Chapter 6. Optional Features

NeoMutt supports several of optional features which can be enabled or disabled at compile-time by giving the configure script certain arguments. These are listed in the “Optional features” section of the configure --help output.

Which features are enabled or disabled can later be determined from the output of neomutt -v. If a compile option starts with “+” it is enabled and disabled if prefixed with “-”. For example, if NeoMutt was compiled using GnuTLS for encrypted communication instead of OpenSSL, neomutt -v would contain:

-openssl +gnutls

NeoMutt optionally supports the IMAP, POP3 and SMTP protocols which require to access servers using URLs. The canonical syntax for specifying URLs in NeoMutt is (an item enclosed in [] means it is optional and may be omitted):

proto[s]://[username[:password]@]server[:port][/path]

proto is the communication protocol: imap for IMAP, pop for POP3 and smtp for SMTP. If “s” for “secure communication” is appended, NeoMutt will attempt to establish an encrypted communication using SSL or TLS.

Since all protocols supported by NeoMutt support/require authentication, login credentials may be specified in the URL. This has the advantage that multiple IMAP, POP3 or SMTP servers may be specified (which isn't possible using, for example, $imap_user). The username may contain the “@” symbol being used by many mail systems as part of the login name. The special characters “/” (%2F), “:” (%3A) and “%” (%25) have to be URL-encoded in usernames using the %-notation.

A password can be given, too but is not recommended if the URL is specified in a configuration file on disk.

If no port number is given, NeoMutt will use the system's default for the given protocol (usually consulting /etc/services).

The optional path is only relevant for IMAP and ignored elsewhere.

pops://host/
imaps://user@host/INBOX/Sent
smtp://user@host:587/

When non-secure URL protocols imap://, pop://, and smtp:// are used, the initial connection to the server will be unencrypted. STARTTLS can be used to negotiate an encrypted connection after the initial unencrypted connection and exchange.

Two configuration variables control NeoMutt's behavior with STARTTLS. $ssl_starttls will initiate STARTTLS if the server advertises support for it. $ssl_force_tls will always try to initiate it, whether the server advertises support or not.

NeoMutt highly recommends setting $ssl_force_tls unless you need to connect to an unencrypted server. It's possible for an attacker to spoof interactions during the initial connection and hide support for STARTTLS. The only way to prevent these attacks is by forcing STARTTLS with the $ssl_force_tls configuration variable.

When connecting through a $tunnel and $tunnel_is_secure is set(the default), NeoMutt will assume the connection to the server through the pipe is already secured. NeoMutt will ignore $ssl_starttls and $ssl_force_tls, behaving as if TLS has already been negotiated.

When $tunnel_is_secure is unset, NeoMutt will respect the values of $ssl_starttls and $ssl_force_tls. It is highly recommended to set $ssl_force_tls in this case, to force STARTTLS negotiation. Note that doing so will prevent connection to an IMAP server configured for preauthentication(PREAUTH). If you use this configuration, it is recommended to use a secure tunnel.

Polling for new mail is more expensive over POP3 than locally. For this reason the frequency at which NeoMutt will check for mail remotely can be controlled by the $pop_check_interval variable, which defaults to every 60 seconds.

Due to limitations in POP3, this method doesn't allow for some features such as editing messages, changing their flags or even deleting them. However, using Section 8.1, “Header Caching” and Section 8.2, “Body Caching”, NeoMutt simulates the new/old/read flags as well as flagged and replied. NeoMutt applies some logic on top of remote messages but cannot change them so that modifications of flags are lost when messages are downloaded from the POP3 server (either by NeoMutt or other tools).

# A sample configuration file for setting up a remote POP3 mailbox

# If an SMTP password has been set, use this to set the same password for POP3.
set pop_pass=$smtp_pass

# Set the POP3 server and user
set pop_host="pops://user@example.com"

# Use the remote server as the mailbox
set folder=$pop_host
set spool_file=+

Another way to access your POP3 mail is the <fetch-mail> function (default: G). It allows to connect to $pop_host, fetch all your new mail and place it in the local $spool_file. After this point, NeoMutt runs exactly as if the mail had always been local. The <fetch-mail> function will ask whether you want to delete the messages on the remote server, leaving only your local copies.

# A sample configuration file for fetching mail from a POP3 server

# The spool file contains the local copies of your messages. If it doesn't
# exist, initialize it as an empty file.
set spool_file="/home/user/.mailspool"

# The POP3 server and user from which to fetch messages
set pop_host="pops://user@example.com"

As of version 1.2, NeoMutt supports browsing mailboxes on an IMAP server. This is mostly the same as the local file browser, with the following differences:

NeoMutt supports four authentication methods with IMAP servers: SASL, GSSAPI, CRAM-MD5, and LOGIN. There is also support for the pseudo-protocol ANONYMOUS, which allows you to log in to a public IMAP server without having an account. To use ANONYMOUS, simply make your username blank or “anonymous”.

SASL is a special super-authenticator, which selects among several protocols (including GSSAPI, CRAM-MD5, ANONYMOUS, and DIGEST-MD5) the most secure method available on your host and the server. Using some of these methods (including DIGEST-MD5 and possibly GSSAPI), your entire session will be encrypted and invisible to those teeming network snoops. It is the best option if you have it. To use it, you must have the Cyrus SASL library installed on your system and compile NeoMutt with the --with-sasl flag.

NeoMutt will try whichever methods are compiled in and available on the server, in the following order: SASL, ANONYMOUS, GSSAPI, CRAM-MD5, LOGIN.

There are a few variables which control authentication:

NeoMutt provides optional support for caching message headers for the following types of folders: IMAP, POP, Maildir and MH. Header caching greatly speeds up opening large folders because for remote folders, headers usually only need to be downloaded once. For Maildir and MH, reading the headers from a single file is much faster than looking at possibly thousands of single files (since Maildir and MH use one file per message.)

Header caching can be enabled by configuring one of the database backends. One of bdb, gdbm, kyotocabinet, lmdb, qdbm, rocksdb, tdb, tokyocabinet.

If enabled, $header_cache can be used to either point to a file or a directory. If set to point to a file, one database file for all folders will be used (which may result in lower performance), but one file per folder if it points to a directory.

Additionally, $header_cache_backend can be set to specify which backend to use. The list of available backends can be specified at configure time with a set of --with-<backend> options. Currently, the following backends are supported: bdb, gdbm, kyotocabinet, lmdb, qdbm, rocksdb, tdb, tokyocabinet.

Take a look at the benchmark script provided in the following repository: contrib-hcache-benchmark. There you can find a way of finding the storage backend for your needs.

Both cache methods can be combined using the same directory for storage (and for IMAP/POP even provide meaningful file names) which simplifies manual maintenance tasks.

In addition to caching message headers only, NeoMutt can also cache whole message bodies. This results in faster display of messages for POP and IMAP folders because messages usually have to be downloaded only once.

For configuration, the variable $message_cache_dir must point to a directory. There, NeoMutt will create a hierarchy of subdirectories named like the account and mailbox path the cache is for.

For using both, header and body caching, $header_cache and $message_cache_dir can be safely set to the same value.

In a header or body cache directory, NeoMutt creates a directory hierarchy named like: proto:user@hostname where proto is either “pop” or “imap.” Within there, for each folder, NeoMutt stores messages in single files and header caches in files with the “.hcache” extension. All files can be removed as needed if the consumed disk space becomes an issue as NeoMutt will silently fetch missing items again. Pathnames are always stored in UTF-8 encoding.

For Maildir and MH, the header cache files are named after the MD5 checksum of the path.

NeoMutt does not (yet) support maintenance features for header cache database files so that files have to be removed in case they grow too big. It depends on the database library used for header caching whether disk space freed by removing messages is re-used.

For body caches, NeoMutt can keep the local cache in sync with the remote mailbox if the $message_cache_clean variable is set. Cleaning means to remove messages from the cache which are no longer present in the mailbox which only happens when other mail clients or instances of NeoMutt using a different body cache location delete messages (NeoMutt itself removes deleted messages from the cache when syncing a mailbox). As cleaning can take a noticeable amount of time, it should not be set in general but only occasionally.

Since: NeoMutt 2022-05-16

Dependencies: None

NeoMutt provides dedicated config variables to specify credentials for network servers. These include imap_user, imap_pass, smtp_user, smtp_pass, etc. There are a few downsides to this approach. For one thing, their use encourages storing usernames and passwords in plain text inside a NeoMutt config file. People have come up with solutions to this, including using gpg-encrypted files and populating my_ variables via external scripts through source "/path/to/script|". However, once the variables are set, the secrets can be inspected with the set command. Also, because these config variables are not account-specific, they have been the cause of a proliferation of ways to mimic per-account setups using a combination of convoluted hooks and macros to modify them on folder change or on a keypress.

The goal of this feature is to get rid of most _user and _pass variables. To do so, we provide a way of specifying an external command that NeoMutt will call to populate account credentials for network servers such as IMAP, POP, or SMTP. The external command is called with a number of arguments indicating the known properties of the account such as the account type and hostname; the external command provides NeoMutt with a list of additional properties such as username and password.

The variable account_command configures an external program to be used to gather account credentials.

set account_command = "/path/to/my/script.sh"

The program specified will be called by NeoMutt with a number of key-value command line arguments.

The program specified will have to respond by printing to stdout a number of key: value lines. NeoMutt currently recognizes the following keys.

Because password can contain any characters, including spaces, we expect lines to match the regex ^([[:alpha:]]+): (.*)$ exactly.

None

Pietro Cerutti

Since: NeoMutt 2016-09-10

Dependencies: None

This feature allows specifying regexes to color attachment headers just like the mail body would. The headers are the parts colored by the attachment color. Coloring them is useful to highlight the results of GPGME's signature checks or simply the mimetype or size of the attachment. Only the part matched by the regex is colored.

The attach_headers color should be used just like the body color.

color attach_headers foreground background pattern

# Example NeoMutt config file for the attach-headers-color feature.

# Color if the attachment is autoviewed
color   attach_headers     brightgreen     default    "Autoview"
# Color only the brackets around the headers
color   attach_headers     brightyellow    default    "^\\[--"
color   attach_headers     brightyellow    default    "--]$"
# Color the mime type and the size
color   attach_headers     green           default    "Type: [a-z]+/[a-z0-9\-]+"
color   attach_headers     green           default    "Size: [0-9\.]+[KM]"
# Color GPGME signature checks
color   attach_headers     brightgreen     default    "Good signature from.*"
color   attach_headers     brightred       default    "Bad signature from.*"
color   attach_headers     brightred       default    "BAD signature from.*"
color   attach_headers     brightred       default    "Note: This key has expired!"
color   attach_headers     brightmagenta   default    "Problem signature from.*"
color   attach_headers     brightmagenta   default    "WARNING: This key is not certified with a trusted signature!"
color   attach_headers     brightmagenta   default    "         There is no indication that the signature belongs to the owner."
color   attach_headers     brightmagenta   default    "can't handle these multiple signatures"
color   attach_headers     brightmagenta   default    "signature verification suppressed"
color   attach_headers     brightmagenta   default    "invalid node with packet of type"

# vim: syntax=neomuttrc

None

Guillaume Brogi

Since: NeoMutt 2024-01-21

Dependencies: Gpgme

This feature allows enabling message security in modes that don't enable it by default. Those include batch mode, sending a postponed message, and resending a message.

This allows using NeoMutt as a driver for git-send-email(1), to send patches in signed and/or encrypted mail.

To send an email from a file, enabling cryptographic operations as when sending interactively, simply use the -C flag.

$ neomutt -C -H - < /mail/to/be/sent

# Example NeoMutt config file for the cli-crypto feature.

set pgp_default_key = "1111111111111111111111111111111111111111"
# Sign all mail
set crypt_autosign = yes
# Encrypt mail if all recipients have valid public keys
set crypt_opportunistic_encrypt = yes
# Self encrypt mail
set crypt_self_encrypt = yes

# vim: syntax=neomuttrc

# Example .gitconfig config file for the cli-crypto feature.

[sendemail]
sendmailcmd = neomutt -C -H - && true

Alejandro Colomar, Richard Russon, Jenya Sovetkin

Since: NeoMutt 2016-10-02

Dependencies: None

The compose-to-sender feature adds a new command to start composing a new email to the sender of the current message. This is not a reply, but a new, separate, message.

It works on tagged messages too, sending one email to all of the senders of the tagged messages.

compose-to-sender adds the following function to NeoMutt. By default, it is not bound to a key.

# Example NeoMutt config file for the compose-to-sender feature.

# --------------------------------------------------------------------------
# FUNCTIONS – shown with an example mapping
# --------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Compose a new email (not a reply) to the sender
bind index,pager @ compose-to-sender

# vim: syntax=neomuttrc

None

Brian Medley, Guillaume Brogi

Since: NeoMutt 2016-05-30

Dependencies: None

The Compressed Folder feature allows NeoMutt to read mailbox files that are compressed. But it isn't limited to compressed files. It works well with encrypted files, too. In fact, if you can create a program/script to convert to and from your format, then NeoMutt can read it.

The feature adds three hooks to NeoMutt: open-hook, close-hook and append-hook. They define commands to: uncompress a file; compress a file; append messages to an already compressed file.

There are some examples of both compressed and encrypted files, later. For now, the documentation will just concentrate on compressed files.

The shell-command must contain two placeholders for filenames: %f and %t. These represent “from” and “to” filenames. These placeholders should be placed inside single-quotes to prevent unintended shell expansions.

If you need the exact string “%f” or “%t” in your command, simply double up the “%” character, e.g. “%%f” or “%%t”.

open-hook regex "shell-command"

open-hook '\.gz$' "gzip --stdout --decompress '%f' > '%t'"

close-hook regex "shell-command"

close-hook '\.gz$' "gzip --stdout '%t' > '%f'"

append-hook regex "shell-command"

append-hook '\.gz$' "gzip --stdout '%t' >> '%f'"

# Example NeoMutt config file for the compress feature.

# This feature adds three hooks to NeoMutt which allow it to
# work with compressed, or encrypted, mailboxes.

# The hooks are of the form:
#       open-hook   regex "shell-command"
#       close-hook  regex "shell-command"
#       append-hook regex "shell-command"
# The 'append-hook' is optional.

# Handler for gzip compressed mailboxes
open-hook   '\.gz$' "gzip --stdout --decompress '%f' >  '%t'"
close-hook  '\.gz$' "gzip --stdout              '%t' >  '%f'"
append-hook '\.gz$' "gzip --stdout              '%t' >> '%f'"
# Handler for bzip2 compressed mailboxes
open-hook   '\.bz2$' "bzip2 --stdout --decompress '%f' >  '%t'"
close-hook  '\.bz2$' "bzip2 --stdout              '%t' >  '%f'"
append-hook '\.bz2$' "bzip2 --stdout              '%t' >> '%f'"
# Handler for xz compressed mailboxes
open-hook   '\.xz$' "xz --stdout --decompress '%f' >  '%t'"
close-hook  '\.xz$' "xz --stdout              '%t' >  '%f'"
append-hook '\.xz$' "xz --stdout              '%t' >> '%f'"
# Handler for pgp encrypted mailboxes
# PGP does not support appending to an encrypted file
open-hook   '\.pgp$' "pgp -f < '%f' > '%t'"
close-hook  '\.pgp$' "pgp -fe YourPgpUserIdOrKeyId < '%t' > '%f'"
# Handler for gpg encrypted mailboxes
# gpg does not support appending to an encrypted file
open-hook   '\.gpg$' "gpg --decrypt < '%f' > '%t'"
close-hook  '\.gpg$' "gpg --encrypt --recipient YourGpgUserIdOrKeyId < '%t' > '%f'"

# vim: syntax=neomuttrc

Roland Rosenfeld, Alain Penders, Christoph “Myon” Berg, Evgeni Golov, Richard Russon

Since: NeoMutt 2016-03-07

The “Conditional Dates” feature allows you to construct $index_format expressions based on the age of the email.

NeoMutt's default $index_format displays email dates in the form: abbreviated-month day-of-month – “Jan 14”.

The format is configurable but only per-mailbox. This feature allows you to configure the display depending on the age of the email.

For an explanation of the date formatting strings, see strftime(3).

By carefully picking your formats, the dates can remain unambiguous and compact.

NeoMutt's conditional format strings have the form: (whitespace introduced for clarity)

%< TEST ? TRUE & FALSE >

The examples below use the test “%[” – the date of the message in the local timezone. They will also work with “%(” – the local time that the message arrived.

The date tests are of the form:

%<[nX? TRUE & FALSE >

%<[1m?%[%b %d]&%[%Y-%m-%d]>

%<[1m?        &           >

      %[%b %d] %[%Y-%m-%d]

%<[y?%<[m?%<[d?%[%H:%M ]&%[%a %d]>&%[%b %d]>&%[%m/%y ]>

%<[y?                                       &%[%m/%y ]>  Older
     %<[m?                        &%[%b %d]>             This year
          %<[d?         &%[%a %d]>                       This month
               %[%H:%M ]                                 Today

%<[y? %<[m? %<[d? AAA & BBB > & CCC > & DDD >

The “Conditional Dates” feature doesn't have any config of its own. It modifies the behavior of the format strings.

# Example NeoMutt config file for the cond-date feature.

#
# The default index_format is:
#       '%4C %Z %{%b %d} %-15.15L (%<l?%4l&%4c>) %s'
#
# We replace the date field '%{%b %d}', giving:
set index_format='%4C %Z %<[y?%<[m?%<[d?%[%H:%M ]&%[%a %d]>&%[%b %d]>&%[%m/%y ]> %-15.15L (%<l?%4l&%4c>) %s'
# Test  Date Range  Format String  Example
# --------------------------------------------
# %[d   Today       %[%H:%M ]      12:34
# %[m   This month  %[%a %d]       Thu 12
# %[y   This year   %[%b %d]       Dec 10
#  —    Older       %[%m/%y ]      06/15

# vim: syntax=neomuttrc

Date parsing doesn't quite do what you expect. “1w” doesn't mean the “in the last 7 days”, but “this week”. This doesn't match the normal NeoMutt behavior: for example ~d>1w means emails dated in the last 7 days.

Aaron Schrab, Eric Davis, Richard Russon

Since: NeoMutt 2016-07-23

Dependencies: None

Once you encrypt an email to someone you cannot read it. This is good for security, but bad for record-keeping. If you wanted to keep a copy of an encrypted email you could set $fcc_clear.

A better option is to enable $smime_self_encrypt, then set $smime_default_key to your personal S/MIME key id.

set smime_self_encrypt = yes
set smime_default_key  = bb345e23.0

Or, if you use PGP, $pgp_self_encrypt, then set $pgp_default_key to your personal PGP key id.

set pgp_self_encrypt = yes
set pgp_default_key  = A4AF18C5582473BD35A1E9CE78BB3D480042198E

If you have different key for signing, then you can set $pgp_sign_as or $smime_sign_as respectively.

# Example NeoMutt config file for the encrypt-to-self feature.

# --------------------------------------------------------------------------
# VARIABLES – shown with their default values
# --------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Save a copy of outgoing email, encrypted to yourself
set pgp_self_encrypt = "yes"
set pgp_default_key = "PGP-KEY"
# set pgp_sign_as = "PGP-SIGNING-KEY"

# Save a copy of outgoing email, encrypted to yourself
set smime_self_encrypt = "yes"
set smime_default_key = "SMIME-KEY"
# set smime_sign_as = "SMIME-SIGNING-KEY"

# vim: syntax=neomuttrc

None

Omen Wild, Richard Russon, Guillaume Brogi

Since: NeoMutt 2024-04-10

Dependencies: Gpgme

This feature shows a block of information that provides information about an encrypted message; mainly about its recipients. Here is an example of such a block:

[-- Begin encryption information --]
Recipient: RSA key, ID 00C14A7DBBDD521C
Recipient: RSA key, ID 0000000000000000
[-- End encryption information --]

It's enabled by default. The variable to control it is crypt_encryption_info.

Alejandro Colomar, Richard Russon, наб

Since: NeoMutt 2016-03-07

This feature can be enabled by running configure with the option --fmemopen

The “fmemopen” feature speeds up some searches.

This feature changes a few places where NeoMutt creates temporary files. It replaces them with in-memory buffers. This should improve the performance when searching the header or body using the $thorough_search option.

There are no user-configurable parts.

This feature depends on open_memstream() and fmemopen(). They are provided by glibc. Without them, NeoMutt will simply create temporary files.

debian bug 834408

Julius Plenz, Richard Russon

Since: NeoMutt 2016-09-10

Dependencies: None

The “forgotten-attachment” feature provides a new setting for NeoMutt that alerts the user if the message body contains a certain keyword but there are no attachments added. This is meant to ensure that the user does not forget to attach a file after promising to do so in the mail. The attachment keyword will not be scanned in text matched by $quote_regex.

# Example NeoMutt config file for the forgotten-attachment feature.

# The 'forgotten-attachment' feature provides a new setting for NeoMutt that
# alerts the user if the message body contains a certain regular expression but there are
# no attachments added. This is meant to ensure that the user does not forget
# to attach a file after promising to do so in the mail.

# Ask if the user wishes to abort sending if $abort_noattach_regex is found in the
# body, but no attachments have been added
# It can be set to:
#    "yes"     : always abort
#    "ask-yes" : ask whether to abort
#    "no"      : send the mail
set abort_noattach = no
# Search for the following regular expression in the body of the email
# English: attach, attached, attachment, attachments
set abort_noattach_regex = "\\<attach(|ed|ments?)\\>"
# Nederlands:
# set abort_noattach_regex = "\\<(bijvoegen|bijgevoegd|bijlage|bijlagen)\\>"
# Deutsch:
# set abort_noattach_regex = "\\<(anhängen|angehängt|anhang|anhänge|hängt an)\\>"
# Français:
# set abort_noattach_regex = "\\<(attaché|attachés|attache|attachons|joint|jointe|joints|jointes|joins|joignons)\\>"

# vim: syntax=neomuttrc

None

Darshit Shah, Richard Russon, Johannes Weißl, Steven Ragnarök

These hooks are called when global events take place in NeoMutt.

The commands are NeoMutt commands. If you want to run an external shell command, you need to run them like this:

startup-hook 'echo `action.sh ARGS`'

The single quotes prevent the backticks from being expanded. The echo command prevents an empty command error.

# Example NeoMutt config file for the global hooks feature.

# --------------------------------------------------------------------------
# COMMANDS – shown with an example argument
# --------------------------------------------------------------------------
# After $timeout seconds of inactivity, run this NeoMutt command
timeout-hook 'exec sync-mailbox'
# When NeoMutt first loads, run this NeoMutt command
startup-hook 'exec sync-mailbox'
# When NeoMutt quits, run this NeoMutt command
shutdown-hook 'exec sync-mailbox'

# vim: syntax=neomuttrc

None

Armin Wolfermann, Richard Russon, Thomas Adam

Since: NeoMutt 2020-02-22

Dependencies: header cache

The Header Cache Compression Feature can be used for speeding up the loading of large mailboxes. Also the space used on disk can be shrunk by about 50% - depending on the compression method being used.

The implementation sits on top of the header caching functions. So the header cache compression can be used together with all available database backends.

The header_cache_compress_method can be (empty) - which means, that no header cache compression should be used. But when set to lz4, zlib or zstd - then the compression is turned on.

The header_cache_compress_level defines the compression level, which should be used together with the selected header_cache_compress_method. Here is an overview of the possible settings:

# Example NeoMutt config file for the header cache compression feature.

# --------------------------------------------------------------------------
# VARIABLES – shown with their default values
# --------------------------------------------------------------------------
set header_cache_compress_level = 1
set header_cache_compress_method = ""

# vim: syntax=neomuttrc

None

Tino Reichardt

Since: NeoMutt 2016-03-07

Dependencies: None

The “ifdef” feature introduces three new commands to NeoMutt and allows you to share one config file between versions of NeoMutt that may have different features compiled in.

ifdef  symbol "config-command [args...]"  # If a symbol is defined
ifndef symbol "config-command [args...]"  # If a symbol is not defined
finish                                    # Finish reading the current file

A list of compile-time symbols can be seen in the output of the command

neomutt -v

(in the “Compile options” section).

finish is particularly useful when combined with ifndef. e.g.

# Sidebar config file
ifndef sidebar finish

# Example NeoMutt config file for the ifdef feature.

# This feature introduces three useful commands which allow you to share
# one config file between versions of NeoMutt that may have different
# features compiled in.

#   ifdef  symbol "config-command [args...]"
#   ifndef symbol "config-command [args...]"
#   finish
# The 'ifdef' command tests whether NeoMutt understands the name of
# a variable, environment variable, function, command or compile-time symbol.

# If it does, then it executes a config command.

# The 'ifndef' command tests whether a symbol does NOT exist.

# The 'finish' command tells NeoMutt to stop reading current config file.

# If the 'trash' variable exists, set it.
ifdef trash 'set trash=~/Mail/trash'
# If the 'PS1' environment variable exists, source config file.
ifdef PS1 'source .neomutt/interactive.rc'
# If the 'tag-pattern' function exists, bind a key to it.
ifdef tag-pattern 'bind index <F6> tag-pattern'
# If the 'imap-fetch-mail' command exists, read my IMAP config.
ifdef imap-fetch-mail 'source ~/.neomutt/imap.rc'
# If the compile-time symbol 'sidebar' does not exist, then
# stop reading the current config file.
ifndef sidebar finish

# vim: syntax=neomuttrc

None

Cedric Duval, Matteo F. Vescovi, Richard Russon

Since: NeoMutt 2016-03-07

The “index-color” feature allows you to specify colors for individual parts of the email index. e.g. Subject, Author, Flags.

First choose which part of the index you'd like to color. Then, if needed, pick a pattern to match.

Note: The pattern does not have to refer to the object you wish to color. e.g.

color index_author red default "~sneomutt"

The author appears red when the subject (~s) contains “neomutt”.

All the colors default to default, i.e. unset.

The index objects can be themed using the color command and an optional pattern. A missing pattern is equivalent to a match-all .* pattern.

color index-object foreground background [pattern]

# Example NeoMutt config file for the index-color feature.

# Entire index line
color index white black '.*'
# Author name, %A %a %F %L %n
# Give the author column a dark grey background
color index_author default color234 '.*'
# Highlight a particular from (~f)
color index_author brightyellow color234 '~fRay Charles'
# Message flags, %S %Z
# Highlight the flags for flagged (~F) emails
color index_flags default red '~F'
# Subject, %s
# Look for a particular subject (~s)
color index_subject brightcyan default '~s\(closes #[0-9]+\)'
# Number of messages in a collapsed thread, %M
color index_collapsed default brightblue
# Date field
color index_date green default
# Message label, %y %Y
color index_label default brightgreen
# Message number, %C
color index_number red default
# Message size, %c %cr %l
color index_size cyan default

# vim: syntax=neomuttrc

None

Christian Aichinger, Christoph “Myon” Berg, Elimar Riesebieter, Eric Davis, Vladimir Marek, Richard Russon

Since: NeoMutt 2016-03-07

Dependencies: None

The “initials” feature adds an expando (%I) for an author's initials.

The index panel displays a list of emails. Its layout is controlled by the $index_format variable. Using this expando saves space in the index panel. This can be useful if you are regularly working with a small set of people.

This feature has no config of its own. It adds an expando which can be used in the $index_format variable.

# Example NeoMutt config file for the initials feature.

# The 'initials' feature has no config of its own.

# It adds an expando for an author's initials,
# which can be used in the 'index_format' variable.

# The default 'index_format' is:
set index_format='%4C %Z %{%b %d} %-15.15L (%<l?%4l&%4c>) %s'
# Where %L represents the author/recipient
# This might look like:
#       1   + Nov 17 David Bowie   Changesbowie    ( 689)
#       2   ! Nov 17 Stevie Nicks  Rumours         ( 555)
#       3   + Nov 16 Jimi Hendrix  Voodoo Child    ( 263)
#       4   + Nov 16 Debbie Harry  Parallel Lines  ( 540)
# Using the %I expando:
set index_format='%4C %Z %{%b %d} %I (%<l?%4l&%4c>) %s'
# This might look like:
#       1   + Nov 17 DB Changesbowie    ( 689)
#       2   ! Nov 17 SN Rumours         ( 555)
#       3   + Nov 16 JH Voodoo Child    ( 263)
#       4   + Nov 16 DH Parallel Lines  ( 540)

# vim: syntax=neomuttrc

None

Vsevolod Volkov, Richard Russon

Since: NeoMutt 2016-10-02

To check if NeoMutt supports Kyoto Cabinet, look for

This feature adds support for using Kyoto Cabinet, the successor to Tokyo Cabinet, as a storage backend for NeoMutt's header cache (hcache). It is enabled at configure time with the --with-kyotocabinet=<path> switch.

None

Clemens Lang

Since: NeoMutt 2016-03-28

Dependencies: None

This feature adds a new way of using the Limit Command. The <limit-current-thread> function restricts the view to just the current thread. Setting the limit (the l key) to “all” will restore the full email list.

Limit-current-thread adds the following function to NeoMutt. By default, it is not bound to a key.

# Example NeoMutt config file for the limit-current-thread feature.

# Limit view to current thread
bind index <esc>L limit-current-thread

# vim: syntax=neomuttrc

None

David Sterba, Richard Russon

Since: NeoMutt 2016-07-23

Dependencies: None

This feature adds support for using LMDB as a storage backend for NeoMutt's header cache (hcache). It is enabled at configure time with the --with-lmdb=<path> switch.

None

Pietro Cerutti, Jan-Piet Mens, Clemens Lang

Since: NeoMutt 2016-08-08

Dependencies: None

This feature allows the user to save outgoing emails in multiple folders.

Folders should be listed separated by commas, but no spaces.

The “fcc” field of an email can be set in two ways:

None

Omen Wild, Richard Russon

Since: NeoMutt 2016-03-07

Dependencies: None

NeoMutt's format strings can contain embedded if-then-else conditions. They are of the form:

%?VAR?TRUE&FALSE?

If the variable “VAR” has a value greater than zero, print the “TRUE” string, otherwise print the “FALSE” string.

e.g. %?S?Size: %S&Empty?

Which can be read as:

These conditions are useful, but in NeoMutt they cannot be nested within one another. This feature uses the notation %<VAR?TRUE&FALSE> and allows them to be nested.

The %<...> notation was used to format the current local time. but that's not really very useful since NeoMutt has no means of refreshing the screen periodically.

A simple nested condition might be: (Some whitespace has been introduced for clarity)

%<x? %<y? XY & X > & %<y? Y & NONE > >  Conditions
     %<y? XY & X >                      x>0
          XY                            x>0,y>0
               X                        x>0,y=0

%<x? %<y? XY & X > & %<y? Y & NONE > >  Conditions
                     %<y? Y & NONE >    x=0
                          Y             x=0,y>0
                              NONE      x=0,y=0

Equivalent to:

Examples:

set index_format='%4C %Z %{%b %d} %-25.25n %s%> %<M?%M Msgs &%<l?%l Lines&%c Bytes>>'

set index_format='%4C %Z %{%b %d} %-25.25n %<M?[%M] %s&%s%* %<l?%l&%c>>'

set index_format='%<M?\<%M\>&%s>'

The “nested-if” feature doesn't have any config of its own. It modifies the behavior of the format strings.

# Example NeoMutt config file for the nested-if feature.

# This feature uses the format: '%<VAR?TRUE&FALSE>' for conditional
# format strings that can be nested.

# Example 1
# if a thread is folded
#       display the number of messages (%M)
# else if we know how many lines in the message
#       display lines in message (%l)
# else display the size of the message in bytes (%c)
set index_format='%4C %Z %{%b %d} %-25.25n %s%> %<M?%M Msgs &%<l?%l Lines&%c Bytes>>'

# Example 2
# if a thread is folded
#       display the number of messages (%M)
#       display the subject (%s)
# else if we know how many lines in the message
#       display lines in message (%l)
# else
#       display the size of the message in bytes (%c)
set index_format='%4C %Z %{%b %d} %-25.25n %<M?[%M] %s&%s%* %<l?%l&%c>>'

# vim: syntax=neomuttrc

This feature is hard to understand

David Champion, Richard Russon, Aleksa Sarai

Since: NeoMutt 2016-07-23

Dependencies: None

This feature enables the new_mail_command setting, which can be used to execute a custom script (e.g. a notification handler) upon receiving a new mail.

The command string can contain expandos, such as %n for the number of new messages. For a complete list, see: $status_format.

For example in Linux you can use (most distributions already provide notify-send):

set new_mail_command="notify-send --icon='/home/santiago/Pictures/neomutt.png' \
  'New Email' '%n new messages, %u unread.' &"

And in OS X you will need to install a command line interface for Notification Center, for example terminal-notifier:

set new_mail_command="terminal-notifier -title '%v' -subtitle 'New Mail' \
  -message '%n new messages, %u unread.' -activate 'com.apple.Terminal'"

# Example NeoMutt config file for the new-mail feature.

# --------------------------------------------------------------------------
# VARIABLES – shown with their default values
# --------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Set the command you want NeoMutt to execute upon the receipt of a new email
set new_mail_command = ""
# Linux example:
# set new_mail_command="notify-send --icon='/home/santiago/Pictures/neomutt.png' \
#   'New Email in %f' '%n new messages, %u unread.' &"
# OS X example:
# set new_mail_command="terminal-notifier -title '%v' -subtitle 'New Mail in %f' \
#   -message '%n new messages, %u unread.' -activate 'com.apple.Terminal'"
# --------------------------------------------------------------------------

# vim: syntax=neomuttrc

None

Yoshiki Vazquez-Baeza, Santiago Torres-Arias, Richard Russon

Since: NeoMutt 2016-05-30

Dependencies: None

Reading news via NNTP

NeoMutt can read from a news server using NNTP.

The default news server can be obtained from the $NNTPSERVER environment variable or from the /etc/nntpserver file. Like in other news readers, information about the subscribed newsgroups is saved in the file specified by the $newsrc variable. You can open a newsgroup with the function <change-newsgroup>

When browsing the list of newsgroups on the server the function <subscribe> can be used to tell NeoMutt the groups of interest to you. This list is stored in the $newsrc file, so NeoMutt remembers it across invocations (see also $save_unsubscribed). With the <unsubscribe> function a group can be deleted from that list. You can also specify the list of interesting groups with the mailboxes command in your config file.

When checking for new messages, NeoMutt only polls the subscribed newsgroups.

The variable $news_cache_dir can be used to point to a directory. NeoMutt will create a hierarchy of subdirectories named like the account and newsgroup the cache is for. The hierarchy is also used to store header cache if NeoMutt was compiled with header cache support.

NNTP adds the following functions to NeoMutt. By default, none of them are bound to keys.

# Example NeoMutt config file for the nntp feature.

# --------------------------------------------------------------------------
# VARIABLES – shown with their default values
# --------------------------------------------------------------------------
set ask_followup_to = no
set ask_x_comment_to = no
set catchup_newsgroup = ask-yes
set followup_to_poster = ask-yes
set group_index_format = '%4C %M%N %5s  %-45.45f %d'
set inews = ''
set newsgroups_charset = utf-8
set newsrc = '~/.newsrc'
set news_cache_dir = '~/.neomutt'
set news_server = ''
set nntp_authenticators = ''
set nntp_context = 1000
set nntp_listgroup = yes
set nntp_load_description = yes
set nntp_pass = ''
set nntp_poll = 60
set nntp_user = ''
set post_moderated = ask-yes
set save_unsubscribed = no
set show_new_news = yes
set show_only_unread = no
set x_comment_to = no
# --------------------------------------------------------------------------
# FUNCTIONS – shown with an example mapping
# --------------------------------------------------------------------------
# mark all articles in newsgroup as read
bind browser,index y catchup
# open a different newsgroup
bind index,pager i change-newsgroup
# edit the Followup-To field
bind compose o edit-followup-to
# edit the newsgroups list
bind compose N edit-newsgroups
# edit the X-Comment-To field
bind compose x edit-x-comment-to
# followup to newsgroup
bind attach,index,pager F followup-message
# post message to newsgroup
bind index,pager P post-message
# load list of all newsgroups from NNTP server
bind browser g reload-active
# subscribe to current mbox (IMAP/NNTP only)
bind browser s subscribe
# subscribe to newsgroups matching a pattern
bind browser S subscribe-pattern
# mark all articles in newsgroup as unread
bind browser Y uncatchup
# unsubscribe from current mbox (IMAP/NNTP only)
bind browser u unsubscribe
# unsubscribe from newsgroups matching a pattern
bind browser U unsubscribe-pattern
# open a different newsgroup in read only mode
bind index,pager \ei change-newsgroup-readonly
# forward to newsgroup
bind attach,index,pager \eF forward-to-group
# get all children of the current message
# bind index ??? get-children
# get parent of the current message
bind index \eG get-parent
# reconstruct thread containing current message
# bind index ??? reconstruct-thread
# get message with Message-Id
bind index \CG get-message
# --------------------------------------------------------------------------

# vim: syntax=neomuttrc

None

Vsevolod Volkov, Felix von Leitner, Richard Russon

Since: NeoMutt 2017-10-16

Dependencies:

Some backends allow to index and tag mail without storing the tags within the mail envelope. Two backends are currently implementing this feature. Notmuch handles them natively and IMAP stores them in custom IMAP keywords.

Notmuch adds the following functions to NeoMutt. By default, none of them are bound to keys.

Adds the objects, below, to index-color feature. The objects can take an optional pattern.

# Example NeoMutt config file for the custom tags feature.

# VARIABLES – shown with their default values
# --------------------------------------------------------------------------
# This variable specifies private notmuch tags which should not be printed
# on screen (index, pager).
set hidden_tags = "unread,draft,flagged,passed,replied,attachment,signed,encrypted"
# --------------------------------------------------------------------------
# FUNCTIONS – shown with an example mapping
# --------------------------------------------------------------------------
# modify (notmuch/imap) tags
bind index,pager \` modify-labels
# modify (notmuch/imap) tag non-interactively.
macro index,pager tt "<modify-labels>!todo\n" "Toggle the 'todo' tag"
# modify labels and then hide message
# bind index,pager ??? modify-labels-then-hide
# --------------------------------------------------------------------------
# COMMANDS – shown with an example
# --------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Replace some tags with icons
# tag-transforms tag transformed-string { tag transformed-string ...}
# tag-transforms "inbox"   "i"   \
#                "unread"  "u"   \
#                "replied" "↻ "  \
#                "sent"    "➥ "  \
#                "todo"    "T"   \
#                "deleted" "DEL" \
#                "invites" "CAL"

# The formats must start with 'G' and the entire sequence is case sensitive.
# tag-formats tag format-string { tag format-string ...}
# tag-formats "inbox"   "GI" \
#             "unread"  "GU" \
#             "replied" "GR" \
#             "sent"    "GS" \
#             "todo"    "Gt" \
#             "deleted" "GD" \
#             "invites" "Gi"

# Now instead of using '%g' or '%J' in your $index_format, which lists all tags
# in a non-deterministic order, you can something like the following which puts
# a transformed tag name in a specific spot on the index line:
# set index_format='%4C %S %[%y.%m.%d] %-18.18n %<GU?%GU& > %<GR?%GR& > %<GI?%GI& > %s'

# The %G formatting sequence may display all tags including tags hidden by
# hidden_tags.
#
# --------------------------------------------------------------------------
# COLORS – some unpleasant examples are given
# --------------------------------------------------------------------------
# These symbols are added to the index-color feature:
# an individual message tag, %G, uses tag name
color index_tag red white "inbox"
# the transformed message tags, %g
color index_tags green default
# --------------------------------------------------------------------------

# vim: syntax=neomuttrc

Mehdi Abaakouk, Richard Russon, Bernard 'Guyzmo' Pratz

Since: NeoMutt 2016-03-17

Dependencies:

Notmuch is an email fulltext indexing and tagging engine.

More variables about tags configuration can be found in Custom backend Tags Feature

Notmuch adds the following functions to NeoMutt. By default, none of them are bound to keys.

More functions about tags can be found in Custom backend Tags Feature

virtual-mailboxes is like the mailboxes command, except that it takes a description. The mailbox will be watched for new mail and will appear in the sidebar.

unvirtual-mailboxes is identical to the unmailboxes command.

More commands about tags can be found in Custom backend Tags Feature

See Custom backend Tags colors

# Example NeoMutt config file for the notmuch feature.

# --------------------------------------------------------------------------
# VARIABLES – shown with their default values
# --------------------------------------------------------------------------
# This variable specifies notmuch query limit.
set nm_db_limit = 0
# This variable specifies the default Notmuch database in format:
# notmuch://<absolute path>
set nm_default_url = ""
# The messages tagged with these tags are excluded and not loaded
# from notmuch DB to NeoMutt unless specified explicitly.
set nm_exclude_tags = ""
# This option specifies timeout for Notmuch database. Default is 5 seconds.
set nm_open_timeout = 5
# This variable specifies notmuch query type, supported types: 'threads' and
# 'messages'.
set nm_query_type = messages
# When writing a message in the NeoMutt record (see $record in the NeoMutt docs),
# also add it to the notmuch DB. Replies inherit the tags from the original email.
set nm_record = no
# Tags modifications to the messages stored in the NeoMutt record.
# example:
#   set record = "~/sent-mails"
#   set nm_record = yes
#   set nm_record_tags = "-inbox,archive,me"
set nm_record_tags = ""
# This variable specifies the notmuch tag used for unread messages.
set nm_unread_tag = unread
# When set, NeoMutt will use the first virtual mailbox (see virtual-mailboxes)
# as a spool_file.
set virtual_spool_file = no
# setup time window preferences
# first setup the duration, and then the time unit of that duration
# when set to 0 (the default) the search window feature is disabled
# unless explicitly enabled with nm_query_window_enable.
set nm_query_window_enable=yes
set nm_query_window_duration=2
set nm_query_window_timebase="week" # or "hour", "day", "week", "month", "year"
# Extend query window to always show mail matching these terms.
set nm_query_window_or_terms="tag:unread and tag:flagged"
# --------------------------------------------------------------------------
# FUNCTIONS – shown with an example mapping
# --------------------------------------------------------------------------
# open a different virtual folder
bind index,pager X change-vfolder
# read entire thread of the current message
bind index,pager + entire-thread
# generate virtual folder from query
bind index,pager \eX vfolder-from-query
# generate virtual folder from query with time window
bind index < vfolder-window-backward
bind index > vfolder-window-forward
# toggle between mailboxes and virtual mailboxes
# bind index,pager ??? sidebar-toggle-virtual
# --------------------------------------------------------------------------
# COMMANDS – shown with an example
# --------------------------------------------------------------------------
# virtual-mailboxes description notmuch-URL { description notmuch-URL ...}
# virtual-mailboxes "Climbing" "notmuch://?query=climbing"
# unvirtual-mailboxes { * | mailbox ...}
#
# --------------------------------------------------------------------------

# vim: syntax=neomuttrc

None

Karel Zak, Chris Mason, Christoph Rissner, David Riebenbauer, David Sterba, David Wilson, Don Zickus, Eric Davis, Jan Synacek, Jeremiah C. Foster, Josh Poimboeuf, Kirill A. Shutemov, Luke Macken, Mantas Mikulėnas, Patrick Brisbin, Philippe Le Brouster, Raghavendra D Prabhu, Sami Farin, Stefan Assmann, Stefan Kuhn, Tim Stoakes, Vladimir Marek, Víctor Manuel Jáquez Leal, Richard Russon, Bernard 'Guyzmo' Pratz

Since: NeoMutt 2021-06-16

Dependencies: None

The “Pager Read Delay” feature adds a new config variable to allow the pager to operate in a preview mode. A new message is not marked as read merely because the pager opened it, but only after the pager remains on the message for a given length of time.

The “Pager Read Delay” feature adds no new functions to NeoMutt. Existing pager functions for navigating to a different message now check whether to mark a message as read.

The “Pager Read Delay” feature adds one new config variable, $pager_read_delay, which is an integer for how many seconds the pager must remain on a given message before marking it as read. The variable defaults to 0 for the original behavior of marking a message as read the moment the pager visits it.

# Example NeoMutt config file for the pager-read-delay feature.

# Stay at least 5 seconds on a message before the pager marks it as read
set pager_read_delay = 5

# vim: syntax=neomuttrc

When $pager_index_lines is non-zero, the “N” status indicator from the “%Z” expando of $index_format does not actively reflect the current new/read status of the message.

Eric Blake

Since: NeoMutt 2016-03-07

Dependencies: None

The “progress” feature shows a visual progress bar on slow tasks, such as indexing a large folder over the net.

# Example NeoMutt config file for the progress feature.

# The 'progress' feature provides clear visual feedback for
# slow tasks, such as indexing a large folder over the net.

# Set the color of the progress bar
# White text on a red background
color progress white red

# vim: syntax=neomuttrc

None

Rocco Rutte, Vincent Lefevre, Stefan Kuhn, Karel Zak, Richard Russon

Since: NeoMutt 2016-03-07

Dependencies: None

The “quasi-delete” function marks an email that should be hidden from the index, but NOT deleted. The email will disappear from the index when <sync-mailbox> is called.

On its own, this feature isn't very useful. It forms a useful part of the notmuch plugin.

# Example NeoMutt config file for the quasi-delete feature.

# The 'quasi-delete' function marks an email that should be hidden
# from the index, but NOT deleted.
bind index,pager Q quasi-delete

# vim: syntax=neomuttrc

None

Karel Zak, Richard Russon

Since: NeoMutt 2016-09-10

Dependencies: None

Adds a reply_with_xorig for NeoMutt configuration files. If enabled, allows to reply to an email using the email address in the first X-Original-To: header of a mail as the From: header of the answer.

# Example NeoMutt config file for the reply-with-xorig feature.

# --------------------------------------------------------------------------
# VARIABLES – shown with their default values
# --------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Use X-Original-To header to reply when reverse is disabled or no alternate
# is found.
set reply_with_xorig = "yes"

# vim: syntax=neomuttrc

Pierre-Elliott Bécue

Since: NeoMutt 2016-09-10

Dependencies: None

The “sensible browser” is a set of small changes to NeoMutt's mailbox browser which make the browser behave in a more predictable way.

The behavior is divided into two use cases: Fixed Order; Variable Order.

# Fixed order
set sort_browser="alpha"
set sort_browser="unsorted"

# Variable order
set sort_browser="reverse-count"
set sort_browser="reverse-size"

None

Pierre-Elliott Bécue, Haakon Riiser, Richard Russon

Since: NeoMutt 2016-09-10, NeoMutt 1.7.0

Dependencies: None

The Sidebar shows a list of all your mailboxes. The list can be turned on and off, it can be themed and the list style can be configured.

This part of the manual is a reference guide. If you want a simple introduction with examples see the Sidebar Howto. If you just want to get started, you could use the sample Sidebar neomuttrc.

For more details, and examples, about the $sidebar_format, see the Sidebar Intro.

Sidebar adds the following functions to NeoMutt. By default, none of them are bound to keys.

This command specifies mailboxes that will always be displayed in the sidebar, even if $sidebar_new_mail_only is set and the mailbox does not contain new mail.

The “sidebar_unpin” command is used to remove a mailbox from the list of always displayed mailboxes. Use “sidebar_unpin *” to remove all mailboxes.

If the sidebar_indicator color isn't set, then the default NeoMutt indicator color will be used (the color used in the index panel).

# Example NeoMutt config file for the sidebar feature.

# --------------------------------------------------------------------------
# VARIABLES – shown with their default values
# --------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Should the Sidebar be shown?
set sidebar_visible = no
# How wide should the Sidebar be in screen columns?

# Note: Some characters, e.g. Chinese, take up two columns each.
set sidebar_width = 20
# Should the mailbox paths be abbreviated?
set sidebar_short_path = no
# Number of top-level mailbox path subdirectories to truncate for display
set sidebar_component_depth = 0
# When abbreviating mailbox path names, use any of these characters as path
# separators. Only the part after the last separators will be shown.
# For file folders '/' is good. For IMAP folders, often '.' is useful.
set sidebar_delim_chars = '/.'
# If the mailbox path is abbreviated, should it be indented?
set sidebar_folder_indent = no
# Indent mailbox paths with this string.
set sidebar_indent_string = '  '
# Make the Sidebar only display mailboxes that contain new, or flagged,
# mail.
set sidebar_new_mail_only = no
# Any mailboxes that are pinned will always be visible, even if the
# sidebar_new_mail_only option is enabled.
set sidebar_non_empty_mailbox_only = no
# Only show mailboxes that contain some mail
sidebar_pin '/home/user/mailbox1'
sidebar_pin '/home/user/mailbox2'
# When searching for mailboxes containing new mail, should the search wrap
# around when it reaches the end of the list?
set sidebar_next_new_wrap = no
# Show the Sidebar on the right-hand side of the screen
set sidebar_on_right = no
# The character to use as the divider between the Sidebar and the other NeoMutt
# panels.
set sidebar_divider_char = '|'
# Enable extended mailbox mode to calculate total, new, and flagged
# message counts for each mailbox.
set mail_check_stats
# Display the Sidebar mailboxes using this format string.
set sidebar_format = '%B%<F? [%F]>%* %<N?%N/>%S'
# Sort the mailboxes in the Sidebar using this method:
#       count    – total number of messages
#       flagged  – number of flagged messages
#       unread   – number of unread messages
#       path     – mailbox path
#       unsorted – do not sort the mailboxes
set sidebar_sort_method = 'unsorted'
# --------------------------------------------------------------------------
# FUNCTIONS – shown with an example mapping
# --------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Move the highlight to the previous mailbox
bind index,pager \Cp sidebar-prev
# Move the highlight to the next mailbox
bind index,pager \Cn sidebar-next
# Open the highlighted mailbox
bind index,pager \Co sidebar-open
# Move the highlight to the previous page
# This is useful if you have a LOT of mailboxes.
bind index,pager <F3> sidebar-page-up
# Move the highlight to the next page
# This is useful if you have a LOT of mailboxes.
bind index,pager <F4> sidebar-page-down
# Move the highlight to the previous mailbox containing new, or flagged,
# mail.
bind index,pager <F5> sidebar-prev-new
# Move the highlight to the next mailbox containing new, or flagged, mail.
bind index,pager <F6> sidebar-next-new
# Toggle the visibility of the Sidebar.
bind index,pager B sidebar-toggle-visible
# --------------------------------------------------------------------------
# COLORS – some unpleasant examples are given
# --------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Note: All color operations are of the form:
#       color OBJECT FOREGROUND BACKGROUND
# Color of the current, open, mailbox
# Note: This is a general NeoMutt option which colors all selected items.
color indicator cyan black
# Sidebar-specific color of the selected item
color sidebar_indicator cyan black
# Color of the highlighted, but not open, mailbox.
color sidebar_highlight black color8
# Color of the entire Sidebar panel
color sidebar_background default black
# Color of the divider separating the Sidebar from NeoMutt panels
color sidebar_divider color8 black
# Color to give mailboxes containing flagged mail
color sidebar_flagged red black
# Color to give mailboxes containing new mail
color sidebar_new green black
# Color to give mailboxes containing no new/flagged mail, etc.
color sidebar_ordinary color245 default
# Color to give the spool_file mailbox
color sidebar_spool_file color207 default
# Color to give mailboxes containing no unread mail
color sidebar_unread color136 default
# --------------------------------------------------------------------------

# vim: syntax=neomuttrc

None

Justin Hibbits, Thomer M. Gil, David Sterba, Evgeni Golov, Fabian Groffen, Jason DeTiberus, Stefan Assmann, Steve Kemp, Terry Chan, Tyler Earnest, Richard Russon

Since: $skip_quoted_offset in NeoMutt 2016-03-28, $toggle_quoted_show_levels in NeoMutt 2019-10-25, <skip-headers> in NeoMutt 2021-02-05

Dependencies: None

When viewing an email, the <skip-quoted> function (by default the S key) will scroll past any email headers or quoted text. Sometimes, a little context is useful. By setting the $skip_quoted_offset variable, you can select how much of the quoted text is left visible.

When using the <toggle-quoted> function (by default the T key), it can be convenient to hide text that has been quoted multiple times while still leaving quoted text that is relevant to the unquoted reply intact. This can be done by setting the $toggle_quoted_show_levels variable.

Also, it can be handy to jump directly to the start of the email body with the <skip-headers> function (by default the H key).

# Example NeoMutt config file for the skip-quoted feature.

# The 'S' (skip-quoted) command scrolls the pager past the quoted text (usually
# indented with '> '. Setting 'pager_skip_quoted_context leaves some lines
# of quoted text on screen for context.

# Show three quoted lines before the reply
set pager_skip_quoted_context = 3

# The 'T' (toggle-quoted) command hides quoted text, but can
# be limited to only hiding deeply-nested quotes.

# Preserve the first level of quoted text
set toggle_quoted_show_levels = 1

# vim: syntax=neomuttrc

None

David Sterba, Richard Russon

Since: NeoMutt 2016-03-07

Dependencies: None

The “status-color” feature allows you to theme different parts of the status bar (also when it's used by the index).

Unlike normal color commands, color status can now take up to 2 extra parameters (regex, num).

With zero parameters, NeoMutt will set the default color for the entire status bar.

With one parameter, NeoMutt will only color the parts matching the regex.

With two parameters, NeoMutt will only color the num'th sub-match of the regex.

# Example NeoMutt config file for the status-color feature.

# The 'status-color' feature allows you to theme different parts of
# the status bar (also when it's used by the index).

# For the examples below, set some defaults
set status_format='-%r-NeoMutt: %f [Msgs:%<M?%M/>%m%<n? New:%n>%<o? Old:%o>%<d? Del:%d>\
%<F? Flag:%F>%<t? Tag:%t>%<p? Post:%p>%<b? Inc:%b>%<l? %l>]---(%s/%S)-%>-(%P)---'
set index_format='%4C %Z %{%b %d} %-15.15L (%<l?%4l&%4c>) %s'
set use_threads=yes
set sort=last-date-received
set sort_aux=date
# 'status color' can take up to 2 extra parameters
# color status foreground background [ regex [ num ]]
# 0 extra parameters
# Set the default color for the entire status line
color status blue white
# 1 extra parameter
# Set the color for a matching pattern
# color status foreground background regex
# Highlight New, Deleted, or Flagged emails
color status brightred white '(New|Del|Flag):[0-9]+'
# Highlight mailbox ordering if it's different from the default
# First, highlight anything (*/*)
color status brightred default '\([^)]+/[^)]+\)'
# Then override the color for one specific case
color status default default '\(threads/last-date-received\)'
# 2 extra parameters
# Set the color for the nth submatch of a pattern
# color status foreground background regex num
# Highlight the contents of the []s but not the [] themselves
color status red default '\[([^]]+)\]' 1
# The '1' refers to the first regex submatch, which is the inner
# part in ()s
# Highlight the mailbox
color status brightwhite default 'NeoMutt: ([^ ]+)' 1
# Search for 'NeoMutt: ' but only highlight what comes after it

# vim: syntax=neomuttrc

None

David Sterba, Thomas Glanzmann, Kirill A. Shutemov, Richard Russon

Since: NeoMutt 2016-03-07

The “TLS-SNI” feature adds support for TLS virtual hosting. If your mail server doesn't support this everything will still work normally.

TLS supports sending the expected server hostname during the handshake, via the SNI extension. This can be used to select a server certificate to issue to the client, permitting virtual-hosting without requiring multiple IP addresses.

This has been tested against Exim 4.80, which optionally logs SNI and can perform vhosting.

To verify TLS SNI support by a server, you can use:

openssl s_client -host <imap server> -port <port> -tls1 -servername <imap server>

None

Jeremy Katz, Phil Pennock, Richard Russon

Since: NeoMutt 2016-09-10, NeoMutt 1.7.0

In NeoMutt, when you “delete” an email it is first marked deleted. The email isn't really gone until <sync-mailbox> is called. This happens when the user leaves the folder, or the function is called manually.

After <sync-mailbox> has been called the email is gone forever.

The $trash variable defines a folder in which to keep old emails. As before, first you mark emails for deletion. When <sync-mailbox> is called the emails are moved to the trash folder.

The $trash path can be either a full directory, or be relative to the $folder variable, like the mailboxes command.

# Example NeoMutt config file for the 'trash' feature.

# This feature defines a new 'trash' folder.

# When mail is deleted it will be moved to this folder.

# Folder in which to put deleted emails
set trash='+Trash'
set trash='/home/flatcap/Mail/Trash'
# The default delete key 'd' will move an email to the 'trash' folder
# Bind 'D' to REALLY delete an email
bind index D purge-message
# Note: Deleting emails from the 'trash' folder will REALLY delete them.

# vim: syntax=neomuttrc

None

Cedric Duval, Benjamin Kuperman, Paul Miller, Richard Russon

Since: NeoMutt 2021-08-01

Dependencies: None

The “Use Threads” feature adds a new config variable to allow more precise control of how threads are displayed in the index. Whether threads are in use is now orthogonal from how messages are sorted.

The “Use Threads” feature adds no new functions to NeoMutt. The existing functions <sort-mailbox> and <sort-reverse> are updated to toggle the state of $use_threads once it has been set, while preserving backwards-compatible behavior on $sort if this feature is not used.

The “Use Threads” feature adds one new config variable, $use_threads, which is an enumeration of possible thread views. The variable defaults to unset for the original behavior of overloading $sort=threads to enable sorting. It can be set to flat (or no) for an unthreaded view based on $sort, to threads (or yes) for a threaded view where roots appear above children, or to reverse for a threaded view where children appear above roots.

When sorting by threads, the value of $sort determines which thread floats to the top. If $sort does not contain reverse-, the latest thread goes to the bottom for use_threads=threads and to the top for use_threads=reverse; the direction of float is swapped if $sort also uses reverse-. If $sort includes last-, the overall thread is sorted by its descendant at any depth which would sort last in a flat view; otherwise, the overall thread is sorted solely by the thread root. The last- prefix is ignored when use_threads=flat.

Within a single thread, the value of $sort_aux determines how siblings are sorted. The same prefixes apply as for $sort, although it is less common to use the last- prefix.

The “Use Threads” feature also modifies the existing config variable $status_format, adding the %T expando which shows the current threading method.

# Example NeoMutt config file for the use-threads feature.

# ------------------------------------------------------------
# Default configuration: flat view sorted by date
# selecting threads with <sort-mailbox> changes $sort
#set use_threads=unset sort=date sort_aux=date
# Modern configuration: explicit flat view sorted by date
# selecting threads with <sort-mailbox> changes $use_threads
set use_threads=no sort=date sort_aux=date
#   Anne     12:01  cover letter for thread 1
#   Anne     12:02  part 1 of thread 1
#   Anne     12:03  part 2 of thread 1
#   Anne     12:04  part 3 of thread 1
#   Barbara  12:05  thread 2
#   Claire   12:06  thread 3
#   Diane    12:07  re: part 2 of thread 1
#   Erica    12:08  re: thread 2

# ------------------------------------------------------------
# Legacy configuration: sorting threads by date started
#set sort=threads sort_aux=date
# Modern configuration for the same
# Latest root message sorts last
set use_threads=yes sort=date sort_aux=date
#   Anne     12:01  cover letter for thread 1
#   Anne     12:02  |->part 1 of thread 1
#   Anne     12:03  |->part 2 of thread 1
#   Diane    12:07  | `->re: part 2 of thread 1
#   Anne     12:04  `->part 3 of thread 1
#   Barbara  12:05  thread 2
#   Erica    12:08  `->re: thread 2
#   Claire   12:06  thread 3

# ------------------------------------------------------------
# Legacy configuration: display threads upside-down
#set sort=reverse-threads sort_aux=date
# Modern configuration for the same
# Latest root message sorts first
set use_threads=reverse sort=date sort_aux=date
#   Claire   12:06  thread 3
#   Erica    12:08  ,->re: thread 2
#   Barbara  12:05  thread 2
#   Anne     12:04  ,->part 3 of thread 1
#   Diane    12:07  | ,->re: part 2 of thread 1
#   Anne     12:03  |->part 2 of thread 1
#   Anne     12:02  |->part 1 of thread 1
#   Anne     12:01  cover letter for thread 1

# ------------------------------------------------------------
# Legacy configuration: recently active thread/subthread first
#set sort=threads sort_aux=reverse-last-date
# Modern configuration for the same
# Note that subthreads are also rearranged
set use_threads=threads sort=reverse-last-date sort_aux=reverse-last-date
#   Barbara  12:05  thread 2
#   Erica    12:08  `->re: thread 2
#   Anne     12:01  cover letter for thread 1
#   Anne     12:03  |->part 2 of thread 1
#   Diane    12:07  | `->re: part 2 of thread 1
#   Anne     12:04  |->part 3 of thread 1
#   Anne     12:02  `->part 1 of thread 1
#   Claire   12:06  thread 3

# ------------------------------------------------------------
# Modern configuration: threads keep date order, recently active thread last
# (not possible with legacy configuration)
set use_threads=threads sort=last-date sort_aux=date
#   Claire   12:06  thread 3
#   Anne     12:01  cover letter for thread 1
#   Anne     12:02  |->part 1 of thread 1
#   Anne     12:03  |->part 2 of thread 1
#   Diane    12:07  | `->re: part 2 of thread 1
#   Anne     12:04  `->part 3 of thread 1
#   Barbara  12:05  thread 2
#   Erica    12:08  `->re: thread 2

# vim: syntax=neomuttrc

Even though use_threads accepts the values yes and no, it does not behave like a boolean or quad-option variable. A bare set use_threads performs a query rather than setting it to yes, and the variable is not usable with toggle.

Eric Blake

Autocrypt requires support for ECC cryptography, and NeoMutt by default will generate ECC keys. Therefore GnuPG 2.1 or greater is required. Additionally, NeoMutt's Autocrypt implementation uses GPGME and requires at least version 1.8.0.

Account and peer information is stored in a sqlite3 database, and so NeoMutt must be configured with the --with-sqlite flag when autocrypt is enabled.

It is highly recommended that NeoMutt be configured with --idn2 (enabled by default) so that Autocrypt can properly deal with international domain names.

While NeoMutt uses GPGME for Autocrypt, normal keyring operations can still be performed via classic mode (i.e. with $crypt_use_gpgme unset). However, to avoid unnecessary prompts, it is recommended gpg not be configured in loopback pinentry mode, and that $pgp_use_gpg_agent remain set (the default).

To enable Autocrypt, set $autocrypt, and if desired change the value of $autocrypt_dir in your muttrc. The first time NeoMutt is run after that, you will be prompted to create $autocrypt_dir. NeoMutt will then automatically create an sqlite3 database and GPG keyring in that directory. Note since these files should be considered private, NeoMutt will create this directory with mode 700. If you create the directory manually, you should do the same.

NeoMutt recommends keeping the $autocrypt_dir directory set differently from your GnuPG keyring directory (e.g. ~/.gnupg). Keys are automatically imported into the keyring from Autocrypt: headers. Compared to standard “web of trust” keys, Autocrypt keys are somewhat ephemeral, and the autocrypt database is used to track when keys change or fall out of use. Having these keys mixed in with your normal keyring will make it more difficult to use features such as $crypt_opportunistic_encrypt and Autocrypt at the same time.

The $autocrypt_dir variable is not designed to be changed while NeoMutt is running. The database is created (if necessary) and connected to during startup. Changing the variable can result in a situation where NeoMutt is looking in one place for the database and a different place for the GPG keyring, resulting in strange behavior.

Once the directory, keyring, and database are created, NeoMutt will ask whether you would like to create an account. In order to use Autocrypt, each sending address needs an account. As a convenience you can create an account during the first run. If you would like to add additional accounts later, this can be done via the <autocrypt-acct-menu> function in the index, by default bound to A.

Account creation will first ask you for an email address. Next, it will ask whether you want to create a new key or select an existing key. (Note key selection takes place from the $autocrypt_dir keyring, which will normally be empty during first run). Finally, it will ask whether this address should prefer encryption or not. Autocrypt 1.1 allows automatically enabling encryption if both sender and receiver have set “prefer encryption”. Otherwise, you will need to manually enable autocrypt encryption in the compose menu. For more details, see the compose menu section below.

After optionally creating an account, NeoMutt will prompt you to scan mailboxes for Autocrypt headers. This step occurs because header cached messages are not re-scanned for Autocrypt headers. Scanning during this step will temporarily disable the header cache while opening each mailbox. If you wish to do this manually later, you can simulate the same thing by unsetting $header_cache and opening a mailbox.

A final technical note: the first run process takes place between reading the muttrc and opening the initial mailbox. Some muttrc files will push macros to be run after opening the mailbox. To prevent this from interfering with the first run prompts, NeoMutt disables all macros during the first run.

When enabled, Autocrypt will add a line to the compose menu with two fields: Autocrypt: and Recommendation:.

The Autocrypt: field shows whether the message will be encrypted by Autocrypt when sent. It has two values: Encrypt and Off. Encrypt can be enabled using the <autocrypt-menu> function, by default bound to o.

The Recommendation: field shows the output of the Autocrypt recommendation engine. This can have one of five values:

As mentioned above the <autocrypt-menu> function, by default bound to o, can be used to change the Encrypt: field value. (e)ncrypt will toggle encryption on. (c)lear will toggle encryption off. If either of these are chosen, the field will remain in that state despite what the Recommendation: field shows. Lastly, (a)utomatic will set the value based on the recommendation engine's output.

Autocrypt encryption defers to normal encryption or signing. Anything that enables normal encryption or signing will cause autocrypt encryption to turn off. The only exception is when replying to an autocrypt-encrypted email (i.e. an email decrypted from the $autocrypt_dir keyring). Then, if $autocrypt_reply is set, autocrypt mode will be forced on, overriding the settings $crypt_auto_sign, $crypt_auto_encrypt, $crypt_reply_encrypt, $crypt_reply_sign, $crypt_reply_sign_encrypted, and $crypt_opportunistic_encrypt.

When postponing a message, autocrypt will respect $postpone_encrypt, but will use the autocrypt account key to encrypt the message. Be sure to set $postpone_encrypt to ensure postponed messages marked for autocrypt encryption are encrypted.

The Autocrypt Account Menu is available from the index via <autocrypt-acct-menu>, by default bound to A. See Autocrypt Account Menu for the list of functions and their default keybindings.

In this menu, you can create new accounts, delete accounts, toggle an account active/inactive, and toggle the “prefer encryption” flag for an account.

Deleting an account only removes the account from the database. The GPG key is kept, to ensure you still have the ability to read past encrypted emails.

The Autocrypt 1.1 “Setup Message” feature is not available yet, but will be added in the future.

NeoMutt by default partitions Autocrypt from normal keyring encryption/signing. It does this by using a separate GPG keyring (in $autocrypt_dir) and creating a new ECC key in that keyring for accounts. There are good reasons for doing this by default. It keeps random keys found inside email headers out of your normal keyring. ECC keys are compact and better suited for email headers. Autocrypt key selection is completely different from “web of trust” key selection, based on last-seen rules as opposed to trust and validity. It also allows NeoMutt to distinguish Autocrypt encrypted emails from regular encrypted emails, and set the mode appropriately when replying to each type of email.

Still, some users may want to use an existing key from their normal keyring for Autocrypt too. There are two ways this can be accomplished. The recommended way is to set $autocrypt_dir to your normal keyring directory (e.g. ~/.gnupg). During account creation, choosing “(s)elect existing GPG key” will then list and allow selecting your existing key for the new account.

An alternative is to copy your key over to the Autocrypt keyring, but there is a severe downside. NeoMutt first tries to decrypt messages using the Autocrypt keyring, and if that fails tries the normal keyring second. This means all encrypted emails to that key will be decrypted, and have signatures verified from, the Autocrypt keyring. Keys signatures and web of trust from your normal keyring will no longer show up in signatures when decrypting.

For that reason, if you want to use an existing key from your normal keyring, it is recommended to just set $autocrypt_dir to ~/.gnupg. This allows “web of trust” to show an appropriate signature message for verified messages. Autocrypt header keys will be imported into your keyring, but if you don't want them mixed you should strongly consider using a separate autocrypt key and keyring instead.

Both methods have a couple additional caveats: