Send an email
The Send an email action A tool for building the processes, logic, and direction within workflows. sends a customizable email to recipients that you specify. The email originates from the workflow action, and you can customize:
- Who receives the email.
- What the email subject/message body is.
- What attachments the email includes.
The Send an email action may execute on servers running outside your data center Centralized locations used to house servers used by Nintex for remote storage, processing, or distribution of data. Nintex has a number of regional data centers available for Nintex Workflow Cloud. For information about where your data center is located, contact you Nintex account manager. region. Before implementing, consider performance and regional concerns where digital boundaries are an issue. The IP addresses used by SendGrid for Nintex Workflow Cloud are:
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149.72.132.168
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167.89.109.75
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198.21.3.35
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Variables allow you to store and manipulate data and files in your workflows. They can be created by start events, forms, tasks, workflow actions, or automatically created when a workflow is run. For more information, see Variables.

You can start a workflow whenever a new or updated file is detected (example: Box - New file), upload files on start or at any point in the workflow, generate documents from tagged templates, send and receive files via email, and manipulate files. You can set up file handling in your workflow start event The connector and event for triggering the workflow to run, including required configuration. An example is Box - New file, which triggers the workflow to run when a new file is uploaded to the specified folder. and actions A tool for building the processes, logic, and direction within workflows..
Note: Your tenancy's default file storage location must be configured to hold files for later reference by the workflow. This location is used for uploaded files and for files stored as output from actions.

- Start your workflow when a new or updated file is detected in a service; for example, see Box - New file and Connectors.
Store a file reference for use later in the workflow (file share connector start events)
File share connector start events, such as Box - New file, require you to add each start event variable that you want to reference later in the workflow. The variables provided vary by start event. See Connectors.
On the Designer canvas, click Start event.
Select a connector from the Start from drop-down list.
Select an event from the Event drop-down list.
- Click
Add variables.
- Select the predefined variables that you want to add to your workflow.
Note:
To select all variables, click Select All.
If you know the variable and you want to find it faster, type the variable name in the Filter options field.
Click Add.
Note: If you want to edit the selection of variables, hover over the variable, click
, and then click Show Details. Edit the variable name in the Name field or click
.
- Upload files when filling in a form from:
- Salesforce, using Nintex Drawloop DocAutomation for Salesforce
- The web or an app
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Programmatically upload files for a Component workflow A workflow that can be started from outside the tenancy; the workflow uses the "Component workflow" start event.; see Nintex - Component workflow

- Generate documents from tagged templates using Generate document
- Send and receive files via email; for example, see Assign a task
- Manipulate files in services (see Connectors):
- Get, store, move, copy, or delete files using file share connector actions A workflow action that performs a basic operation through a connected system, such as Salesforce or Box., such as Box - Move a file
- Get and attach files in Salesforce
- Get and store files in SharePoint
- Get signatures: Get and store signed documents using DocuSign or Adobe Sign.
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Store a file for use later in the workflow
For example, store any email attachments received by the task assignee.
- On the Designer canvas, click the action you want to configure.
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Find the output field for storing the file or set of files.
For example, to store attachments received in task assignee email replies when they may attach multiple files, use the Assign a task Multiple file attachments option for the Store output field.
- In the output field, select a variable or specify a file path:
Select a variable. For outputs storing multiple files, select a collection variable. For outputs storing a single file, select a file variable.
Specify a file path. You can use any combination of text and variables, beginning with the root folder. If available, use the folder browse icon
on the right of the path field to navigate to the folder and any subfolders that you want, and then edit the path as desired to include variables and different text.
The availability of variable or path options for storing files varies by action. For more information, see Connectors and Workflow actions.
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Reference a stored file
For example, reference the new Box file that started the workflow to attach it to a task email notification or reference an image received by the task assignee to generate an invoice document.
- On the Designer canvas, click the action you want to configure.
- Find the field where you want to reference the stored file select a variable or specify a file path:
Select the file variable associated with the stored file. For example, select the variable for the new Box file that started the workflow or select the variable storing Multiple file attachments output from a task action.
Specify the file path where the file is stored. You can use any combination of text and variables, beginning with the root folder. If available, use the folder browse icon
on the right of the path field to navigate to the folder and any subfolders that you want, and then edit the path as desired to include variables and different text.
View example
Both a file variable and a file path are used in the example image below for the Dropbox Business - Copy a file action. A file variable is selected for Source and a file path is specified for Destination.
The variables "CountryVariable" and "Program" insert the values into the file path as determined by earlier workflow logic (in this case, fields in a submitted form). For example, if the person submitting the form selects Australia for country and specifies Inspire2017 for program, then the resulting file path is "/SpecialProgramNDAs/Australia/Inspire2017NDA.docx."
Configure the send an email action

In the Designer page:
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Click the Communication action group in the action toolbox.
or
Find actions by browsing action groups or by typing an action name or function in the Search field at the top of the action toolbox.
- Drag the Send an email action to where you want to send an email.
- Click the Send an email action.
- Type the Recipient email addresses.
- Type the Subject of the email.
- Type the Message body of the email.
For more options in the Message body toolbar, click (Full Screen).
For more information on the fields and buttons, see Send an email fields, buttons, and settings.

You can configure the Send an email action to retrieve one or more file variables from previous points in the workflow and send the files as attachments.
In the Designer page:
- Click the Send an email action.
- Click the File attachments field.
- Click + Variable.
- Select the file variable that you want to attach.
- Click Insert.
For more information on the fields and buttons, see Send an email fields, buttons, and settings.

Field | Description |
Variable types |
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Recipient email addresses | Email addresses for recipients of the email message that the action sends. Use commas or semicolons to separate multiple email addresses. |
Text, Decimal, Integer, Boolean, DateTime, Collection |
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Reply to |
The email address the recipient responds to when they reply to the email address that the action sends. Note: If you add variables to the Reply to field, the variable values must make up a single email address or the workflow will fail. |
Text, Decimal, Integer, Boolean, DateTime, Collection |
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Sender display name |
The From name in the email that the action sends. The sender display name is followed by the default sender. For example, if your Sender display name is "Marketing Team" and the default sender is nintex@workflowcloud.com, the From field in the email displays as: Marketing Team <nintex@workflowcloud.com>. If you do not enter a sender display name then the email only shows the default sender in the From field. |
Text, Decimal, Integer, Boolean, DateTime, Collection |
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Cc | Email addresses for the Cc line on the email message that the action sends. |
Text, Decimal, Integer, Boolean, DateTime, Collection |
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Bcc | Email addresses for the Bcc line on the email message that the action sends. |
Text, Decimal, Integer, Boolean, DateTime, Collection |
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Subject |
Subject of the email message that the action sends. |
Text, Decimal, Integer, Boolean, DateTime, Collection |
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Message body |
Body of email message that the action sends. ![]()
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Text, Decimal, Integer, Boolean, DateTime, Collection |
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File attachments |
Variables representing files to attach to the email that the action sends. |
File, Collection |