How to Send Email in Laravel

Sending emails is a common requirement in modern web applications—for user registration, password resets, notifications, and more. Laravel 12 provides a clean, expressive API to compose, queue, and deliver emails using a variety of drivers. In this tutorial, we’ll cover:

1. Configuration of mail settings
2. Creating a Mailable class
3. Building email views (Blade and Markdown)
4. Sending emails (synchronously and queued)
5. Adding attachments
6. Testing email functionality

Prerequisites

• A Laravel 12 application set up
• PHP 8.1+
• Composer installed
• Access to an SMTP service (e.g., Mailtrap, SendGrid, Mailgun)

1. Configure Mail Settings

Open your project’s .env file and add your SMTP credentials:

MAIL_MAILER=smtp
MAIL_HOST=smtp.mailtrap.io
MAIL_PORT=2525
MAIL_USERNAME=your_username
MAIL_PASSWORD=your_password
MAIL_ENCRYPTION=tls
MAIL_FROM_ADDRESS=no-reply@yourapp.com
MAIL_FROM_NAME="YourAppName"

Then verify config/mail.php picks up these values:

return [
    'default' => env('MAIL_MAILER', 'smtp'),
    'mailers' => [
        'smtp' => [
            'transport'  => 'smtp',
            'host'       => env('MAIL_HOST'),
            'port'       => env('MAIL_PORT'),
            'encryption' => env('MAIL_ENCRYPTION'),
            'username'   => env('MAIL_USERNAME'),
            'password'   => env('MAIL_PASSWORD'),
        ],
        // other mailers...
    ],
    'from' => [
        'address' => env('MAIL_FROM_ADDRESS'),
        'name'    => env('MAIL_FROM_NAME'),
    ],
];

2. Create a Mailable Class

Laravel’s Mailables encapsulate email logic and content. Generate one with Artisan:

php artisan make:mail PasswordResetMail

This creates app/Mail/PasswordResetMail.php. Open it and update the build() method:

namespace App\Mail;

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

class PasswordResetMail extends Mailable
{
    use Queueable, SerializesModels;

    public $token;

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

    public function build()
    {
        return $this
            ->subject('Reset Your Password')
            ->markdown('emails.password_reset')
            ->with([
                'resetUrl' => url("/password/reset/{$this->token}")
            ]);
    }
}

Here, we’re using Laravel 12’s built-in Markdown mail feature for nicer styling.

3. Create the Email Template

Markdown Template

Create resources/views/emails/password_reset.blade.php:

@component('mail::message')
# Reset Your Password

Click the button below to reset your password:

@component('mail::button', ['url' => $resetUrl])
Reset Password
@endcomponent

If you did not request a password reset, no further action is required.

Thanks,<br>
{{ config('app.name') }}
@endcomponent

Laravel will automatically generate the HTML and plain-text views from this Markdown.

4. Send the Email

You can send mails synchronously or queue them for better performance.

a) Synchronous Sending

In a controller or route:

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

Route::get('/test-reset', function () {
    $token = Str::random(64);
    Mail::to('user@example.com')->send(new PasswordResetMail($token));
    return 'Password reset email sent!';
});

b) Queueing Emails

First, configure your queue driver in .env (e.g., Redis, database):

QUEUE_CONNECTION=database

Run migrations for the jobs table:

php artisan queue:table
php artisan migrate

Mark the Mailable as queueable (it already uses Queueable), then dispatch:

Mail::to('user@example.com')
    ->queue(new PasswordResetMail($token));

Start a worker:

php artisan queue:work

5. Attach Files (Optional)

To attach files, use attach() in your build()

public function build()
{
    return $this->subject('Your Report')
                ->view('emails.report')
                ->attach(storage_path('reports/monthly.pdf'));
}

6. Testing Your Emails

Laravel provides testing helpers to assert mail was sent:

use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Mail;
use App\Mail\PasswordResetMail;
use Tests\TestCase;

class MailTest extends TestCase
{
    public function test_password_reset_mail_is_sent()
    {
        Mail::fake();

        $token = Str::random(64);
        Mail::to('test@example.com')->send(new PasswordResetMail($token));

        Mail::assertSent(PasswordResetMail::class, function ($mail) use ($token) {
            return $mail->token === $token &&
                   $mail->hasTo('test@example.com');
        });
    }
}

Conclusion

By following this guide, you now know how to configure Laravel 12’s mail settings, create Mailables, craft Markdown templates, send (and queue) emails, add attachments, and write tests. Laravel’s elegant mail API makes integrating email into your application straightforward and maintainable.

Happy Coding! 😊