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google-apps-scriptgmail

Apps Script Gmail createDraftReplyAll wrong recipient: Puts me as recipient instead of other party

I have a working script for creating a new Gmail draft but when I use createDraftReplyAll in an existing thread, it puts the sender of the last email of the thread as the recipient of the draft.

So if I sent the last email, I become the recipient of the reply, and the other party is Cc'd. And if the other person wrote the last email, they are the recipient but I get CC'd. This is not normal behavior compared with manually creating a draft in Gmail (i.e. from clicking Reply To All), in which case the recipient will always be the other party.

Shown here (result of running the script below):

And normal behavior from clicking Reply All in Gmail:

This is the function I use to create the draft. The thread has already been found via the Subject and original message date:

  function createDraftReplyInThread(emailThread, htmlTemplateFileName) {
  Logger.log(">> IN createDraftReplyInThread");
  Logger.log("htmlTemplateFileName: " + htmlTemplateFileName);

  if (emailThread) {
    let emailTo = emailThread.to;
    Logger.log('Thread TO: ' + emailTo);
    let threadMessages = emailThread.getMessages();
    let messageCount = threadMessages.length;
    let lastMessage = threadMessages[messageCount - 1];

    let htmlTemplate = HtmlService.createTemplateFromFile(htmlTemplateFileName);
    let htmlBodyContent = htmlTemplate.evaluate().getContent();
    var myReplyID = lastMessage.createDraftReplyAll(
      "Plain text for draft reply (not used)",
      {
        'htmlBody': htmlBodyContent
      }).getId();

    Logger.log(`Draft created in thread; myReplyID: ${myReplyID}`);  // just to show it's executed okay

    return;
  }

  return null;
}

It's probably best to ignore this, but I did try to use the limited existing update methods to copy the content, change the recipient and reinstate the the content in a new draft (pure guess work). Noting that draft.update() does work to change the recipient but it also requires a Message argument which I failed to get to work. Possible?

// based off stackoverflow: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/54745999/modify-only-the-subject-and-send-the-draft
function _sandbox_draftModify() {

  var draft = GmailApp.getDrafts()[0];
  var draftAsMessage = draft.getMessage();
  var recipients = draftAsMessage.getTo();
  var subject = draftAsMessage.getSubject();
  var origRaw = draftAsMessage.getRawContent();
  var newRaw = origRaw.replace("new draft", "old draft");
  var newRawB64 = Utilities.base64EncodeWebSafe(newRaw, Utilities.Charset.UTF_8);

  var emailTo = 'recipientsemail@gmail.com';  
  Logger.log(`recipients: ${recipients}`);
  Logger.log(`subject: ${subject}`);
  Logger.log(`newRaw: ${newRaw}`);

  draft.update(emailTo, subject, { message: { raw: newRawB64 } });

  var draftNew = GmailApp.getDrafts()[0];
  userId = 'me';
  Gmail.Users.Drafts.update({ message: { raw: newRawB64 } }, userId, draftNew.getId());
  Logger.log("Done");
}

In the end all I need is to be able to create a draft email to an existing thread (which I can do already) but with the correct recipient(s), however that may be achieved.

Solution

  • This seems to be the expected behavior for the createDraftReplyAll method.

    If you check the documentation page here:

    createDraftReplyAll(body)

    Creates a draft message replying to the sender of the last message in this thread, using the reply-to address and all recipients of this message. The size of the email (including headers) is quota limited.

    However, you can file a feature request on Issue Tracker if you would like to have a functionality which replicates the UI behavior. The form can be found at this link and make sure to fill in all the necessary information.

    Reference