flexible API for serializing messages.
Return True if the message’s payload is a list of sub- EmailMessage objects, otherwise return False . When is_multipart() returns False , the payload should be a string object (which might be a CTE encoded binary payload). Note that is_multipart() returning True does not necessarily mean that “msg.get_content_maintype() == ‘multipart’” will return the True . For example, is_multipart will return True when the EmailMessage is of type message/rfc822 .
The following methods implement the mapping-like interface for accessing the message’s headers. Note that there are some semantic differences between these methods and a normal mapping (i.e. dictionary) interface. For example, in a dictionary there are no duplicate keys, but here there may be duplicate message headers. Also, in dictionaries there is no guaranteed order to the keys returned by keys() , but in an EmailMessage object, headers are always returned in the order they appeared in the original message, or in which they were added to the message later. Any header deleted and then re-added is always appended to the end of the header list.
Establish the authenticated relationship
Once the add-in is enabled within the email client, you must create a relationship between your Microsoft account and your Adobe Acrobat Sign account to ensure that only you are able to send agreements through your Adobe Acrobat Sign user.
How to create company-wide email signatures and disclaimers in Office 365
In this article, you can find out how to set up your own server-level automatic email signature or disclaimer in Office 365. Like most of today’s email signature solutions, it supports HTML content such as tables, images and font formatting, but in contrast to e.g. Google Workspace (G Suite), it also allows for automatic personalization of individual signatures. However, there is no option to e.g. insert the signature directly below the latest reply/forward, or preview it in the user’s mailbox.
Hi Paweł, does this company wide email signature only work when using Mail online with Office 365 or will the email signature also automatically appear in Outlook etc? I need a standardised but personalised email signature for all users whether they are working on Office 365 or Outlook.
The signature is added to emails on the server level, so it won’t appear in Outlook or any other email client when a user composes a message. But it will be added to messages regardless what client they are sent from (Office 365, Outlook, mobile devices, Mac, etc.).
Are you using the solution described in my article? If you are, the email signature should be added to all messages meeting the defined conditions, regardless where they are sent from (Outlook, OWA, mobile device, etc.).
I’d check the conditions if the person is included in the rule so the disclaimer can be applied to them. Also, if an email is sent in plain text format, mail flow rules are unable to force HTML format on those emails. This might result in a broken signature.
when someone replies to an email who works in my company, their signature ends up showing up at the bottom of the email string below my signature for the initial email. Is there a setting that was missed?
No, this is correct behavior. Inserting email signatures only at the very top or bottom of email conversations is a limitation of the native Office 365 email signature mechanism (see the ‘Limitations of the native Office 365 solution’ section in my article). If you want to overcome it, you have to use e.g. CodeTwo Email Signatures: http://www.codetwo.com/email-signatures/?sts=3955
Is there a way to automatically insert the intended recipients email address into the disclaimer?? what I mean is say I have %%Email%% for the sender, which will automatically insert the senders email, is there a variable for the intended recipient??
Hi Alexander,
Are you positive there is a placeholder for the recipient’s email address? Just like Johnson stated, there is no problem with the sender’s address and other AD attributes, but I do not think there is a placeholder for any message properties.
Already have outlook installed, executed the steps above, tested it no signature after 5 test’s closed outlook removed exchange account from outlook, installed exchange account in outlook and tested it again. It delivered me a signature.
When I receive an HTML email signature from Office 365 into my Outlook desktop email app, I have to ‘click to download’ the images in the signature. (I have “images turned off” for my email in Outlook). Is there a workaround for that?
Once you have created your email signatures, simply select a preferred one while composing a new email message (Message or Insert tab>Include section>Signature).
Thanks Milena, this works, however, this adds the image/banner for every reply, duplicating/multiplying the image with every reply in the email trail. Any advise on how this could only be limited to just once?
Hi.
is there a way to define a company wide standard email for “automatic replies”?
meaning…any employee turning on “Automatic replies” would activate a comany wide standard message….the only flex would be start date/end date
Thanks – Fred
In the meantime, check out CodeTwo Out of Office Manager: http://www.codetwo.com/out-of-office-manager/?sts=3955. This application lets you set a company-wide OOF standard, but all settings (including enabling/disabling and start/end dates) are on the administrator’s side.
Yes I have tried that and is working , at the first time is not working , but somehow it is working now, thanks Pawel.
But can I put URL image also in disclaimer ?
ex :
Because I have tried that but the images is didn’t show up, it just show with the mark “x” like broken images, I already make sure if I go to that link above the image is appear.
Hi Fred,
Yes, you can exclude one or more employees, or even a whole Active Directory Group.
The easiest way to do this is to add them to the rule as an exception.
Simply edit the rule and click “More options…” at the very bottom.
Above, an option to “Add exception…” appears, click it, then choose “when the sender is this person” and choose the employee.
Hi Roberta,
I am sorry you feel that way. I love Office 365, too. At the same time, like most products, it has some areas in which additional tools come in handy. The native signature feature offered in Office 365 may not be perfect, but still, many companies use it “as is.” Third party products help people who want more from this feature.
Hi Thomas,
This is the default behavior, but there is a way to change it. If your disclaimer includes some text, the solution is easy and rather effective. Edit the rule which adds a disclaimer, click more options and specify the rule should be applied Except if… The subject or body includes… the text from your disclaimer. If your rule adds only an image, you could add an exception if subject includes… “RE:”, but this is far from being foolproof.
You could watch this video tutorial, it includes adding an exception like the one you need.
Resources:
https://docs.python.org/3/library/email.message.html
https://helpx.adobe.com/sign/using/microsoft-outlook-signature-add-in.html
https://www.mail-signatures.com/articles/configuring-organization-wide-email-signatures-in-office-365/