Symptoms
Assume that you use Database Mail and sp_send_dbmail stored procedure to send an email in Microsoft SQL Server 2014, 2016 or 2017. When you pass the recipients parameter (for example: First Name, Last Name) that contains comma to the stored procedure, you may notice that the SQL Server fails to send an email. Additionally, you may receive an error message that resembles the following:
Note
Msg 14613, Level 16, State 1, Procedure ProcedureName, Line LineNumber [Batch Start Line 0] The specified '@recipients' cannot use commas (,) to separate addresses: '"UserName, User Title" <Email@Contoso.com>'. To continue, use semicolons (;) to separate addresses.
Resolution
This issue is fixed in the following cumulative updates for SQL Server:
Cumulative Update 13 for SQL Server 2017
Cumulative Update 5 for SQL Server 2016 SP2
Cumulative Update 13 for SQL Server 2016 SP1
Cumulative Update 13 for SQL Server 2014 SP2
About cumulative updates for SQL Server:
Each new cumulative update for SQL Server contains all the hotfixes and all the security fixes that were included with the previous cumulative update. Check out the latest cumulative updates for SQL Server:
Latest cumulative update for SQL Server 2017
Latest cumulative update for SQL Server 2016
Latest cumulative update for SQL Server 2014
Status
Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.
References
Learn about the terminology that Microsoft uses to describe software updates.