Power Automate: Embed an image in an email

It sounds easy but believe me it is not so easy that it sounds like. There is no direct way that you can embed an image when you are drafting “Send Email” action even when you are planning to use HTML code in email body. There is a way to add a Image html tag but question is what will be the URL/SRC for same. Suppose you want to place image url which is exposed on internet, accessibility set to public, in that case you saved your time. Just use the URL in image tag and it will work.

So just wanted to mention one more important thing here. Email can we viewed by multiple means: MS Outlook or from Browser. The behavior in both the cases will be different. I have observed the behavior that sometimes when email is opened using browser it renders images perfectly but when same email was opened using MS Outlook app, images shows just cross marks. May be due to the reason the images can easily be accessible using browser but Outlook it may require some extra steps.

After spending two or three days, trying different options, I finally got a solution which works in all cases.

Problem:

Using Microsoft Flow, trigger sending of an email with an embedded image.

• The image will be stored in a SharePoint Library/One drive
• We will assume you have already created connects to:
  • Office 365 Outlook
  • SharePoint/Outlook

Solution:

1. Create a new Flow:
   1. Select: +New > Instant—from blank
   2. Click: Manually trigger a flow
2. Add the 1st actions:
   1. Search for SharePoint > Get file content using path
   2. Select the action
   3. Site Address: either select or ‘enter custom value’
   4. File Path: enter the path from the site collection (e.g. ‘/Style%20Library/DemoFile/EmailCompanyLogo.jpg’)
3. Add the 2nd actions:
   1. Search for Variables > Initialize variable
   2. Select the action
   3. Name: Enter ImageTag
   4. Type: Select String
   5. Value: This is the trick bit!*
      1. Enter: <img src=”data:image/jpeg;base64,” alt=”CompanyLogo” />
      2. Next click between ‘64,‘ and ‘” alt‘
      3. Add dynamic content
      4. Select: Expression fx
      5. Enter .$content
      6. Placing you cursor before the .$content click: Dynamic content
      7. Locate and select File Content
      8. Click OK
4. Add the 3rd and last actions:
   1. Search for Office 365 Outlook > Send an email
   2. Select the action
   3. To: enter your email address
   4. Subject: Microsoft Flow: How to embed an image in an email
   5. Body: <p>This is my test email, you should see an image below</p><p></p>
   6. Click between the last <p></p> tags
   7. Click: Add dynamic content
   8. Locate and select the ImageTag variable
   9. Is HTML: Select Yes(Note: you may not able to find this option in new versions of the action. In new versions, there is option looks like “</>” at top right corner of the action which converts body in html. Here is the screen shot for same)

Save the Flow

*Here is the full code/expression:

<img src="data:image/jpeg;base64,@{body('Get_file_content_using_path')['$content']}" alt="My Image" />

Note: The other way to implement the same requirement is to attach as attachment to the email action. Provide file content as Attachment Content and image will be rendered as usual.

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Happy PowerAutomating !!