It’s simple when you know how!

Task:

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

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

Steps:

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 the 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/_Company/Images/EmailSignature.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=”My Image” />
      2. Next click between ‘64,‘ and ‘” alt‘
      3. Add dynamic content
      4. Select: Expression fx
      5. Enter .$content
      6. Placing your cursor before the .$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
5. 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" />

So what tripped me up?

On my first attempt I tied using the File Content variable directly within the body of the email, only to see binary… Note: This works fine when attaching the file as an ‘attachment’ (see Attachments Content).

Plus I struggled to find a way to convert binary to base64. That was before I realised I didn’t need to do all that work, hence this blog post…