diff --git a/src/mu-msg.c b/src/mu-msg.c
index 096ba03a..c06fda3f 100644
--- a/src/mu-msg.c
+++ b/src/mu-msg.c
@@ -737,10 +737,22 @@ mu_msg_move_to_maildir (MuMsg *self, const char* targetmdir,
 	newfullpath = mu_maildir_move_message (mu_msg_get_path (self),
 					       targetmdir, flags,
 					       ignore_dups, err);
-	if (newfullpath) /* update our path to new one... */
+
+	/* update the message path and the flags; they may have
+	 * changed */
+	if (newfullpath) {
 		mu_msg_cache_set_str (self->_cache, MU_MSG_FIELD_ID_PATH, newfullpath,
 				      TRUE); /* the cache will free the string */
 
+		/* the contentflags haven't changed, so make sure they persist */
+		flags |= mu_msg_get_flags (self) &
+			(MU_FLAG_HAS_ATTACH|MU_FLAG_ENCRYPTED|MU_FLAG_SIGNED);
+		/* update the pseudo-flag as well */
+		if (!(flags & MU_FLAG_NEW) || (flags & MU_FLAG_SEEN))
+			flags &= ~MU_FLAG_UNREAD;
+		mu_msg_cache_set_num (self->_cache, MU_MSG_FIELD_ID_FLAGS, flags);
+	}
+
 	return newfullpath ? TRUE : FALSE;
 }
 
diff --git a/src/mu-msg.h b/src/mu-msg.h
index 734a08f2..07be0c44 100644
--- a/src/mu-msg.h
+++ b/src/mu-msg.h
@@ -376,6 +376,7 @@ struct _MuMsgIterThreadInfo;
  * e.g. emacs)
  *
  * @param msg a valid message
+ * @param docid the docid for this message, or 0
  * @param ti thread info for the current message, or NULL
  * @param dbonly if TRUE, only include message fields which can be
  * obtained from the database (this is much faster if the MuMsg is
@@ -383,11 +384,13 @@ struct _MuMsgIterThreadInfo;
  *
  * @return a string with the sexp (free with g_free) or NULL in case of error
  */
-char* mu_msg_to_sexp (MuMsg *msg, const struct _MuMsgIterThreadInfo *ti,
+char* mu_msg_to_sexp (MuMsg *msg, unsigned docid,
+		      const struct _MuMsgIterThreadInfo *ti,
 		      gboolean dbonly);
 
 /**
- * move a message to another maildir
+ * move a message to another maildir; note that this does _not_ update
+ * the database
  *
  * @param msg a message with an existing file system path in an actual
  * maildir
@@ -397,7 +400,7 @@ char* mu_msg_to_sexp (MuMsg *msg, const struct _MuMsgIterThreadInfo *ti,
  * copy is from new/ to new/ and cur/ to cur/. Also note that the
  * target maildir must be on the same filesystem. If you specify NULL
  * for targetmdir, only the flags of the message are affected; note
- * that this may still involve a moved to another directory (say, from
+ * that this may still involve a move to another directory (say, from
  * new/ to cur/)
  * @param flags to set for the target (influences the filename, path)
  * @param silently ignore the src=target case (return TRUE)