How to send a PDF file using Nodemailer without saving it

Sometimes we need to send PDF files using nodemailer, it can be a PDF file received from the Front-end, one generated with a package or manually on the server or one obtained by an external service via a request

What we need to do is transform the PDF file to Base64 without data uri, this means send the base64 without "data:application/pdf;base64," below is an example of a base64 PDF file with and without data uri

Base64 PDF with data uri

data:application/pdf;base64,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

Base64 PDF without data uri

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

Once we have the file on Base64 we can pass it directly to nodemailer in order to send it, below is an example of a function sending a file

/**
 * @desc send and email with an attachment in base64
 * @param {*} transporter transporter to send message with
 * @param {*} from who is sending the message
 * @param {*} to to who we are sending the message
 * @param {*} subject the subject of the message
 * @param {*} html the content of the message
 * @param {*} fileName the name of the file sended
 * @param {*} file the file content in base 64
 * @returns a promise which can be resolved or rejected
 */
function sendEmailWithAttachment(
    transporter,
    from,
    to,
    subject,
    html,
    fileName,
    file
) {
    return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
        let mailOptions = {
            from: from,
            to: to,
            subject: subject,
            html: html,
            attachments: [
                {
                    // Name of the file
                    filename: fileName,
                    // Base64 PDF file without data uri
                    path: file,
                },
            ],
        };

        transporter.sendMail(mailOptions, function (error) {
            if (error) {
                console.log("email error", error.data);
                reject(error);
            } else {
                resolve("Success");
            }
        });
    });
}

This comes in handy when we don't save the pdf file on the server for example we generate it, we receive it from a request on an external service or receiving it from the Front-end