In this article I will explain with an example, how to send email with Cc and Bcc using MailKit library in ASP.Net Core (.Net Core).
Note: For beginners in ASP.Net Core (.Net Core 7), please refer my article ASP.Net Core 7: Hello World Tutorial with Sample Program example.
 
 

Installing MailKit package

You will need to install the MailKit package, for details on installation please refer Install MailKit from Nuget in Visual Studio.
 
 

Mail Server Settings in AppSettings.json file

The Mail Server settings are saved in the SMTP section as shown below.
{
 "Smtp": {
    "Server": "smtp.gmail.com",
    "Port": 587,
    "CcAddress": "cc@aspsnippets.com",
    "BccAddress": "bcc@aspsnippets.com"
  }
}
 
 

MimeKit MimeMessage and MailKit SmtpClient class

MimeMessage class properties

Following are the required properties of the MimeMessage class.
From – Sender’s email address.
To – Recipient(s) Email Address.
CC – Carbon Copies. (If any)
BCC – Blind Carbon Copies. (If any)
Subject – Subject of the Email.
Body – Body of the Email.
Attachments – Attachments. (If any)
ReplyTo – ReplyTo Email address.
 

SmtpClient class methods

Following are the methods of the SmtpClient class.
Connect – The connection to the SMTP Server is established using the domain and the port number.
Authenticate – The username and password of the SMTP Server is authenticated.
Send – The MimeMessage object is passed to it and the email is sent.
Disconnect – Disconnects the connection with SMTP Server.
 
 

Model

The Model class consists of the following properties.
public class EmailModel
{
    public string To { getset; }
    public string Subject { getset; }
    public string Body { getset; }
    public string Email { getset; }
    public string Password { getset; }
}
 
 

Namespaces

You will need to import the following namespaces.
using MimeKit;
using MailKit.Net.Smtp;
using MailKit.Security;
 
 

Controller

The Controller consists of following Action methods.

Action method for handling GET operation

Inside this Action method, simply the View is returned.
 

Action method for handling POST operation

This Action method handles the call made from the POST function from the View.
Note: For more details on how to use Model class object for capturing Form field values, please refer my article ASP.Net Core MVC: Form Submit (Post) example.
 
Inside this Action method, the posted values are captured through the EmailModel class object. All the fetched values are set into an object of the MailMessage class except the Body.

Setting Body of Email

For Body, an object of Builder class is created. The Body of the email is Text (Non HTML) hence it is set into the TextBody property of the Builder class object.

Setting Cc and Bcc Addresses

The Cc and Bcc addresses are fetched from the SMTP section of the AppSettings.jsonfile and are set into the object of the MimeMessage class.

Sending Email

Then, an object of the SmtpClient class is created and the values of Host, Port are fetched from the SMTP section of the AppSettings.json file and are passed as parameter to Connect method along with the SecureSocketOptions set to Auto.
Note: Setting Auto allows MailKit service to decide which SSL or TLS option to use. Hence, enabling SSL is not required.
 
Also, the CheckCertificateRevocation is set to FALSE.
Note: This is optional and must be used only when Certificate errors are occurring.
 
Finally, the methods of the Mail Server such as ConnectAuthenticateSend and Disconnect are executed and a success message is set into the ViewBag object.
public class HomeController : Controller
{
    public IConfiguration Configuration { get; set; }
 
    public HomeController(IConfiguration _configuration)
    {
        this.Configuration = _configuration;
    }
 
    public IActionResult Index()
    {
        return View();
    }
 
    [HttpPost]
    public IActionResult Index(EmailModel model)
    {
        //Read SMTP section from AppSettings.json.
        string host = this.Configuration.GetValue<string>("Smtp:Server");
        int port = this.Configuration.GetValue<int>("Smtp:Port");
        string ccAddress = this.Configuration.GetValue<string>("Smtp:CcAddress");
        string bccAddress = this.Configuration.GetValue<string>("Smtp:BccAddress");
 
        using (MimeMessage mm = new MimeMessage())
        {
            mm.From.Add(new MailboxAddress("Sender", model.Email));
            mm.To.Add(new MailboxAddress("Recipient", model.To));
            mm.Subject = model.Subject;
            mm.Cc.Add(new MailboxAddress("Cc", ccAddress));
            mm.Bcc.Add(new MailboxAddress("Bcc", bccAddress));
            BodyBuilder builder = new BodyBuilder();
            builder.TextBody = model.Body;
            mm.Body = builder.ToMessageBody();
            using (SmtpClient smtp = new SmtpClient())
            {
                //Set to False to avoid Certificate verification.
                smtp.CheckCertificateRevocation = false
                smtp.Connect(host, port, SecureSocketOptions.Auto);
                smtp.Authenticate(model.Email, model.Password);
                smtp.Send(mm);
                smtp.Disconnect(true);
            }
        }
        ViewBag.Message = "Email Sent.";
        return View();
    }
}
 
 

View

HTML Markup

Inside the View, the EmailModel class is declared as model for the View and ASP.Net TagHelpers in inherited.
The View consists of an HTML Form which has been created using the following TagHelpers attributes.
asp-action – Name of the Action. In this case the name is Index.
asp-controller – Name of the Controller. In this case the name is Home.
method – It specifies the Form Method i.e. GET or POST. In this case it will be set to POST.
The Form consists of HTML TextBox, TextArea element and a Submit Button.
When the Send Button is clicked, the Form gets submitted and the Model object is sent to the Controller.
Finally, the ViewBag object is checked for NULL and if it is not NULL then the value of the object is displayed using JavaScript Alert Message Box.
@addTagHelper*, Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.TagHelpers
@model Send_Email_MailKit_Core_MVC.Models.EmailModel
@{
    Layout = null;
}
 
<!DOCTYPE html>
 
<html>
<head>
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width" />
    <title>Index</title>
</head>
<body>
    <form method="post" asp-controller="Home" asp-action="Index">
        <table>
            <tr>
                <td style="width: 80px">To:</td>
                <td><input type="text" asp-for="To" /></td>
            </tr>
            <tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
            <tr>
                <td>Subject:</td>
                <td><input type="text" asp-for="Subject" /></td>
            </tr>
            <tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
            <tr>
                <td valign="top">Body:</td>
                <td><textarea cols="20" rows="3" asp-for="Body"></textarea></td>
            </tr>
            <tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
            <tr>
                <td>Gmail Email:</td>
                <td><input type="text" asp-for="Email" /></td>
            </tr>
            <tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
            <tr>
                <td>Gmail Password:</td>
                <td><input type="password" asp-for="Password" /></td>
            </tr>
            <tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
            <tr>
                <td></td>
                <td><input type="submit" value="Send" /></td>
            </tr>
        </table>
    </form>
    @if (ViewBag.Message != null)
    {
        <script type="text/javascript">
            window.onload = function () {
                alert("@ViewBag.Message");
            };
        </script>
    }
</body>
</html>
 
 

Possible Errors

The possible errors (exceptions) occurring while sending email with MailKit in .Net are covered in the following article.
 
 

Screenshot

Email Form

Send Email with CC and BCC using MailKit in ASP.Net Core
 

Received Email

Send Email with CC and BCC using MailKit in ASP.Net Core
 
 

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