diff --git a/nodes/core/social/61-email.html b/nodes/core/social/61-email.html
index b93bbf2c0..196045ef7 100644
--- a/nodes/core/social/61-email.html
+++ b/nodes/core/social/61-email.html
@@ -70,9 +70,13 @@
 
 <script type="text/x-red" data-help-name="e-mail">
     <p>Sends the <b>msg.payload</b> as an email, with a subject of <b>msg.topic</b>.</p>
-    <p>The default message recipient can be configured in the node, if it is left blank it should be set in an incoming message on <b>msg.to</b>.</p>
-    <!-- <p>It sends the message to the configured recipient <i>only</i>.</p> -->
-    <!-- <p><b>msg.topic</b> is used to set the subject of the email, and <b>msg.payload</b> is the body text.</p> -->
+    <p>The default message recipient can be configured in the node, if it is left
+    blank it should be set using the <b>msg.to</b> property of the incoming message.</p>
+    <p>The payload can be html format.</p>
+    <p>If the payload is a binary buffer then it will be converted to an attachment.
+    The filename should be set using <b>msg.filename</b>.</p>
+    <p>Alternatively you may provide <b>msg.attachments</b> which should contain an array of one or
+    more attachments in <a href="https://www.npmjs.com/package/nodemailer#attachments" target="_new">nodemailer</a> format.</p>
 </script>
 
 <script type="text/javascript">
diff --git a/nodes/core/social/61-email.js b/nodes/core/social/61-email.js
index 393d588de..aa6900ef1 100644
--- a/nodes/core/social/61-email.js
+++ b/nodes/core/social/61-email.js
@@ -71,16 +71,26 @@ module.exports = function(RED) {
         this.on("input", function(msg) {
             if (smtpTransport) {
                 node.status({fill:"blue",shape:"dot",text:"sending"});
-                var payload = RED.util.ensureString(msg.payload);
                 if (msg.to && node.name && (msg.to !== node.name)) {
                     node.warn("Deprecated: msg properties should not override set node properties. See bit.ly/nr-override-msg-props");
                 }
-                smtpTransport.sendMail({
-                    from: node.userid, // sender address
-                    to: msg.to || node.name, // comma separated list of addressees
-                    subject: msg.topic, // subject line
-                    text: payload // plaintext body
-                }, function(error, info) {
+                var sendopts = { from: node.userid };   // sender address
+                sendopts.to = msg.to || node.name; // comma separated list of addressees
+                sendopts.subject = msg.topic || "Message from Node-RED"; // subject line
+                if (Buffer.isBuffer(msg.payload)) { // if it's a buffer in the payload then auto create an attachment instead
+                    sendopts.attachments = [ { content: msg.payload, filename:(msg.filename || "file.bin") } ];
+                    if (msg.hasOwnProperty("headers") && msg.headers.hasOwnProperty("content-type")) {
+                        sendopts.attachments[0].contentType = msg.headers["content-type"];
+                    }
+                    sendopts.text = "Your file from Node-RED is attached : "+(msg.filename || "file.bin"); // holding body
+                }
+                else {
+                    var payload = RED.util.ensureString(msg.payload);
+                    sendopts.text =  payload; // plaintext body
+                    if (/<[a-z][\s\S]*>/i.test(payload)) { sendopts.html = payload; } // html body
+                    if (msg.attachments) { sendopts.attachments = msg.attachments; } // add attachments
+                }
+                smtpTransport.sendMail(sendopts, function(error, info) {
                     if (error) {
                         node.error(error);
                         node.status({fill:"red",shape:"ring",text:"send failed"});