Sending automatic emails with attachments with python

This repo is initially intended for TAs at UZH that are required to send corrected homeworks to a list of students.

Instructions

Download the repo with:

git clone https://github.com/ViniciusMikuni/Email_Sender.git

The script requires the following structure:

A file called students.txt, containing the name, surname and email of each student (Exactly like the excell sheet we first received with the student list). Example:

John Doe john.doe@uzh.ch
Joe Doe joe.doe@uzh.ch

The script now supports special characters, both in the PDF file names, as well as in students.txt. The file students.txt needs to be encoded in UTF-8.

If the students sometimes hand in with special characters (ä, ö, ü), and sometimes without (ae, oe, ue), it is recommended to duplicate their entry to satisfy both conventions.

A folder called HWN, where N stands for the homework number which files are saved. Ex: HW7. Save the homeworks in this folder after correction. The name of the files in the folder should follow the same pattern the students are required to follow. In the script itself, change the default message to your liking.

Running the script:

python send_emails.py --sender your.email@uzh.ch --pwd YOURPASSWORD --HW N

Before sending, verify in the screen if all students are associated to the respective homeworks and emails. If everything seems right, run the same code again, but with the flag --send:

python send_emails.py --sender your.email@uzh.ch --pwd YOURPASSWORD --HW N --send

In order to avoid your password being stored in clear text in the command history, it is recommended to run the command without writing to history. To do so, you need to make sure the variable HISTCONTROL is set to 'ignorespace' or 'ignoreboth':

echo $HISTCONTROL

And if it is not the case, set it:

export HISTCONTROL=ignorespace

Then, you can run commands by starting them with a leading space, and avoid them being stored in the history:

 python send_emails.py --sender your.email@uzh.ch --pwd YOURPASSWORD --HW N --send

(For more details, see: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/8473121/execute-command-without-keeping-it-in-history)