How can be avoided error SINGLE_EMAIL_LIMIT_EXCEEDED Email limit exceeded if need to send email to one single user?

Question

I have been looking for some time looking for a way how can error SINGLE_EMAIL_LIMIT_EXCEEDED Email limit exceeded be avoided if I need to send one simple email to one single user, for example, myself.

15 Email invocations limit on Developer Edition is a very small number, and it is usually quickly exceeded. Using Workflow Email Alerts may help to send more emails but still it is limited.

Answer 1

Looks like I have found an answer very long time back but didn't write it down. So today I started investigating this again and decided to store the solution found somewhere.

It is interesting that this documentation has a small sentence answering this question. https://help.salesforce.com/apex/HTViewSolution?id=000002490&language=en_US

Emails sent using setTargetObjectId() set against the user object do not count against the SingleEmailMessage limit.

It is very interesting that if I run this code

Messaging.SingleEmailMessage mail = new Messaging.SingleEmailMessage();
mail.setToAddresses( new List<String>{'julfy@i.ua'} );
mail.setSubject( 'test 2' );
mail.setHtmlBody( 'test 2' );
Messaging.sendEmail( new Messaging.SingleEmailMessage[] { mail } );

it fails with error

Line: 14, Column: 1 System.EmailException: SendEmail failed. First exception on row 0; first error: SINGLE_EMAIL_LIMIT_EXCEEDED, Email limit exceeded: []

while if I execute the code

Messaging.SingleEmailMessage mail = new Messaging.SingleEmailMessage();
mail.setTargetObjectId( UserInfo.getUserId() );
mail.setSaveAsActivity( false );
mail.setSubject( 'test 2' );
mail.setHtmlBody( 'test 2' );
Messaging.sendEmail( new Messaging.SingleEmailMessage[] { mail } );

I see no errors.

Looks like someone else also has mentioned this here: https://salesforce.stackexchange.com/a/17143/3716

However, that answer is undervoted and doesn't appear on the top on googling.