How to Send an Email with File Attachment in Power Automate Desktop

In this blog post, we’ll walk through how to design a Power Automate Desktop (PAD) flow to send emails with file attachments. You’ll learn how to read files from your local machine, capture the file name and content, and attach them to an email using the Office 365 Outlook action in PAD.

Step – 1: Create a New Flow in Power Automate Desktop

Open the Power Automate Desktop application on your machine.On the home screen, click New flow, enter a meaningful Flow Name (for example: Send Email with Attachment), and then click Create.This will open the flow designer, where you can start building your desktop automation step by step.

💡 Tip: Always use a clear and descriptive name so it’s easy to identify the purpose of the flow later, especially when you have multiple desktop flows.

Step – 2: Get File Path Information

Go to the Actions panel in Power Automate Desktop and expand the Files category.Select Get file path info, drag it onto the flow canvas, and choose the file you want to send as an email attachment.

Once configured, this action automatically generates useful file properties such as:

• Root

• Directory

• FileName

• FileExtension

• FileNameNoExtenion

These outputs can be reused in later steps which is required when attaching the file to an email.

💡 Tip: Using file path info makes your flow more dynamic and easier to maintain, instead of hardcoding file names or locations.

Step – 3: Create Full File Path Using Set Variable

From the Actions panel, go to Variables and drag the Set variable action onto the flow canvas.

Configure it as follows:

• Variable name: FullFilePath

• Value: %Directory%\%FileName%

This FullFilePath variable will be used in the next step while configuring the email attachment.

Step – 4: Convert the File to Base64 Format

In Power Automate Desktop, the Office 365 Outlook action does not support direct file path attachments.To send an attachment, the file must be converted to Base64 and then mapped using File Name and File Content.

How to Configure

1. Go to the Actions panel

2. Expand Files

3. Select Convert file to Base64

4. Drag and drop the action onto the canvas

5. In File path, map the variable:

The action will generate an output variable (for example: Base64Text)

Step – 5 (Final): Send Email with Attachment Using Office 365 Outlook

Now we’ll configure the final action to send the email with the Base64 attachment.

1. Go to the Actions panel and search for Office 365 Outlook.

2. Select Send an email and drag it onto the flow canvas.

3. Fill in the email fields:

   • To: recipient email address

   • Subject: your email subject

   • Body: your message content

4. Click Advanced options.

5. Scroll down to Attachments and click Edit.

6. Add a new attachment and map:

   • Attachment name → %FileName%%FileExtension%

   • Attachment content → %Base64Text% (output from “Convert file to Base64” step)

7. Click OK, then Save the flow.

✅ That’s it — your Power Automate Desktop flow is ready.Just click Run and it will send the email with the attachment successfully.

Run the Flow and Verify Email Delivery

Click Run in Power Automate Desktop to execute the flow.Once the flow completes without errors, open your mailbox and verify that the email has been delivered successfully with the attachment.

✅ Validation Checklist:

• Email received by the recipient

• Subject and body displayed correctly

• Attachment name is correct

• Attachment opens without any issues

🎉 If all checks pass, your automation is working perfectly and ready for real-world use.