--- title: "How to send an automated email | Airtable Support" slug: "send-an-email-action" description: "Learn how to use Airtable automations to send an email containing information from an Airtable base." updated: 2026-03-18T17:10:34Z published: 2026-03-18T17:10:34Z --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://support.airtable.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Airtable automation action: Send email | **Plan availability** | All plan types with [varying limitations](https://support.airtable.com/docs/getting-started-with-airtable-automations#automation-run-limits-by-plan-type) | | --- | --- | | **Permissions** | - **Owner**/**Creator** - Create, delete, duplicate, configure, or rename an automation and edit an automation’s description - **Editor** - View an automation’s configuration or copy an automation’s URL | | **Platform(s)** | Web/Browser, Mac app, and Windows app | Note Consider having [Omni](https://support.airtable.com/docs/using-omni-ai-in-airtable) create an automation for you. With Omni's AI capabilities, you can use plain text requests to build, update, and query data in your Airtable base. ## Setting up an automation to send an email When building an Automation, you may choose the “Send an email” action. When the automation runs successfully, a corresponding email will be sent to selected email targets, containing the customizable information of your choosing during the automation configuration process. Automations are included in every Airtable plan, with varying limits depending on your plan. For more information please see [airtable.com/pricing](//airtable.com/pricing). After you have configured your base in the manner you choose, you can then begin configuring your automation. To start creating an automation, click on **Automations** in the upper left corner of an open base. Then, click “Create an automation” to begin the setup process, [see this article for more information](/docs/creating-an-airtable-automation). For this example, we will be setting up an automation that sends an email when a project, in our [Project Tracker template](https://www.airtable.com/templates/professional/expZJgLA5YjprHz55/project-tracker), is completed. 1. Open your [Airtable home screen](https://airtable.com/). 2. Open the base where you want to create an automation. 3. Click **Automations**. 4. Click **+** **Create new**. 5. Click **+ Create automation**. 6. Click **+ Add trigger**. 7. **Add the action** - To set up the "Send an email" action click the blue **+ Add Action** button. Then, click on the **Send an email** option. This will bring up a menu with configuration options to add recipients, a subject line, and the message body. Your automation can send out a custom message that combines information from **both** previous Airtable records referenced in this automation (by either the trigger or previous actions), emojis, [rich text](/docs/markdown-in-airtable), and plain text. To insert static text, such as a single email, enter the text you'd like directly into the input. You can click the blue and white plus-sign to add dynamic values from the triggering record, or any previous actions. You can also access any record's values by clicking on the **Field values** drop-down arrow. 8. Customize options - By clicking on the “Show more options”****drop-down arrow, you will have the ability to customize four additional parts of the automatic email you send out. 9. **Preview email** - Confirm that the “To,” “Subject”, and “Message” fields are filled in. You will then see the “Preview email”****button become clickable next to the "Run test" button in the lower left-hand corner of the “Send an email action's” setup menu. 10. **Run a test and turn the automation on** - After your message looks the way you want it to, you must click **Run test** to ensure the action is working properly. If the test runs successfully, then at this point it's a good idea to check that the test email sent successfully. If so, you can now turn on the automation so that your custom notification sends out each time a project is completed. ## Images in emails There are a few options for adding images to emails sent via Automations. Images can be added to the email **Body** and/or email **Attachments** sections of the configuration window. Airtable attachment field tokens inserted into the email **Attachments** section will add any images (or other file types) as an attachment at the bottom of the email. It's important to note that [Airtable Attachments are secure](/docs/airtable-attachment-url-behavior), meaning inline image tokens from an Attachment field in a base will render as an **expiring link** rather than a permanent image link. This means that any Airtable Attachment image embedded in the message body will expire. To work around this, you will need to use **publicly hosted images** inserted in-line using HTML. In these cases, rather than storing the image in an Airtable Attachment field, you will need to store the publicly available URL in a URL field that can then be inserted into the email's message body dynamically. - Option 1: As an in-line image or hyperlink in the message body 1. *In-line image******* *⇢ HTML* 1. For publicly hosted images, you can include a static in-line image using an HTML image tag. `<img src="https://picsum.photos/200">` 2. If you've stored a publicly available image's URL in a field in your base, then you can insert that field's URL token to dynamically have an inline image appear in the body of the email. That will look something like this in the message body, where "Image public URL" is the name of the field where you are storing those URLs: ![](https://cdn.airtable.document360.io/d0ee2ee4-3f78-47c7-b388-85e40be9fb89/Images/Documentation/automation_send_email_inline_image_11102022.jpg) 2. *Hyperlink********to URL of attachment ⇢ Markdown* 1. Insert one URL and format using Markdown: `[Text](URL)` 3. *Trigger record (****thumbnail image****)⇢ Render as HTML list* 1. Insert just the attachment field (or others as desired). Each record would need to have an attachment in its respective attachment field cell to display in the email. 4. *Find records (****thumbnail image****)⇢ Render as HTML grid* 1. Insert just the attachment field (or others as desired). 2. Using this method you can find **1 specific record** with an attachment in another table and send the same attachment in all emails. - Option 2: As a file attachment 1. Find records ⇢ Insert list of field values, attachment field, flatten into Attachments field of Send Email action ## Send email action limits Limits related to the **Send an email** automation action are dependent on three factors: 1. The first is the number of automation runs left for your workspace as [outlined here](https://support.airtable.com/docs/automations-overview#current-limits). 2. The second limit has to do with who is being emailed. No matter the plan type, a “Send email” action step can send *any number* of daily emails to collaborators who have **verified** **emails**for their Airtable accounts. For non-collaborators or users who haven't verified their email addresses, there are individual plan limits: 1. Free - All recipients must be verified collaborators in the base where the automation resides. 2. Team - Can email 100 unique non-collaborator email addresses per day. 3. Business - Can email 1000 unique non-collaborator email addresses per day. 4. Enterprise Scale - No limit on the number of non-collaborators that you can email per day. 3. Third, there is an overarching limit of 1000 recipients per run in automations that contain this action. If you need to send emails to more than 1000 recipients, then consider utilizing the [**Find records action**](/docs/find-records-automation-action) to "batch" the number of recipients per automation run. ## Unsubscribing from automated emails > [!CAUTION] > NOTE > > The “Unsubscribing from automated emails” feature is not available to customers in Australia. There are times when you may receive automated emails from a “Send email” action step that you no longer want to receive. This could be due to several factors, but here are two examples: 1. You are receiving emails from an unknown person. (spam, on a mailing list, etc.) 2. You are still receiving emails from a previous organization you’ve worked. You no longer have access to an Airtable base where set up automated emails to send you notifications. All automated emails sent via the “Send email” action include an **Unsubscribe** button at the bottom of the email. Click this button to stop receiving messages from the automation that sent the email. - This option ensures email security and helps to prevent spam messaging. Keep in mind that you may need to repeat this process since automated emails can occur from different bases/automations. - It also helps to prevent automated emails from landing in a recipient’s spam folder. - The unsubscribe button won't be visible in the 'test' previews of a Send email action, but they will be visible from the recipient's inbox. ## Understanding expected behavior in To, CC, and BCC fields > [!CAUTION] > NOTE > > This information is not relevant to customers in Australia. - Email previews and your automation's run history will still display the email addresses as expected in the **To**, **CC**, and **BCC** columns. It'll just present the email order differently to email recipients in their inboxes: - The recipient of an email will see their own email address in the **To** column of the email. - Other addresses that were listed under the **To** and **CC** columns of a “Send email” automation action will appear to recipients as a list under the **CC** element. - Rest assured that despite the order of **To** and **CC** email addresses changing around, email recipients will still receive emails from the Send Email action. ## FAQs **Can I remove the Airtable branding from emails sent using the send email action?** It isn't currently possible to remove the Airtable branding or add your own custom branding to emails sent via the send email action. **Can I find additional metadata about sent emails such as delivery status, click-through rate, or open rate?** No. In most cases, if the automation successfully ran, then it means that our mail server at least was able to successfully send the email to the recipient, but that won't confirm whether or not the email ended up in a spam/trash folder. **Which plans allow this automation to send emails to non-Airtable users?** Non-users can only receive automated emails from this automation action on paid plan workspaces. Currently, workspaces on the **Free** plan are limited to only emailing collaborators with [verified emails](/docs/account-email-verification). However, unlike the Airtable **Send email** action, **Free** users can use the [Gmail: Send email](/docs/google-workspace-actions) or the [Outlook: Send email](/docs/outlook-automation-actions) actions to send emails to non-collaborators. **What happens when an automation email sent using the native "Send Email" action is sent to a distribution list and someone clicks "Unsubscribe?"** When an automation email is sent to a distribution list (e.g., [group@company.com](mailto:group@company.com)) using the "Send Email" action, and one member clicks the "Unsubscribe" link, Airtable unsubscribes the entire group email address—meaning future automation emails sent to that alias will no longer be delivered to of its members. To prevent this and maintain more control over delivery, consider using one of the following options: - [Send email through your connected Gmail account](/docs/google-workspace-actions#understanding-each-google-action-type) - [Send email through your connected Outlook account](/docs/outlook-automation-actions?highlight=Outlook#configuring-individual-outlook-automation-actions) Emails sent through these connected account actions come directly from your Gmail or Outlook address. Airtable does not inject unsubscribe links into those messages. **What is the sender email address?** All email messages will show up as from "Airtable Automations" at this email address: [noreply+automations@airtableemail.com](mailto:noreply+automations@airtableemail.com). However, you can specify a custom "From Name" and "Reply To Email Address". These will appear in the email as "From Name (via Airtable)". **How do I schedule an email to be sent out?** The time with which an email will be sent out using this Automation action is determined by the trigger chosen. If you are looking to send emails at a specific time or within a certain timeframe then check out our article on the ["At a scheduled time" Automation trigger](/docs/at-a-scheduled-time-automation-trigger). **Why aren't emails sending correctly to my collaborators?** Make sure each of your collaborators has [**verified the emails**](/docs/account-email-verification) connected to their Airtable accounts. When creating a new Airtable account you should receive an email from Airtable with a link to click to verify your email. **Why am I getting an "invalid email address" error using a valid email?** If you are attempting to send an email to a valid email address, but still receiving the "invalid email address" error, this may be a problem with our underlying email service. The fastest way to fix this is to have the owner of the email sign up for an Airtable account with that email address and then [verify that email address](/docs/account-email-verification) with our system. **How can I format the emails I send out?** We support using [Markdown syntax](/docs/markdown-in-airtable) and a variety of [HTML tags](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element) within your emails to ensure things are formatted the way you'd like. We currently support using the following HTML tags: `<b>`, `<br>` `<u>`, `<strong>`, `<em>`, `<img>`, `<a>` and `<span>` tags. You can also include inline [CSS](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS) by adding a `style` attribute to your HTML tags. **I'm getting an error that says my "To" input is empty, what does this mean?** Likely, the cause is that [the test record's](/docs/what-is-an-automation-test-record) email field is blank. If you know how to determine the test record, then you can use that information to [troubleshoot and find a solution](/docs/automation-troubleshooting). **How many records can I insert as a list or grid of records in an automated email?** Some email servers will decline emails containing large email bodies. For this reason, Airtable limits the number of records that can be included in an email to 100 records. - In cases where an automation may be utilizing a find records action, more than 100 records may be found. Therefore, the resulting email would provide a truncated list or grid of records. As a workaround, we recommend batching found records in 100 record batches and breaking up those batches into multiple emails. - In other cases, you may be trying to insert a grid or list of records based on a view. In cases where the view contains more than 100 records, we recommend that you consider inserting a [share view link](/docs/using-the-view-share-menu-in-airtable) or [public interface link](https://support.airtable.com/docs/managing-and-sharing-interfaces#sharing-an-interface-page-publicly) to allow email recipients to see all of the records that you are wanting to share. **Is it possible to have emails send out text RTL (right-to-left) instead of LTR (left-to-right) for languages like Hebrew or Arabic?** Airtable doesn't natively support right-to-left (RTL) text direction for languages like Hebrew or Arabic in automated emails. Emails sent via the "Send email" action will display text in left-to-right (LTR) format. Workarounds to consider: - Use Gmail or Outlook integrations - Send emails through your connected Gmail account or Outlook account instead of the native "Send email" action. These integrations may provide better RTL support depending on your email client's settings. - Custom HTML formatting - You can try adding HTML with RTL directives in the message body using the dir="rtl" attribute. For example:
Your Hebrew or Arabic text here
. Note that results may vary depending on the recipient's email client. - Scripting solutions - Advanced users can explore custom scripting approaches. [Consult this community thread for some potentially helpful information](https://community.airtable.com/automations-8/rtl-in-mail-automation-27640). For the most reliable RTL text display, consider using the [Gmail: Send email](/v1/docs/google-workspace-actions) or [Outlook: Send email](/v1/docs/outlook-automation-triggers) automation actions with accounts configured for RTL languages. **My automation shows "Ran successfully" but the recipient didn't receive the email. What should I do?** When an automation runs successfully, but emails aren't received, the issue typically involves email delivery rather than automation configuration. Start by confirming the recipient has checked their spam, junk, and promotions folders. If the email still can't be found, the recipient should check their email client's filtering rules and blocked sender lists, as automated emails from Airtable may be automatically filtered. Organizations with domain-level email filtering should add [airtable.com](http://airtable.com) to their allowlist. For comprehensive troubleshooting steps and information about when to contact Airtable Support for delivery log investigation, [see the Troubleshooting successful automation runs with undelivered emails section in the Troubleshooting Airtable Automations article](/v1/docs/troubleshooting-airtable-automations#troubleshooting-successful-automation-runs-with-undelivered-emails).