Sending Emails in Laravel

Sending emails in Laravel is an essential feature. Laravel provides an easy-to-use email API powered by SwiftMailer, supporting multiple mail drivers like SMTP, Mailgun, Postmark, Amazon SES, and Sendmail.

This tutorial will walk you through the steps to set up email sending in Laravel with form validation.

Step 1: Install Laravel Project

First, install a Laravel project by running the following command:

composer create-project --prefer-dist laravel/laravel sendmail_laravel

Step 2: Set Up Database Credentials

Create a new MySQL database (e.g., custom_auth) and update your .env file with the database credentials.

`.env`

DB_CONNECTION=mysql
DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
DB_PORT=3306
DB_DATABASE=custom_auth
DB_USERNAME=root
DB_PASSWORD=

Step 3: Configure SMTP for Email

Update your .env file with your SMTP settings. If using Gmail, set the following:

MAIL_MAILER=smtp
MAIL_HOST=smtp.gmail.com
MAIL_PORT=587
MAIL_USERNAME=your_email@gmail.com
MAIL_PASSWORD=your_email_password
MAIL_ENCRYPTION=tls
MAIL_FROM_ADDRESS=your_email@gmail.com
MAIL_FROM_NAME="${APP_NAME}"

⚠️ Important: If using Gmail, enable Less Secure Apps or create an App Password.

Step 4: Create Email Routes

Define routes for showing the form and sending emails.

`routes/web.php`

use App\Http\Controllers\EmailController;

Route::get('/email', [EmailController::class, 'create']);
Route::post('/email', [EmailController::class, 'sendEmail'])->name('send.email');

Step 5: Create the Email Controller

Create a new controller for handling emails:

php artisan make:controller EmailController

`app/Http/Controllers/EmailController.php`

<?php

namespace App\Http\Controllers;

use Illuminate\Http\Request;
use Mail;

class EmailController extends Controller
{
    public function create()
    {
        return view('email');
    }

    public function sendEmail(Request $request)
    {
        $request->validate([
            'email'   => 'required|email',
            'subject' => 'required',
            'name'    => 'required',
            'content' => 'required',
        ]);

        $data = [
            'subject' => $request->subject,
            'name'    => $request->name,
            'email'   => $request->email,
            'content' => $request->content,
        ];

        Mail::send('email-template', $data, function($message) use ($data) {
            $message->to($data['email'])
                    ->subject($data['subject']);
        });

        return back()->with('message', 'Email successfully sent!');
    }
}

Step 6: Create the Email Form View

Create a Blade view to display the email form.

`resources/views/email.blade.php`

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
    <title>Send Email - Laravel</title>
    <meta charset="UTF-8">
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
</head>
<body>

    <h2>Send an Email</h2>
    
    @if(session()->has('message'))
        <div style="color: green;">
            {{ session('message') }}
        </div>
    @endif

    <form action="{{ route('send.email') }}" method="post">
        @csrf
        <label>Name</label>
        <input type="text" name="name" required>
        @error('name') <span style="color:red">{{ $message }}</span> @enderror

        <label>Email</label>
        <input type="email" name="email" required>
        @error('email') <span style="color:red">{{ $message }}</span> @enderror

        <label>Subject</label>
        <input type="text" name="subject" required>
        @error('subject') <span style="color:red">{{ $message }}</span> @enderror

        <label>Message</label>
        <textarea name="content" required></textarea>
        @error('content') <span style="color:red">{{ $message }}</span> @enderror

        <button type="submit">Send Email</button>
    </form>

</body>
</html>

Step 7: Create an Email Template

Create a Blade template for the email content.

`resources/views/email-template.blade.php`

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
    <title>Email Template</title>
</head>
<body>

    <h2>Hello, {{ $name }}!</h2>

    <p>{{ $content }}</p>

</body>
</html>

Step 8: Test the Email Sending

Run your Laravel application:

php artisan serve

Visit:

http://127.0.0.1:8000/email

Fill in the form and submit it. If everything is correct, the email will be sent.

Bonus: Using Laravel Mailables (Recommended)

Instead of using Mail::send(), you can use Laravel Mailables for a cleaner approach.

Create a Mailable Class

php artisan make:mail SendMail

Update `app/Mail/SendMail.php`

<?php

namespace App\Mail;

use Illuminate\Bus\Queueable;
use Illuminate\Contracts\Queue\ShouldQueue;
use Illuminate\Mail\Mailable;
use Illuminate\Queue\SerializesModels;

class SendMail extends Mailable
{
    use Queueable, SerializesModels;

    public $data;

    public function __construct($data)
    {
        $this->data = $data;
    }

    public function build()
    {
        return $this->subject($this->data['subject'])
                    ->view('email-template');
    }
}

Modify the Controller

use App\Mail\SendMail;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Mail;

public function sendEmail(Request $request)
{
    $request->validate([
        'email'   => 'required|email',
        'subject' => 'required',
        'name'    => 'required',
        'content' => 'required',
    ]);

    $data = [
        'subject' => $request->subject,
        'name'    => $request->name,
        'email'   => $request->email,
        'content' => $request->content,
    ];

    Mail::to($data['email'])->send(new SendMail($data));

    return back()->with('message', 'Email successfully sent!');
}

Congratulations!

You have successfully implemented email sending in Laravel. 🚀

Features Covered:

✔ Email Form
✔ SMTP Configuration
✔ Email Sending via Mail Class
✔ Email Blade Template
✔ Form Validation
✔ Using Laravel Mailables (Bonus)

Need any improvements like attachments, queueing, or dynamic templates? Let me know!

Souy Soeng

Mail Send in Laravel 8 Design CSS3 HTML5

Sending Emails in Laravel

Step 1: Install Laravel Project

Step 2: Set Up Database Credentials

`.env`

Step 3: Configure SMTP for Email

Step 4: Create Email Routes

`routes/web.php`

Step 5: Create the Email Controller

`app/Http/Controllers/EmailController.php`

Step 6: Create the Email Form View

`resources/views/email.blade.php`

Step 7: Create an Email Template

`resources/views/email-template.blade.php`

Step 8: Test the Email Sending

Bonus: Using Laravel Mailables (Recommended)

Create a Mailable Class

Update `app/Mail/SendMail.php`

Modify the Controller

Congratulations!

Features Covered:

3 Comments

Souy Soeng

Mail Send in Laravel 8 Design CSS3 HTML5

Sending Emails in Laravel

Step 1: Install Laravel Project

Step 2: Set Up Database Credentials

.env

Step 3: Configure SMTP for Email

Step 4: Create Email Routes

routes/web.php

Step 5: Create the Email Controller

app/Http/Controllers/EmailController.php

Step 6: Create the Email Form View

resources/views/email.blade.php

Step 7: Create an Email Template

resources/views/email-template.blade.php

Step 8: Test the Email Sending

Bonus: Using Laravel Mailables (Recommended)

Create a Mailable Class

Update app/Mail/SendMail.php

Modify the Controller

Congratulations!

Features Covered:

3 Comments

`.env`

`routes/web.php`

`app/Http/Controllers/EmailController.php`

`resources/views/email.blade.php`

`resources/views/email-template.blade.php`

Update `app/Mail/SendMail.php`