# Creating an Email Attachment
If you want to add an attachment to your email, you will need to add only a few lines of code to your custom controller. Email attachments are `Blob` file types. To create an attachment, you need to use the Apex `Messaging.EmailFileAttachment` class. You must define both the file name and the content of an `EmailFileAttachment` object.
## Adding a PDF Attachment
The following example demonstrates how to transform a `PageReference` to a Visualforce page rendered as a PDF into an email attachment. First, create a page called `attachmentPDF`:
```markup
Account Details
```
:::note
See [Best Practices for Rendering PDF Files](/docs/platform/salesforce-pages-developers-guide/guide/pages-compref-additional-render-pdf.md#best-practices-for-rendering-pdf-files) for details of which components are recommended for use in PDF attachments.
:::
Next, create the `EmailFileAttachment` object in the `send()` method of your custom controller. The following examples must be placed before calling `Messaging.sendEmail`:
```apex
// Reference the attachment page, pass in the account ID
PageReference pdf = Page.attachmentPDF;
pdf.getParameters().put('id',(String)account.id);
pdf.setRedirect(true);
// Take the PDF content
Blob b = pdf.getContent();
// Create the email attachment
Messaging.EmailFileAttachment efa = new Messaging.EmailFileAttachment();
efa.setFileName('attachment.pdf');
efa.setBody(b);
```
If your `SingleEmailMessage` object is named `email`, then you associate the attachment like this:
```apex
email.setFileAttachments(new Messaging.EmailFileAttachment[] {efa});
```
## Defining a Custom Component as an Attachment
By creating a custom component and using it on the Visualforce email form and to render the PDF for the email, users can see a preview of the content they are trying to send.
The following markup defines a custom component named `attachment` that represents the attachment for the email:
```markup
Account Details
```
Replace your `attachmentPDF` page like this:
```visualforce
```
Then add the custom component to render at the bottom of your previous `sendEmailPage`:
```visualforce
```
If you want to make changes to both the attachment and the preview, the `attachment` custom component needs to be modified in only one location.
## Example: Sending an Email with an Attachment
The following example shows the [previous `sendEmail` example](/docs/platform/salesforce-pages-developers-guide/guide/pages-email-intro.md) with a custom component that adds a Visualforce page as an attachment. First, the controller:
```controller
public class sendEmail {
public String subject { get; set; }
public String body { get; set; }
private final Account account;
// Create a constructor that populates the Account object
public sendEmail() {
account = [SELECT Name,
(SELECT Contact.Name, Contact.Email FROM Account.Contacts)
FROM Account
WHERE Id = :ApexPages.currentPage().getParameters().get('id')];
}
public Account getAccount() {
return account;
}
public PageReference send() {
// Define the email
Messaging.SingleEmailMessage email = new Messaging.SingleEmailMessage();
// Reference the attachment page and pass in the account ID
PageReference pdf = Page.attachmentPDF;
pdf.getParameters().put('id',(String)account.id);
pdf.setRedirect(true);
// Take the PDF content
Blob b = pdf.getContent();
// Create the email attachment
Messaging.EmailFileAttachment efa = new Messaging.EmailFileAttachment();
efa.setFileName('attachment.pdf');
efa.setBody(b);
String addresses;
if (account.Contacts[0].Email != null) {
addresses = account.Contacts[0].Email;
// Loop through the whole list of contacts and their emails
for (Integer i = 1; i < account.Contacts.size(); i++) {
if (account.Contacts[i].Email != null) {
addresses += ':' + account.Contacts[i].Email;
}
}
}
String[] toAddresses = addresses.split(':', 0);
// Sets the paramaters of the email
email.setSubject( subject );
email.setToAddresses( toAddresses );
email.setPlainTextBody( body );
email.setFileAttachments(new Messaging.EmailFileAttachment[] {efa});
// Sends the email
Messaging.SendEmailResult [] r =
Messaging.sendEmail(new Messaging.SingleEmailMessage[] {email});
return null;
}
}
```
Next, the Visualforce page that sends the email:
```apex_page
Fill out the fields below to test how you might send an email to a user.