diff --git a/src/mu-config.c b/src/mu-config.c
index c512927c..41f64182 100644
--- a/src/mu-config.c
+++ b/src/mu-config.c
@@ -172,7 +172,9 @@ set_group_find_defaults (MuConfig *opts)
 		if (!opts->sortfield) {
 			opts->sortfield = "d";
 			opts->descending = TRUE;
-		}
+		} else
+			opts->descending = FALSE;
+		
 	}
 
 	if (!opts->formatstr) /* by default, use plain output */
diff --git a/src/mu-config.h b/src/mu-config.h
index 063f4ee3..9c72f001 100644
--- a/src/mu-config.h
+++ b/src/mu-config.h
@@ -108,7 +108,7 @@ struct _MuConfig {
 	/* options for querying 'find' (and view-> 'summary') */
 	char		*fields;	/* fields to show in output */	
 	char	        *sortfield;	/* field to sort by (string) */
-	gboolean	 descending;	/* sort descending? */
+	gboolean	 descending;	/* sort descending (z->a)? */
 	gboolean	 threads;       /* show message threads */
 	gboolean	 summary;	/* include a summary? */
 	char            *bookmark;	/* use bookmark */
diff --git a/src/mu-msg-flags.h b/src/mu-msg-flags.h
index cbe9614a..73a736c8 100644
--- a/src/mu-msg-flags.h
+++ b/src/mu-msg-flags.h
@@ -60,7 +60,6 @@ enum _MuMsgFlags {
 	 * means (NEW or not SEEN) */
 	MU_MSG_FLAG_UNREAD      = 1 << 7,
 	
-	
 	/* these we get from the contents */
 	
 	/* "Z"->signed message */
diff --git a/src/mu-msg.c b/src/mu-msg.c
index 25b80db4..cc1e273c 100644
--- a/src/mu-msg.c
+++ b/src/mu-msg.c
@@ -813,3 +813,5 @@ error:
 	return FALSE;
 
 }
+
+
diff --git a/src/mu-msg.h b/src/mu-msg.h
index d3d55b14..2a8ac4f5 100644
--- a/src/mu-msg.h
+++ b/src/mu-msg.h
@@ -358,6 +358,21 @@ int mu_msg_cmp (MuMsg *m1, MuMsg *m2, MuMsgFieldId mfid);
 
 
 
+/**
+ * convert the msg to a Lisp symbolic expression (for further processing in
+ * e.g. emacs)
+ * 
+ * @param msg a valid message
+ * @param dbonly if TRUE, only include message fields which can be
+ * obtained from the database (this is much faster if the MuMsg is
+ * database-backed, so no file needs to be opened)
+ * 
+ * @return a string with the sexp (free with g_free) or NULL in case of error
+ */
+char* mu_msg_to_sexp (MuMsg *msg, gboolean dbonly);
+
+
+
 /**
  * move a message to another maildir; the function returns the full
  * path to the new message, and changes the msg to now point to the
@@ -463,7 +478,8 @@ typedef gboolean  (*MuMsgContactForeachFunc) (MuMsgContact* contact,
 					      gpointer user_data);
 
 /**
- * call a function for each of the contacts in a message 
+ * call a function for each of the contacts in a message; the order is:
+ * from to cc bcc (of each there are zero or more)
  *
  * @param msg a valid MuMsgGMime* instance
  * @param func a callback function to call for each contact; when