How to embed LaTeX in emails using Python's Gmail API?

Other Questions Gmail
1

Hey everyone! I’m having trouble sending emails with LaTeX content through the Gmail API in Python. The weird thing is, the email goes through, but the body is empty and there’s a mysterious “noname” attachment. I’ve tried different MIME types like text/html and application/x-latex, but no luck so far.

Here’s what I’ve done:

  • Tested sending plain text emails (works fine)
  • Confirmed the receiver gets the message
  • Tried using sympy to generate LaTeX content

My code looks something like this:

 def create_email(sender, recipient, subject, content):
     latex_content = "$\sqrt{x^2 + y^2}$"
     msg = MIMEText(latex_content, 'application/x-latex')
     msg['to'] = recipient
     msg['from'] = sender
     msg['subject'] = subject
     return {'raw': base64.urlsafe_b64encode(msg.as_string().encode()).decode()}

 def send_email(service, user_id, email):
     try:
         sent = service.users().messages().send(userId=user_id, body=email).execute()
         print(f'Email sent. ID: {sent["id"]}')
         return sent
     except Exception as e:
         print(f'Error: {str(e)}')

Any ideas on how to get the LaTeX to show up properly in the email body? I’m stumped!

2

hey olivias, i had a similar issue. try using MIMEMultipart instead of MIMEText and set the content type to ‘text/html’. then use sympy.preview to render the latex as an image. attach that image to ur email. works like a charm for me! lmk if u need more help

3

I’ve dealt with this exact problem before and found that the trick is to convert your LaTeX into an image and then embed that image inline in your email. One approach is to use matplotlib to render the LaTeX, save the result into a BytesIO object, and attach the resulting image using MIMEImage. You’ll need to adjust the email headers—specifically, setting the Content-Disposition to “inline” and giving a unique Content-ID so that you can reference it in the HTML body. Although it adds some complexity compared to sending plain text, this method ensures that the LaTeX renders properly on the recipient’s end.

4

From my experience, the most reliable method for embedding LaTeX in emails via the Gmail API is to use a combination of MIMEMultipart and MIMEText. First, create your LaTeX content as HTML using a library like latex2html. Then, construct your email message with both plain text and HTML alternatives. Here’s a basic structure:

from email.mime.multipart import MIMEMultipart
from email.mime.text import MIMEText

msg = MIMEMultipart('alternative')
msg['Subject'] = 'LaTeX Email'
msg['From'] = sender
msg['To'] = recipient

plain_text = 'This is a plain text version.'
html_content = '<html><body>This is HTML with LaTeX: $\sqrt{x^2 + y^2}$</body></html>'

msg.attach(MIMEText(plain_text, 'plain'))
msg.attach(MIMEText(html_content, 'html'))

This approach ensures compatibility across different email clients while preserving your LaTeX content.