Need help with automated Gmail messaging in Python
Hey everyone! I’m trying to set up a system that automatically sends reminder emails through our company’s Gmail account multiple times per day using Python. I found lots of tutorials about sending single emails with Python, but I can’t figure out how to make it run automatically at specific times.
Is there a way to schedule Python scripts to send emails at certain intervals? Maybe something that runs in the background and sends messages 2-3 times daily without me having to manually trigger it each time?
Any suggestions or code examples would be really helpful. Thanks in advance!
I dealt with this exact scenario six months ago for our marketing team. Don’t try to handle timing within Python - combine your email script with a task scheduler instead. I used Task Scheduler on Windows to run my Python script at set times throughout the day. On Linux, cron jobs work perfectly. Your Python script should just focus on sending emails using smtplib and Gmail’s SMTP settings. Let the OS handle scheduling. Make sure you enable two-factor authentication on Gmail and generate an app-specific password for the script. Mine’s been running flawlessly for months without any manual work.
Try APScheduler (Advanced Python Scheduler) - it’s way better than the basic schedule library. I used it for automated invoice reminders last year and it handles timezone changes and daylight saving without any hassle. Run your script as a Windows service so it keeps going after reboots. The best part? Everything stays in Python - you can catch email failures, add retry logic, and log errors all in one spot. Just watch Gmail’s daily sending limits if you’re doing bulk reminders. Also throw in some randomization for send times so email providers don’t flag you as spam.
you could also use python’s schedule library - just pip install it and do something like schedule.every().day.at("09:00").do(send_email) then run it in a loop. way easier than dealing with cron or task scheduler