#+TITLE: MU
#+MAN_CLASS_OPTIONS: :section-id "@SECTION_ID@" :date "@MAN_DATE@"

* NAME

mu - a set of tools to deal with Maildirs and message files, in particular to
index and search e-mail messages.

* SYNOPSIS

~mu~ [COMMON-OPTIONS] [[COMMAND] [COMMAND-OPTIONS]]

For information about the common options, see *COMMON OPTIONS*.

* DESCRIPTION

~mu~ is the general command shows help about the specific commands:

- ~add~:  add specific messages to the database.
- ~cfind~: find contacts
- ~extract~: extract attachments and other MIME-parts
- ~find~: find messages in the database
- ~help~: get help for some command
- ~index~: (re)index the messages in a Maildir
- ~info~: show information about the mu database
- ~init~: initialize the mu database
- ~mkdir~: create a new Maildir
- ~remove~: remove specific messages from the database
- ~server~: start a server process (for ~mu4e~-internal use)
- ~view~: view a specific message

Each of the commands have their own manpage ~mu-<command~>~.

~mu~ is a set of tools for dealing with Maildirs and the e-mail messages
in them.

~mu~'s main purpose is to enable searching of e-mail messages. It
does so by periodically scanning a Maildir directory tree and
analyzing the e-mail messages found (this is called `indexing'). The
results of this analysis are stored in a database, which can then be
queried.

In addition to indexing and searching, ~mu~ also offers
functionality for viewing messages, extracting attachments and
creating maildirs, and searching and exporting contact information.

~mu~ can be used from the command line or can be integrated with various
e-mail clients.

This manpage gives a general overview of the available commands
(~index~, ~find~, etc.); each ~mu~ command has its own
man-page as well.

* COLORS

Some ~mu~ commands support colorized output, and do so by default. If you don't
want colors, you can use ~--nocolor~.

* ENCODING

~mu~'s output is in the current locale, with the exceptions of the output
specifically meant for output to UTF8-encoded files. In practice, this means
that the output of commands ~index~, ~view~, ~extract~ is always encoded according to
the current locale.

The same is true for ~find~ and ~cfind~, with some exceptions, where
the output is always UTF-8, regardless of the locale:

- For ~cfind~ the exception is ~--format=bbdb~. This is hard-coded to UTF-8, and as
  such specified in the output-file, so emacs/bbdb can handle it correctly
  without guessing.
- For ~find~ the output is encoded according the locale for ~--format=plain~ (the
  default), and UTF-8 for all other formats.

* DATABASE AND FILE

Commands ~mu index~ and ~find~ and ~cfind~ work with the database, while the other
ones work on individual mail files. Hence, running ~view~, ~mkdir~ and ~extract~ does
not require the mu database.

#+include: "common-options.inc" :minlevel 1

#+include: "exit-code.inc" :minlevel 1

#+include: "prefooter.inc" :minlevel 1

* SEE ALSO
~mu-add(1)~, ~mu-cfind(1)~, ~mu-extract(1)~, ~mu-find(1)~, ~mu-help(1)~, ~mu-index(1)~,
~mu-info(1)~, ~mu-init(1)~, ~mu-mkdir(1)~, ~mu-remove(1)~, ~mu-server(1)~, ~mu-view(1)~,
~mu-query(7)~, ~mu-easy(1)~