bcquality/microsoft/knowledge/breaking-changes/prefer-email-module.md
Michael Dieringer cc7c1f2ee0 Address Jesper Schulz-Wedde's review on PR #156
- Rename 3 articles so their .good.al/.bad.al companion stems match
  (do-not-change-primary-key, testfield-required-setup-field,
  al-identifiers-english), fixing the R14 orphan-sample errors.
- do-not-change-primary-key.good.al: include Flow in the new table's
  own primary key so it actually models the discriminating dimension.
- al-build-output-must-not-pollute-project-root.md: drop the
  unsubstantiated AL0197 causal claim and the non-existent
  al.outputPath setting; reframe as build-artifact hygiene sourced
  from ALTool --outfolder / al_build outputPath.
- prefer-email-module.md: Email Message is Codeunit 8904, not a table;
  distinguish it from the underlying Sent/Outbox/Draft storage.
- file-datatype-saas.md: File.Open/Create/Read/Write fails to compile
  against a Cloud-scoped project, it does not compile and silently
  fail at runtime.
- namespace-must-be-verified-from-source.md: narrow to "resolve from
  the referenced object's source or symbols," since source-file line
  one is not the only authoritative source (symbol packages, comments
  before the namespace line).
- test-data-must-be-random-and-complete.md: drop "assume an empty
  database" and "collision-free" absolutes; reframe around
  independence from unrelated business records and reserving explicit
  values for scenario-defining inputs.
- binary-choice-must-be-boolean.md: scope to genuine true/false
  semantics, not mechanical two-member-enum-to-boolean conversion.
- document-report-word-layout.md: scope down to a sourced Microsoft
  Learn recommendation instead of an unconditional performance
  guarantee; cite the three Learn pages.
- Wire the new articles into their review skills' candidate-selection
  signals (file-datatype-saas, prefer-email-module,
  namespace-must-be-verified-from-source, var-parameters-require-an-
  addressable-variable) so they can actually enter a worklist.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-09-21 22:25:26 +02:00

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---
bc-version: [all]
domain: breaking-changes
keywords: [email, codeunit-mail, email-message, email-scenario, email-account, smtp, sending-email]
technologies: [al]
countries: [w1]
application-area: [all]
---
# Send email through the Email module, not Codeunit Mail (397)
> Contributions welcome — open a PR to refine or extend this article.
## Description
Older AL code sends email by calling `Codeunit Mail (397)`. Business Central's current extensibility model is a different, richer object set — `Codeunit Email`, `Codeunit "Email Message"`, `enum "Email Scenario"`, and the `Email Account`/`Email Connector` interface (Microsoft 365, Current User, SMTP, or a custom connector). `Codeunit "Email Message"` is the in-memory object you build the message on; it is not itself the persisted Sent/Outbox/Draft record — that storage is managed separately once the message is queued or sent. New code built on `Codeunit Mail` inherits its SMTP-era, single-connector assumptions and leaves no Sent/Outbox trail behind.
## Best Practice
Build on `Codeunit Email` and `Codeunit "Email Message"`. Route the message through an `Email Scenario` so different document types can use different accounts without the calling code needing to know which account that is, and get a tracked Sent/Outbox/Draft record for free.
See sample: `prefer-email-module.good.al`.
## Anti Pattern
Calling `Codeunit Mail`'s `CreateMessage`/`Send`/`GetErrorDesc`. It still runs, but it is hard-coupled to whatever SMTP setup exists, and leaves no queryable record of what was sent.
See sample: `prefer-email-module.bad.al`.