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Using a Script to Send Batch Emails in Gmail

 I touch base with people once a month, and it's about 20 people, and I need to automate sending the messages. I write the messages myself, don't worry, this entire thing isn't automated, what am I? 

If that is you, and you are reading this - Hello! You were part of a successful experiment!

I used both Bing CoPilot and ChatGPT and started with the same prompt;

 

 


[alt: 

Write a Gmail script that inserts formatted text to each selected email in my inbox. 


It should be able to accept hyperlinks 


You should prompt me for the text once each time I run it. 


It should not send the email. ]

 

 

Copilot gave me a script, and then followed up with apparently creating a Google Developers Account to make apps that work

in the Google ecosystem, 

and getting the Gmail API to use it. Now, you can use scripts in Docs without doing all of that.

 

ChatGPT 3.5 told me how to use it, involving POP/IMAP settings in Gmail, which sounds weird. I know what those options are, basically point your email in the direction you want to receive it

but that's not my first expectation to run a script, with one step that isn't visible on my Gmail screen.

 

Me: 

I do not see "Enable "IMAP access" and "Less secure apps" (if not already enabled)."

ChatGPT:

My apologies for the confusion. You're correct. Enabling "IMAP access" and "Less secure apps" is not necessary for this specific script. Let's focus on the script itself.


It tells me to create a Apps Script in Drive, something I didn't know you could do - but there it is, when you hit 'New' --> 'More' on the Drive home page. ChatGPT also kept giving me incorrect code that wasn't compatible with what I was doing (For instance, it would have a function to open something, but since the code was running in the App space and not triggered from Gmail, it wouldn't know what to start.)

For a time, I couldn't open the Apps Script option in the menu with a new sheet without the page not being found; I do not think it was attached to the script I had created previously. Creator error!


...And then after YouTubing, I found that not only had someone created a script prior, but one of my favorite YouTubers, Jeff Su, had already walked us through using it. When in doubt, you don't need to spend 4 hours reinventing what's already there. And 2 years later, this post is still accurate.

Basically, you fill out the email's body and subject, then run the sheet and send it to people in the list.



My only issue is that making a copy keeps defaulting to my personal gmail account instead of my business-personal one. I had to log out of my personal one for it to take.


I also tried with an attachment and it went through. So this was an exercise in researching available options, comparing AI chat systems and their different methodologies, using queries and prompts and refining them, working with Google Sheets, Gmail, and automation.

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