Sending Email

SuiteCRM provides a built-in email library (SugarPHPMailer) that wraps PHPMailer and uses the outbound email settings configured in Admin > Email Settings. Always use this library rather than PHP’s mail() function to ensure emails respect the configured SMTP server and logging.

Basic Email

<?php
if (!defined('sugarEntry') || !sugarEntry) die('Not A Valid Entry Point');

require_once 'include/SugarPHPMailer.php';

$mailer = new SugarPHPMailer();
$mailer->setMailerForSystem(); // Use the system outbound email settings

$mailer->AddAddress('recipient@example.com', 'Recipient Name');
$mailer->Subject  = 'Hello from SuiteCRM';
$mailer->Body     = '<p>This is an <strong>HTML</strong> email.</p>';
$mailer->AltBody  = 'This is a plain text email.'; // Fallback for non-HTML clients
$mailer->IsHTML(true);

if (!$mailer->Send()) {
    $GLOBALS['log']->error('Email failed: ' . $mailer->ErrorInfo);
}

Setting the From Address

By default setMailerForSystem() sets the From address from the system outbound email configuration. To override it:

<?php
$mailer->From     = 'noreply@yourcompany.com';
$mailer->FromName = 'Your Company';

Sending to Multiple Recipients

<?php
$mailer->AddAddress('first@example.com', 'First Person');
$mailer->AddAddress('second@example.com', 'Second Person');
$mailer->AddCC('cc@example.com', 'CC Person');
$mailer->AddBCC('bcc@example.com');

Attaching Files

<?php
// Attach a file from the filesystem
$mailer->AddAttachment('/path/to/file.pdf', 'Report.pdf');

// Attach a SuiteCRM Note attachment (file stored in upload/)
$note = BeanFactory::getBean('Notes', $noteId);
if (!empty($note->filename)) {
    $mailer->AddAttachment(
        'upload/' . $note->id,
        $note->filename
    );
}

Using Email Templates

SuiteCRM email templates (stored in the EmailTemplates module) can be loaded and merged with bean data before sending.

<?php
require_once 'include/SugarPHPMailer.php';
require_once 'modules/Emails/EmailUI.php';

// Load the template by its record ID
$template = BeanFactory::getBean('EmailTemplates', $templateId);

// Replace variables like $contact_first_name with values from a bean
$emailUI = new EmailUI();
$body    = $emailUI->getParsedTemplate($template, array(), $contactBean);

$mailer = new SugarPHPMailer();
$mailer->setMailerForSystem();
$mailer->AddAddress($contactBean->email1, $contactBean->full_name);
$mailer->Subject = $template->subject;
$mailer->Body    = $body['body'];
$mailer->AltBody = $body['body_alt'];
$mailer->IsHTML(true);
$mailer->Send();

Sending from a Logic Hook

A common pattern is to send an email when a record is saved. Place this in an after_save logic hook:

<?php
if (!defined('sugarEntry') || !sugarEntry) die('Not A Valid Entry Point');

require_once 'include/SugarPHPMailer.php';

class Cases_EmailNotifier
{
    public function afterSave($bean, $event, $arguments)
    {
        // Only send on new record creation
        if (!$arguments['isUpdate']) {
            $this->sendNewCaseNotification($bean);
        }
    }

    private function sendNewCaseNotification($case)
    {
        $mailer = new SugarPHPMailer();
        $mailer->setMailerForSystem();
        $mailer->AddAddress($case->assigned_user->email1);
        $mailer->Subject = 'New Case Assigned: ' . $case->name;
        $mailer->Body    = 'A new case has been assigned to you: ' . $case->name;
        $mailer->IsHTML(false);

        if (!$mailer->Send()) {
            $GLOBALS['log']->error('Case notification failed: ' . $mailer->ErrorInfo);
        }
    }
}

Avoid sending emails in before_save hooks. If the save subsequently fails, the email will have already been sent. Use after_save instead.

Long-Running Email Jobs

For bulk emails or emails that involve slow external lookups, do not send from a logic hook directly as it will slow down the save operation for the user. Instead, create a job via the Schedulers queue. See the Scheduled Tasks page.

Logging Sent Emails

To record sent emails against a CRM record, save an Emails bean and relate it to the record:

<?php
$email = BeanFactory::newBean('Emails');
$email->name            = $mailer->Subject;
$email->description     = $mailer->AltBody;
$email->description_html = $mailer->Body;
$email->status          = 'sent';
$email->date_sent       = date('Y-m-d H:i:s');
$email->parent_type     = 'Cases';
$email->parent_id       = $case->id;
$email->save();