How can I send an email by Java application using GMail, Yahoo, or Hotmail?

First download the JavaMail API and make sure the relevant jar files are in your classpath.

Here's a full working example using GMail.

import java.util.*;
import javax.mail.*;
import javax.mail.internet.*;

public class Main {

    private static String USER_NAME = "*****";  // GMail user name (just the part before "@gmail.com")
    private static String PASSWORD = "********"; // GMail password
    private static String RECIPIENT = "lizard.bill@myschool.edu";

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        String from = USER_NAME;
        String pass = PASSWORD;
        String[] to = { RECIPIENT }; // list of recipient email addresses
        String subject = "Java send mail example";
        String body = "Welcome to JavaMail!";

        sendFromGMail(from, pass, to, subject, body);
    }

    private static void sendFromGMail(String from, String pass, String[] to, String subject, String body) {
        Properties props = System.getProperties();
        String host = "smtp.gmail.com";
        props.put("mail.smtp.starttls.enable", "true");
        props.put("mail.smtp.host", host);
        props.put("mail.smtp.user", from);
        props.put("mail.smtp.password", pass);
        props.put("mail.smtp.port", "587");
        props.put("mail.smtp.auth", "true");

        Session session = Session.getDefaultInstance(props);
        MimeMessage message = new MimeMessage(session);

        try {
            message.setFrom(new InternetAddress(from));
            InternetAddress[] toAddress = new InternetAddress[to.length];

            // To get the array of addresses
            for( int i = 0; i < to.length; i++ ) {
                toAddress[i] = new InternetAddress(to[i]);
            }

            for( int i = 0; i < toAddress.length; i++) {
                message.addRecipient(Message.RecipientType.TO, toAddress[i]);
            }

            message.setSubject(subject);
            message.setText(body);
            Transport transport = session.getTransport("smtp");
            transport.connect(host, from, pass);
            transport.sendMessage(message, message.getAllRecipients());
            transport.close();
        }
        catch (AddressException ae) {
            ae.printStackTrace();
        }
        catch (MessagingException me) {
            me.printStackTrace();
        }
    }
}

Naturally, you'll want to do more in the catch blocks than print the stack trace as I did in the example code above. (Remove the catch blocks to see which method calls from the JavaMail API throw exceptions so you can better see how to properly handle them.)

Thanks to @jodonnel and everyone else who answered. I'm giving him a bounty because his answer led me about 95% of the way to a complete answer.

Something like this (sounds like you just need to change your SMTP server):

String host = "smtp.gmail.com";
String from = "user name";
Properties props = System.getProperties();
props.put("mail.smtp.host", host);
props.put("mail.smtp.user", from);
props.put("mail.smtp.password", "asdfgh");
props.put("mail.smtp.port", "587"); // 587 is the port number of yahoo mail
props.put("mail.smtp.auth", "true");

Session session = Session.getDefaultInstance(props, null);
MimeMessage message = new MimeMessage(session);
message.setFrom(new InternetAddress(from));

InternetAddress[] to_address = new InternetAddress[to.length];
int i = 0;
// To get the array of addresses
while (to[i] != null) {
    to_address[i] = new InternetAddress(to[i]);
    i++;
}
System.out.println(Message.RecipientType.TO);
i = 0;
while (to_address[i] != null) {

    message.addRecipient(Message.RecipientType.TO, to_address[i]);
    i++;
}
message.setSubject("sending in a group");
message.setText("Welcome to JavaMail");
// alternately, to send HTML mail:
// message.setContent("<p>Welcome to JavaMail</p>", "text/html");
Transport transport = session.getTransport("smtp");
transport.connect("smtp.mail.yahoo.co.in", "user name", "asdfgh");
transport.sendMessage(message, message.getAllRecipients());
transport.close();

Other people have good answers above, but I wanted to add a note on my experience here. I've found that when using Gmail as an outbound SMTP server for my webapp, Gmail only lets me send ~10 or so messages before responding with an anti-spam response that I have to manually step through to re-enable SMTP access. The emails I was sending were not spam, but were website "welcome" emails when users registered with my system. So, YMMV, and I wouldn't rely on Gmail for a production webapp. If you're sending email on a user's behalf, like an installed desktop app (where the user enters their own Gmail credentials), you may be okay.

Also, if you're using Spring, here's a working config to use Gmail for outbound SMTP:

<bean id="mailSender" class="org.springframework.mail.javamail.JavaMailSenderImpl">
    <property name="defaultEncoding" value="UTF-8"/>
    <property name="host" value="smtp.gmail.com"/>
    <property name="port" value="465"/>
    <property name="username" value="${mail.username}"/>
    <property name="password" value="${mail.password}"/>
    <property name="javaMailProperties">
        <value>
            mail.debug=true
            mail.smtp.auth=true
            mail.smtp.socketFactory.class=java.net.SocketFactory
            mail.smtp.socketFactory.fallback=false
        </value>
    </property>
</bean>

Even though this question is closed, I'd like to post a counter solution, but now using Simple Java Mail (Open Source JavaMail smtp wrapper):

final Email email = new Email();

String host = "smtp.gmail.com";
Integer port = 587;
String from = "username";
String pass = "password";
String[] to = {"to@gmail.com"};

email.setFromAddress("", from);
email.setSubject("sending in a group");
for( int i=0; i < to.length; i++ ) {
    email.addRecipient("", to[i], RecipientType.TO);
}
email.setText("Welcome to JavaMail");

new Mailer(host, port, from, pass).sendMail(email);
// you could also still use your mail session instead
new Mailer(session).sendMail(email);

My complete code as below is working well:

package ripon.java.mail;
import java.util.*;
import javax.mail.*;
import javax.mail.internet.*;

public class SendEmail
{
public static void main(String [] args)
{    
    // Sender's email ID needs to be mentioned
     String from = "test@gmail.com";
     String pass ="test123";
    // Recipient's email ID needs to be mentioned.
   String to = "ripon420@yahoo.com";

   String host = "smtp.gmail.com";

   // Get system properties
   Properties properties = System.getProperties();
   // Setup mail server
   properties.put("mail.smtp.starttls.enable", "true");
   properties.put("mail.smtp.host", host);
   properties.put("mail.smtp.user", from);
   properties.put("mail.smtp.password", pass);
   properties.put("mail.smtp.port", "587");
   properties.put("mail.smtp.auth", "true");

   // Get the default Session object.
   Session session = Session.getDefaultInstance(properties);

   try{
      // Create a default MimeMessage object.
      MimeMessage message = new MimeMessage(session);

      // Set From: header field of the header.
      message.setFrom(new InternetAddress(from));

      // Set To: header field of the header.
      message.addRecipient(Message.RecipientType.TO,
                               new InternetAddress(to));

      // Set Subject: header field
      message.setSubject("This is the Subject Line!");

      // Now set the actual message
      message.setText("This is actual message");

      // Send message
      Transport transport = session.getTransport("smtp");
      transport.connect(host, from, pass);
      transport.sendMessage(message, message.getAllRecipients());
      transport.close();
      System.out.println("Sent message successfully....");
   }catch (MessagingException mex) {
      mex.printStackTrace();
   }
}
}

//set CLASSPATH=%CLASSPATH%;activation.jar;mail.jar
import javax.mail.*;
import javax.mail.internet.*;
import java.util.*;

public class Mail
{
    String  d_email = "iamdvr@gmail.com",
            d_password = "****",
            d_host = "smtp.gmail.com",
            d_port  = "465",
            m_to = "iamdvr@yahoo.com",
            m_subject = "Testing",
            m_text = "Hey, this is the testing email using smtp.gmail.com.";
    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        String[] to={"XXX@yahoo.com"};
        String[] cc={"XXX@yahoo.com"};
        String[] bcc={"XXX@yahoo.com"};
        //This is for google
        Mail.sendMail("venkatesh@dfdf.com", "password", "smtp.gmail.com", 
                      "465", "true", "true", 
                      true, "javax.net.ssl.SSLSocketFactory", "false", 
                      to, cc, bcc, 
                      "hi baba don't send virus mails..", 
                      "This is my style...of reply..If u send virus mails..");
    }

    public synchronized static boolean sendMail(
        String userName, String passWord, String host, 
        String port, String starttls, String auth, 
        boolean debug, String socketFactoryClass, String fallback, 
        String[] to, String[] cc, String[] bcc, 
        String subject, String text) 
    {
        Properties props = new Properties();
        //Properties props=System.getProperties();
        props.put("mail.smtp.user", userName);
        props.put("mail.smtp.host", host);
        if(!"".equals(port))
            props.put("mail.smtp.port", port);
        if(!"".equals(starttls))
            props.put("mail.smtp.starttls.enable",starttls);
        props.put("mail.smtp.auth", auth);
        if(debug) {
            props.put("mail.smtp.debug", "true");
        } else {
            props.put("mail.smtp.debug", "false");         
        }
        if(!"".equals(port))
            props.put("mail.smtp.socketFactory.port", port);
        if(!"".equals(socketFactoryClass))
            props.put("mail.smtp.socketFactory.class",socketFactoryClass);
        if(!"".equals(fallback))
            props.put("mail.smtp.socketFactory.fallback", fallback);

        try
        {
            Session session = Session.getDefaultInstance(props, null);
            session.setDebug(debug);
            MimeMessage msg = new MimeMessage(session);
            msg.setText(text);
            msg.setSubject(subject);
            msg.setFrom(new InternetAddress("p_sambasivarao@sutyam.com"));
            for(int i=0;i<to.length;i++) {
                msg.addRecipient(Message.RecipientType.TO, 
                                 new InternetAddress(to[i]));
            }
            for(int i=0;i<cc.length;i++) {
                msg.addRecipient(Message.RecipientType.CC, 
                                 new InternetAddress(cc[i]));
            }
            for(int i=0;i<bcc.length;i++) {
                msg.addRecipient(Message.RecipientType.BCC, 
                                 new InternetAddress(bcc[i]));
            }
            msg.saveChanges();
            Transport transport = session.getTransport("smtp");
            transport.connect(host, userName, passWord);
            transport.sendMessage(msg, msg.getAllRecipients());
            transport.close();
            return true;
        }
        catch (Exception mex)
        {
            mex.printStackTrace();
            return false;
        }
    }

}

The minimum required:

import java.util.Properties;

import javax.mail.Message;
import javax.mail.MessagingException;
import javax.mail.PasswordAuthentication;
import javax.mail.Session;
import javax.mail.Transport;
import javax.mail.internet.AddressException;
import javax.mail.internet.InternetAddress;
import javax.mail.internet.MimeMessage;

public class MessageSender {

    public static void sendHardCoded() throws AddressException, MessagingException {
        String to = "a@a.info";
        final String from = "b@gmail.com";

        Properties properties = new Properties();
        properties.put("mail.smtp.starttls.enable", "true");
        properties.put("mail.smtp.auth", "true");
        properties.put("mail.smtp.host", "smtp.gmail.com");
        properties.put("mail.smtp.port", "587");

        Session session = Session.getInstance(properties,
                new javax.mail.Authenticator() {
                    protected PasswordAuthentication getPasswordAuthentication() {
                        return new PasswordAuthentication(from, "BeNice");
                    }
                });

        MimeMessage message = new MimeMessage(session);
        message.setFrom(new InternetAddress(from));
        message.addRecipient(Message.RecipientType.TO, new InternetAddress(to));
        message.setSubject("Hello");
        message.setText("What's up?");

        Transport.send(message);
    }

}

The posted code solutions may cause problems when you need to set up multiple SMTP sessions anywhere within the same JVM.

The JavaMail FAQ recommends using

Session.getInstance(properties);

instead of

Session.getDefaultInstance(properties);

because the getDefault will only use the properties given the first time it is invoked. All later uses of the default instance will ignore property changes.

See http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/faq-135477.html#getdefaultinstance

Value added:

encoding pitfalls in subject, message and display name

only one magic property is needed for modern java mail library versions

Session.getInstance() recommended over Session.getDefaultInstance()

attachment in the same example

still works after Google turns off less secure apps: Enable 2-factor authentication in your organization -> turn on 2FA -> generate app password.

    import java.io.File;
    import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
    import java.util.Properties;
    import java.util.logging.Level;
    import java.util.logging.Logger;
    import javax.activation.DataHandler;
    import javax.mail.Message;
    import javax.mail.Session;
    import javax.mail.Transport;
    import javax.mail.internet.InternetAddress;
    import javax.mail.internet.MimeBodyPart;
    import javax.mail.internet.MimeMessage;
    import javax.mail.internet.MimeMultipart;
    import javax.mail.util.ByteArrayDataSource;
    
    public class Gmailer {
      private static final Logger LOGGER = Logger.getLogger(Gmailer.class.getName());
    
      public static void main(String[] args) {
        send();
      }
    
      public static void send() {
        Transport transport = null;
        try {
          String accountEmail = "account@source.com";
          String accountAppPassword = "";
          String displayName = "Display-Name 東";
          String replyTo = "reply-to@source.com";
    
          String to = "to@target.com";
          String cc = "cc@target.com";
          String bcc = "bcc@target.com";
    
          String subject = "Subject 東";
          String message = "<span style='color: red;'>東</span>";
          String type = "html"; // or "plain"
          String mimeTypeWithEncoding = "text/" + type + "; charset=" + StandardCharsets.UTF_8.name();
    
          File attachmentFile = new File("Attachment.pdf");
          // https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/Basics_of_HTTP/MIME_types/Common_types
          String attachmentMimeType = "application/pdf";
          byte[] bytes = ...; // read file to byte array
    
          Properties properties = System.getProperties();
          properties.put("mail.debug", "true");
          // i found that this is the only property necessary for a modern java mail version
          properties.put("mail.smtp.starttls.enable", "true");
          // https://javaee.github.io/javamail/FAQ#getdefaultinstance
          Session session = Session.getInstance(properties);
    
          MimeMessage mimeMessage = new MimeMessage(session);
    
          // probably best to use the account email address, to avoid landing in spam or blacklists
          // not even sure if the server would accept a differing from address
          InternetAddress from = new InternetAddress(accountEmail);
          from.setPersonal(displayName, StandardCharsets.UTF_8.name());
          mimeMessage.setFrom(from);
    
          mimeMessage.setReplyTo(InternetAddress.parse(replyTo));
    
          mimeMessage.setRecipients(Message.RecipientType.TO, InternetAddress.parse(to));
          mimeMessage.setRecipients(Message.RecipientType.CC, InternetAddress.parse(cc));
          mimeMessage.setRecipients(Message.RecipientType.BCC, InternetAddress.parse(bcc));
    
          mimeMessage.setSubject(subject, StandardCharsets.UTF_8.name());
    
          MimeMultipart multipart = new MimeMultipart();
    
          MimeBodyPart messagePart = new MimeBodyPart();
          messagePart.setContent(mimeMessage, mimeTypeWithEncoding);
          multipart.addBodyPart(messagePart);
    
          MimeBodyPart attachmentPart = new MimeBodyPart();
          attachmentPart.setDataHandler(new DataHandler(new ByteArrayDataSource(bytes, attachmentMimeType)));
          attachmentPart.setFileName(attachmentFile.getName());
          multipart.addBodyPart(attachmentPart);
    
          mimeMessage.setContent(multipart);
    
          transport = session.getTransport();
          transport.connect("smtp.gmail.com", 587, accountEmail, accountAppPassword);
          transport.sendMessage(mimeMessage, mimeMessage.getAllRecipients());
        }
        catch(Exception e) {
          // I prefer to bubble up exceptions, so the caller has the info that someting went wrong, and gets a chance to handle it.
          // I also prefer not to force the exception in the signature.
          throw e instanceof RuntimeException ? (RuntimeException) e : new RuntimeException(e);
        }
        finally {
          if(transport != null) {
            try {
              transport.close();
            }
            catch(Exception e) {
              LOGGER.log(Level.WARNING, "failed to close java mail transport: " + e);
            }
          }
        }
      }
    }

This is what I do when i want to send email with attachment, work fine. :)

 public class NewClass {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        try {
            Properties props = System.getProperties();
            props.put("mail.smtp.starttls.enable", "true");
            props.put("mail.smtp.host", "smtp.gmail.com");
            props.put("mail.smtp.auth", "true");
            props.put("mail.smtp.port", "465"); // smtp port
            Authenticator auth = new Authenticator() {

                @Override
                protected PasswordAuthentication getPasswordAuthentication() {
                    return new PasswordAuthentication("username-gmail", "password-gmail");
                }
            };
            Session session = Session.getDefaultInstance(props, auth);
            MimeMessage msg = new MimeMessage(session);
            msg.setFrom(new InternetAddress("username-gmail@gmail.com"));
            msg.setSubject("Try attachment gmail");
            msg.setRecipient(RecipientType.TO, new InternetAddress("username-gmail@gmail.com"));
            //add atleast simple body
            MimeBodyPart body = new MimeBodyPart();
            body.setText("Try attachment");
            //do attachment
            MimeBodyPart attachMent = new MimeBodyPart();
            FileDataSource dataSource = new FileDataSource(new File("file-sent.txt"));
            attachMent.setDataHandler(new DataHandler(dataSource));
            attachMent.setFileName("file-sent.txt");
            attachMent.setDisposition(MimeBodyPart.ATTACHMENT);
            Multipart multipart = new MimeMultipart();
            multipart.addBodyPart(body);
            multipart.addBodyPart(attachMent);
            msg.setContent(multipart);
            Transport.send(msg);
        } catch (AddressException ex) {
            Logger.getLogger(NewClass.class.getName()).log(Level.SEVERE, null, ex);
        } catch (MessagingException ex) {
            Logger.getLogger(NewClass.class.getName()).log(Level.SEVERE, null, ex);
        }
    }

}

An easy route would be to have the gmail account configured/enabled for POP3 access. This would allow you to send out via normal SMTP through the gmail servers.

Then you'd just send through smtp.gmail.com (on port 587)

Hi try this code....

package my.test.service;

import java.util.Properties;

import javax.mail.Authenticator;
import javax.mail.MessagingException;
import javax.mail.PasswordAuthentication;
import javax.mail.Session;
import javax.mail.Message;
import javax.mail.Transport;
import javax.mail.internet.AddressException;
import javax.mail.internet.InternetAddress;
import javax.mail.internet.MimeMessage;

public class Sample {
    public static void main(String args[]) {
        final String SMTP_HOST = "smtp.gmail.com";
        final String SMTP_PORT = "587";
        final String GMAIL_USERNAME = "xxxxxxxxxx@gmail.com";
        final String GMAIL_PASSWORD = "xxxxxxxxxx";

        System.out.println("Process Started");

        Properties prop = System.getProperties();
        prop.setProperty("mail.smtp.starttls.enable", "true");
        prop.setProperty("mail.smtp.host", SMTP_HOST);
        prop.setProperty("mail.smtp.user", GMAIL_USERNAME);
        prop.setProperty("mail.smtp.password", GMAIL_PASSWORD);
        prop.setProperty("mail.smtp.port", SMTP_PORT);
        prop.setProperty("mail.smtp.auth", "true");
        System.out.println("Props : " + prop);

        Session session = Session.getInstance(prop, new Authenticator() {
            protected PasswordAuthentication getPasswordAuthentication() {
                return new PasswordAuthentication(GMAIL_USERNAME,
                        GMAIL_PASSWORD);
            }
        });

        System.out.println("Got Session : " + session);

        MimeMessage message = new MimeMessage(session);
        try {
            System.out.println("before sending");
            message.setFrom(new InternetAddress(GMAIL_USERNAME));
            message.addRecipients(Message.RecipientType.TO,
                    InternetAddress.parse(GMAIL_USERNAME));
            message.setSubject("My First Email Attempt from Java");
            message.setText("Hi, This mail came from Java Application.");
            message.setRecipients(Message.RecipientType.TO,
                    InternetAddress.parse(GMAIL_USERNAME));
            Transport transport = session.getTransport("smtp");
            System.out.println("Got Transport" + transport);
            transport.connect(SMTP_HOST, GMAIL_USERNAME, GMAIL_PASSWORD);
            transport.sendMessage(message, message.getAllRecipients());
            System.out.println("message Object : " + message);
            System.out.println("Email Sent Successfully");
        } catch (AddressException e) {
            // TODO Auto-generated catch block
            e.printStackTrace();
        } catch (MessagingException e) {
            // TODO Auto-generated catch block
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }
}

Here's an easy-to-use class for sending emails with Gmail. You need to have the JavaMail library added to your build path or just use Maven.

import java.util.Properties;

import javax.activation.DataHandler;
import javax.activation.DataSource;
import javax.activation.FileDataSource;
import javax.mail.BodyPart;
import javax.mail.Message;
import javax.mail.MessagingException;
import javax.mail.Multipart;
import javax.mail.Session;
import javax.mail.Transport;
import javax.mail.internet.AddressException;
import javax.mail.internet.InternetAddress;
import javax.mail.internet.MimeBodyPart;
import javax.mail.internet.MimeMessage;
import javax.mail.internet.MimeMultipart;

public class GmailSender
{
    private static String protocol = "smtp";

    private String username;
    private String password;

    private Session session;
    private Message message;
    private Multipart multipart;

    public GmailSender()
    {
        this.multipart = new MimeMultipart();
    }

    public void setSender(String username, String password)
    {
        this.username = username;
        this.password = password;

        this.session = getSession();
        this.message = new MimeMessage(session);
    }

    public void addRecipient(String recipient) throws AddressException, MessagingException
    {
        message.addRecipient(Message.RecipientType.TO, new InternetAddress(recipient));
    }

    public void setSubject(String subject) throws MessagingException
    {
        message.setSubject(subject);
    }

    public void setBody(String body) throws MessagingException
    {
        BodyPart messageBodyPart = new MimeBodyPart();
        messageBodyPart.setText(body);
        multipart.addBodyPart(messageBodyPart);

        message.setContent(multipart);
    }

    public void send() throws MessagingException
    {
        Transport transport = session.getTransport(protocol);
        transport.connect(username, password);
        transport.sendMessage(message, message.getAllRecipients());

        transport.close();
    }

    public void addAttachment(String filePath) throws MessagingException
    {
        BodyPart messageBodyPart = getFileBodyPart(filePath);
        multipart.addBodyPart(messageBodyPart);

        message.setContent(multipart);
    }

    private BodyPart getFileBodyPart(String filePath) throws MessagingException
    {
        BodyPart messageBodyPart = new MimeBodyPart();
        DataSource dataSource = new FileDataSource(filePath);
        messageBodyPart.setDataHandler(new DataHandler(dataSource));
        messageBodyPart.setFileName(filePath);

        return messageBodyPart;
    }

    private Session getSession()
    {
        Properties properties = getMailServerProperties();
        Session session = Session.getDefaultInstance(properties);

        return session;
    }

    private Properties getMailServerProperties()
    {
        Properties properties = System.getProperties();
        properties.put("mail.smtp.starttls.enable", "true");
        properties.put("mail.smtp.host", protocol + ".gmail.com");
        properties.put("mail.smtp.user", username);
        properties.put("mail.smtp.password", password);
        properties.put("mail.smtp.port", "587");
        properties.put("mail.smtp.auth", "true");

        return properties;
    }
}

Example usage:

GmailSender sender = new GmailSender();
sender.setSender("myEmailNameWithout@gmail.com", "mypassword");
sender.addRecipient("recipient@somehost.com");
sender.setSubject("The subject");
sender.setBody("The body");
sender.addAttachment("TestFile.txt");
sender.send();

If you want to use outlook with Javamail API then use

smtp-mail.outlook.com

as a host for more and complete working code Check out this answer.