A major new feature in FileMaker 18 that has flown somewhat under the radar is the expanded capability of the Insert from URL script step. Insert from URL now supports the smtp and smtps URL protocols, as well as a few related cURL options. This means that sending email is now possible using Insert from URL, including the ability to send HTML email! Sending HTML email has been a long-requested feature for the FileMaker platform and was previously only available through plug-ins or, more recently, external API calls.
In this article we’ll review how sending mail using SMTP and cURL in FileMaker 18 works and go through several examples. We’ve also built a robust demo file you can download for free and use to dig into this functionality in more detail, and we’ll discuss some of its capabilities here. Finally, we’ll look at how this new feature compares to some alternatives for sending mail from your FileMaker app.