\input texinfo.tex @c -*-texinfo-*- @c %**start of header @setfilename mu4e.info @settitle mu4e user manual @documentencoding utf-8 @c %**end of header @dircategory Emacs @direntry * mu4e: (mu4e). An email client for emacs based on mu. @end direntry @copying Copyright @copyright{} 2011 Dirk-Jan C. Binnema @quotation Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover Texts. @end quotation @end copying @node Top @top mu4e Manual @emph{Mu-For-Emacs} (or for short, @samp{mu4e}), is an @samp{emacs} based e-mail client, based on the @samp{mu} e-mail search engine. @samp{mu4e} supports GNU Emacs 23 and later. @menu * Introduction:: * Getting started:: * Running mu4e:: * Searching mail:: * Example configuration:: * FAQ - Frequently Anticipated Questions:: * Known issues / missing features:: @end menu @node Introduction @chapter Introduction @samp{mu4e} is an e-mail program for GNU Emacs; it uses the @samp{mu} e-mail search engine as its backend, making @samp{mu} fully search-based. @menu * Background:: * Acknowledgments:: @end menu @node Background @section Background @samp{mu4e} (and @samp{mu}) does @emph{not} deal with getting your e-mail messages from some e-mail server; instead, this task is delegated to other tools, such as @samp{offlineimap}. As long as the messages end up in a Maildir, @samp{mu4e}/@samp{mu} are happy to deal with them. @samp{mu4e} does @emph{not} implement sending messages either; instead, it depends on the true-and-tested @emph{smtpmail} which is part of emacs. In fact, @samp{mu4e} piggybacks on Gnu's message editor; @inforef{Top,Gnus message editor,message}. Thus, many of the traditional things an e-mail client needs to do, are subcontracted to other tools. This leaves @samp{mu4e} to concentrate on what it does best: quick message searching, reading mails, replying them, moving messages around and so on. It's important to note the @samp{mu4e} requires your mail to be in Maildir-format, typically stored in @file{~/Maildir}. @node Acknowledgments @section Acknowledgments @samp{mu} has been helped tremendously by users who helped to isolate and fix bugs, and (maybe even more so) by providing suggestions. Thanks to all! @samp{mu4e} has taken inspiration from many places. First, there are @samp{sup} and @samp{notmuch} which showed that one can write a search-based e-mail client. Aspects of the Wanderlust e-mail client can be seen in the UI, as well as the @samp{dired} interaction model. @node Getting started @chapter Getting started In this chapter, we will see how you can install @samp{mu4e} and how you can set it up. After we have succeeded in @xref{Getting mail}, and @xref{Indexing your messages}, we discuss @xref{Basic configuration}. After going through these steps, @samp{mu4e} should be ready for use. @menu * Installation:: * Getting mail:: * Indexing your messages:: * Sending mail:: * Queuing mail:: * Basic configuration:: @end menu @node Installation @section Installation @samp{mu4e} is part of @samp{mu} - by installing the latter, the former will be installed as well. At the time of writing, there are no distribution packages for @samp{mu4e} yet, so we are assuming installation from source packages. Installation follows the normal sequence of: @example $ tar xvfz mu-.tar.gz # use the specific version $ cd mu- $./configure && make $ sudo make install @end example After this, @samp{mu} and @samp{mu4e} should be installed @footnote{there's a hard dependency between versions of @samp{mu4e} and @samp{mu} - you cannot combine different versions.}, a be available from the command line and emacs (respectively). For emacs, you may to restart it so it can pick up @samp{mu4e}. There is experimental support for using the @samp{emacs} customization system in @samp{mu4e}, but for now we recommend setting the values by manually. Please @ref{Example configuration} for a working example of this. @node Getting mail @section Getting mail In order for @samp{mu} (and by extension, @samp{mu4e}) to work, we need to have our e-mail stored in a Maildir. If you were already using Maildirs, your lucky, otherwise you will need to get your mail there in some other way. If you are using some external @acronym{IMAP} or @acronym{POP} server, you can use tools like @samp{getmail} and @samp{offlineimap} to download your message into a Maildir-directory (@file{~/Maildir}, usually). If you are using a local mailserver (such as Postfix or @samp{qmail}), you can teach them to deliver into a Maildir as well, maybe in combination with @samp{qmail}. @node Indexing your messages @section Indexing your messages After you have succeeded in @ref{Getting mail}, we need to @emph{index} it. That is - we need to scan the Maildir and store the information about the mails into a special database. We can do that from @code{mu4e} -- @xref{Main view}, but for now it's better to do it from the command line, because it's easier to spot any problems then. Assuming that your Maildir is at @file{~/Maildir}, you should give the following command: @example $ mu index --maildir=~/Maildir @end example This should scan your @file{~/Maildir} and fill the database, and give progress information while doing so. The first time you index your mail might take a few minutes (for thousands of e-mails), afterwards it is much faster since it only has to scan the differences. Note that indexing is discussed at length in the @samp{mu-index} man page. After the indexing is finished, you can quickly test if everything worked, by trying some command line searches, for example @example $ mu find hello @end example which should list all messages that match "hello". The @samp{mu-find} man page describes the various things you can do with @samp{mu find}. If all of this worked well, we are almost ready to start @samp{mu4e}. @node Sending mail @section Sending mail @samp{mu4e} re-uses Gnu's @samp{message mode} -- @xref{(message)} for writing mail and inherits the setup for @emph{sending} mail from that. For sending mail using @abbr{SMTP}, @samp{mu4e} uses Emacs's built-in @samp{smtpmail} package -- @inforef{smtpmail}. This package support many different ways to send mail, please refer to its documentation. Here we provide some simple examples. A very minimal setup could look something like: @verbatim ;; tell message-mode how to send mail (setq message-send-mail-function 'smtpmail-send-it) ;; if our mail server lives at smtp.example.org; if you have a local ;; mailserver, simply use 'localhost' here. (setq smtpmail-smtp-server "smtp.example.org") @end verbatim Note, since @samp{mu4e} uses the same @samp{message mode} and @samp{smtpmail} that Gnus uses, any setting for those will also work for @samp{mu4e}. @node Queuing mail @section Queing mail If you cannot send mail directly, for example because you are currently offline, you can queue the mail, and send it when you have restored your internet connection. To allow for queueing, you need to tell @samp{smtpmail} where you want to do this. For example: @verbatim (setq smtpmail-queue-mail nil ;; start in non-queing mode smtpmail-queue-dir "~/Maildir/queue/cur") @end verbatim For convenience, we locate the queue directory somewhere in our normal Maildir. If you want to use queued mail, you should create this directory before starting @samp{mu4e}. The @command{mu mkdir} command can be handy here, so for example: @verbatim $ mu mkdir ~/Maildir/queue $ touch ~/Maildir/queue/.noindex @end verbatim The @command{touch} command tells @samp{mu} to ignore this directory for indexing, which makes sense since it does not just consist of 'normal' messages but also some of the @samp{smtpmail} metadata. Also see @samp{mu-mkdir} and @samp{mu-index} man pages. @node Basic configuration @section Basic configuration The last thing to do before running @samp{mu4e} is setting up some basic configuration. A good place to put this would be in your @file{~/.emacs} file. First, we need to load @samp{mu4e}: @example (require 'mu4e) @end example Then, we need to tell @samp{mu4e} where it can find your Maildir, and some special folders. So for example: @example (setq mu4e-maildir "~/Maildir" mu4e-inbox-folder "/inbox" ;; where do i receive mail? mu4e-sent-folder "/sent" ;; where do i keep sent mail? mu4e-drafts-folder "/drafts" ;; where do i keep half-written mail? mu4e-trash-folder "/trash" ;; where do i move deleted mail? @end example The folder names are all relative to @code{mu4e-maildir}. Without going into too much technical detail, here we describe the elements in a @samp{mu4e}-setup, and how they work together. Using some ascii-art: @example +---------+ | emacs | | +------+ +----| mu4e | --> send mail (smtpmail) +------+ | A V | +---------+ | mu | +---------+ | A V | +---------+ | Maildir | <--- receive mail (fetchmail, +---------+ offlineimap, ...) @end example So: @itemize @item Your e-mail messages are stored in a Maildir-directory (typically, @file{~/Maildir}), and new mail comes in using tools like @samp{fetchmail}, @samp{offlineimap} etc., or through a local mail servers (such as @samp{qmail} or @samp{Postfix}). @item @samp{mu} indexes these messages periodically, so you can quickly search for them. @samp{mu} can run in a special @samp{server}-mode, where it provides services to client software. @item @samp{mu4e}, which runs inside @samp{emacs} is such a client; it communicates with @samp{mu} to search for messages, and manipulate them. @item @samp{mu4e} uses the facilities offered by @samp{emacs} (the @samp{Gnus} message editor and @samp{smtpmail}) to send messages. @end itemize @node Running mu4e @chapter Running mu4e After the following the steps in @xref{Getting started}, we should now have a working @samp{mu4e} setup. In this chapter, we'll give a tour of the @samp{mu4e} programming, and show its use. @samp{mu4e} consists of a number of views; the diagram shows how they relate to eachother, and the default keybindings to from one view to the next. In the next sections we will describe what these keys actually @emph{do}. @menu * Main view:: * Headers view:: * Message view:: * Editor view:: @end menu @example [C] +--------+ [RFCE] --------> | editor | <-------- / +--------+ \ / [RFCE]^ \ / | \ +-------+ [sjb] +---------+ [RET] +---------+ | main | <---> | headers | <----> | message | +-------+ [q] +---------+ [qbjs] +---------+ [sbj] ^ [.] | [q] V +-----+ | raw | +-----+ Default bindings ---------------- R: Reply s: search .: raw view F: Forward j: jump-to-maildir C: Compose b: bookmark-search E: Edit q: quit @end example @node Main view @section Main view After you've installed @samp{mu4e} (@pxref{Getting started}), you can start it with @code{M-x mu4e}. This will do some checks to ensure everything is set up correctly, and then show the @samp{mu4e} main view. This looks something like the following: -- @verbatim * mu4e - mu for emacs version x.x Basics * [j]ump to some maildir * enter a [s]earch query * [C]ompose a new message Bookmarks * [bu] Unread messages * [bt] Today's messages * [bw] Last 7 days * [bp] Messages with images Misc * [U]pdate email & database * toggle [m]ail sending mode (direct) * [f]lush queued mail * [H]elp * [q]uit mu4e @end verbatim -- First, the @emph{Basics}: @itemize @item @samp{[j]ump to some maildir} means that after pressing @key{j}, @samp{mu4e} will ask you for a maildir to jump to. These are the maildirs you set in @xref{Basic configuration}. @item @samp{enter a [s]earch query} means that after pressing @key{s} you will be asked for a search query, and after entering one, the results will be shown. @item @samp{[C]ompose a new message} means that after pressing @key{C}, you will be thrown you in a message-editing buffer, where you can write a new message. @end itemize Next come the @emph{Bookmarks}.These are set in @code{mu4e-bookmarks}; what you see in the above example are the @emph{default}, but you can add your own and/or replace the default ones. See @xref{Bookmarks}. Finally, there are some @emph{Misc} actions: @itemize @item @samp{[U]pdate email & database} will execute whatever is in @code{mu4e-get-mail-command}, and afterwards update the @samp{mu} database; @xref{Indexing your messages}. This is a synchronous command. @item @samp{toggle [m]ail sending mode (direct)} will toggle between sending mail directly, and queuing it first (for example, when you are offline), and @samp{[f]lush queued mail} will flush any queued mail. @item @samp{[H]elp} will show help information for this view. @item Finally, @samp{[q]uit mu4e} will quit @samp{mu4e}. @end itemize @node Headers view @section Headers view The headers view shows the results of search queries. There's one line for each matching message, and each line shows a number of fields describing this message. -- @verbatim * Date Flags From/To Subject 2011-12-16 18:38 uN To Edmund Dantès + Re: Extension security? 2011-12-16 21:44 uN Abbé Busoni + Re: Extension security? 2011-12-17 03:14 uN Pierre Morrel + Re: Extension security? 2011-12-17 04:04 uN Jacopo + Re: Extension security? 2011-12-17 14:36 uN Mercédès + Re: Extension security? 2011-12-18 06:05 uN Beachamp \ Re: Extension security? 2011-12-16 18:23 uN Eric Schulte + Re: [O] A presentation tool for org-mode 2011-12-17 01:53 usaN Gaspard Caderousse \ Re: [O] A presentation tool for org-mode 2011-12-16 16:31 uN Baron Danglars | [O] imaxima? End of search results @end verbatim -- It should be fairly obvious what this means, but some notes: @itemize @item The fields shown in the headers view can be influenced by customizing @samp{mu4e-headers-fields} @item You can change the date format by customizing @samp{mu4e-headers-date-format} @item The letters in the 'Flags' field correspond to the following: D=draft, F=flagged, N=new, P=passed (i.e.., forwarded), R=replied, S=seen, T=trashed, a=has-attachment, x=encrypted, s=signed, u=unread. @item The From/To field shows the sender of the message unless the sender matches the regular expression in @samp{mu4e-user-mail-address-regexp}, in which the header will show @samp{To} followed by the recipient. @item The subject field displays the discussion threads according to the @emph{JWZ mail threading algorithm}. @end itemize Using the default key bindings, you can do various things with these messages; note that these actions are also listed in the @samp{Headers} menu in the Emacs menu bar. @verbatim key description --- ----------- d mark for moving to the trash folder DEL,D mark for immediate deletion m mark for moving to another maildir folder u unmark message at point U unmark *all* messages x execute actions for the marked messages RET open the message at point in the message view R,F,C reply/forward/compose E edit (only allowed for draft messages) H get help q leave the headers buffer @end verbatim Note, all the mark/unmark commands support the current @emph{region} (i.e., selection) -- so, for example, if you the select a number of message and then press @key{DEL}, all selected message will be marked for deletion. Tne two-step mark-execute sequence is similar to what for example @samp{Dired} does, and tries to be as fast as possible while still trying to protect the user against accidents. @node Message view @section Message view After selecting a message in the Headers view (@ref{Headers view}), the message will be show in the message view. This might look something like the following: -- @verbatim From: info@galatians.net To: "Paul" paul@hotmail.com Subject: Re: some thoughts Flags: (seen attach) Date: Mon 19 Jan 2004 09:39:42 AM EET Maildir: /inbox Attachments(2): [1]DSCN4961.JPG(1.3M), [2]DSCN4962.JPG(1.4M) Hi Paul, How are you? Sorry we didn't get back to you sooner and sorry for the top-quoting. We're still debating your last message; anyway, here are some recent pics. And here's a link: http://example.com[1] All the best! On Sun 21 Dec 2003 09:06:34 PM EET, Paul wrote: [....] @end verbatim -- Some notes: @itemize @item You can customize which header fields are shown using @samp{mu4e-view-fields}. @end itemize You can find most things you can do with this message in the @emph{View} menu, or use the keyboard -- the default bindings are: @verbatim key description --- ----------- n,p go to next, previous message d mark for moving to the trash folder DEL,D mark for immediate deletion m mark for moving to another maildir folder u unmark message at point R,F,C reply/forward/compose E edit (only allowed for draft messages) . show the raw message view. '.'/'q' take you back | pipe the message through a shell command g go to (visit) numbered URL (using `browse-url') e,o extract, open numbered attachment w toggle line wrapping h toggle showing cited parts H get help q leave the headers buffer @end verbatim Note that @key{x}, which means 'execute actions on marked messages' is not available in this view, to reduce the risk of accidents. You have to go back to the headers view to effectuate the actions. Also note that opening of an attachment uses the @samp{xdg-open} programming to determine the right program to use for a certain attachment. For displaying messages, @samp{mu4e} normally prefers the plain text version if the message consists of both a textversion and an html version of its contents. If there is only an html-version, or if the text part is too short in comparison with the html part, @samp{mu4e} tries to convert the html into plain text for display. The default way to do that is to use the Emacs built-in @code{html2text} function, but if you set @code{mu4e-html2text-command} to some external program, that will be used. This is expected to take html from standard input and write plain text on standard output. @node Editor view @section Editor view Currently, @samp{mu4e} uses Gnu's message editor, so for documentation @inforef{Message}. @node Searching mail @chapter Searching mail @samp{mu4e} is fully search-based; this means that all the lists of messages you see, are the result of some query. Even if you 'jump to a folder', in fact you are executing a search query for messages that have the property of being in a certain folder. Note, all queries normally return only up to @code{mu4e-search-results-limit} results; if you need more than that, prefix your search command with @kbd{C-u}. @menu * Queries:: * Bookmarks:: * Maildir searches:: @end menu @node Queries @section Queries The queries you can execute are the same that @code{mu find} understands. Please refer to the @code{mu-find} man-page for details. Here, we just provide a few examples. @verbatim # get all messages about bananas bananas # get all messages about bananas from john with an attachment from:john flag:attach bananas # get all messages with subject wombat in June 2009 subject:wombat date:20090601..20090630 # get all messages with PDF attachments in the /projects folder maildir:/projects mime:application/pdf @end verbatim @node Bookmarks @section Bookmarks If you have queries that you use often, you may want to store them as @emph{bookmarks}. These bookmarks then show up in the main view. By default, bookmark searches are available in the main view @ref{Main view}, header view @xref{Headers view}, and message view @xref{Message view}, with the key @kbd{b} for @code{mu4e-search-bookmark}. @code{mu4e} provides some default bookmarks which you of course can override. The definition of the default bookmarks is instructive here: @example (defvar mu4e-bookmarks '( ("flag:unread AND NOT flag:trashed" "Unread messages" ?u) ("date:today..now" "Today's messages" ?t) ("date:7d..now" "Last 7 days" ?w) ("mime:image/*" "Messages with images" ?p)) "A list of pre-defined queries; these will show up in the main screen. Each of the list elements is a three-element list of the form (QUERY DESCRIPTION KEY), where QUERY is a string with a mu query, DESCRIPTION is a short description of the query (this will show up in the UI), and KEY is a shortcut key for the query.") @end example Thus, you can replaces this or add your own items, by putting in your configuration (@file{~/.emacs}) something like: @example (add-to-list 'mu4e-bookmarks '("size:5M..500M" "Big messages" ?b)) @end example This prepend your bookmark to the list, and assign the key @key{b} to it. If you want to @emph{append} your bookmark, you can use @code{t} as the third argument to @code{add-to-list}. In the various @samp{mu4e} views, pressing @key{b} will list all the bookmarks defined in the echo area, with the shortcut key highlight. So, to invoke your bookmark (get the list of "Big Message", all you need to type is @kbd{bb}. @node Maildir searches @section Maildir searches Maildir searches are quite similar to bookmark searches (see @ref{Bookmarks}), with the difference being that the target is always a maildir -- maildir queries provide a 'traditional' folder-like interface to a search-based e-mail client. By default, maildir searches are available in the main view @ref{Main view}, header view @ref{Headers view}, and message view @ref{Message view}, with the key @kbd{j} for @code{mu4e-jump-to-maildir}. You can do Maildir searches manually (e.g. with a query like @code{maildir:/myfolder}, but since it is so common, @samp{mu4e} allows for shortcuts for this. To enable this, you need to define a list of maildirs you'd like to have quick access to, for example: @example (setq mu4e-maildir-shortcuts '( ("/inbox" . ?i) ("/archive" . ?a) ("/lists" . ?l) ("/work" . ?w) ("/sent" . ?s)) @end example This would set @key{i} as a shortcut for the @t{/inbox} folder; so effectively a query @t{maildir:/inbox}. There's one 'built-in' shortcut @key{o} for 'other' (so don't use that one for your own shortcuts!), which allows you to choose from @emph{all} maildirs. Each of the folder name is relative to your top-level maildir directory; so if you keep your maildir in @file{~/Maildir}, @file{/inbox} would refer to @file{~/Maildir/inbox}. Having these shortcuts allows you to jump around your folder very quickly - for example, getting to the @t{/lists} folder only requires you to type @kbd{jt}. Note that the same shortcuts are use by @code{mu4e-mark-for-move}. @node Example configuration @chapter Example configuration @example @verbatim ;; example configuration for mu-for-emacs (mu4e) (require 'mu4e) (load-library "smtpmail") (setq ;; a regular expression that matches all email address uses by the user; ;; this allows us to correctly determine if user is the sender of some message mu4e-user-mail-address-regexp "foo@bar\.com\\|cuux@example\.com" mu4e-maildir "/home/user/Maildir" ;; the next are relative to `mu4e-maildir' mu4e-outbox-folder "/outbox" mu4e-sent-folder "/sent" mu4e-drafts-folder "/drafts" mu4e-trash-folder "/trash" ;; the maildirs you use frequently; access them with 'j' ('jump') mu4e-maildir-shortcuts '( ("/archive" . ?a) ("/inbox" . ?i) ("/work" . ?w) ("/sent" . ?s)) ;; program to get mail mu4e-get-mail-command "fetchmail" ;; general emacs mail settings mail-reply-to "foo@bar.com" user-mail-address "foo@bar.com" user-full-name "Foo X. Bar" ;; include in message with C-c C-w message-signature (concat "Foo X. Bar\n" "http://www.example.com\n") ;; smtp mail setting message-send-mail-function 'smtpmail-send-it smtpmail-default-smtp-server "smtpa.example.com" smtpmail-smtp-server ""smtpa.example.com" smtpmail-local-domain "example.com" ;; for offline mode smtpmail-queue-mail nil smtpmail-queue-dir "/home/user/Maildir/queue/cur") @end verbatim @end example @node FAQ - Frequently Anticipated Questions @chapter FAQ - Frequently Anticipated Questions In this chapter we list a number of anticipated questions and their answers. @itemize @item @emph{How can I quickly delete/move/trash a lot of messages?} You can select ('mark' in emacs-speak) the messages, and then press one of the keys to mark them for some actions; by default @key{DEL} for delete, @key{m} for move and @key{t} for trash. @item @emph{mu4e only seems to return a subset of all matches - how can I get all?}. Yes, for speed reasons (and because, if you are like the author, you usually don't need thousands of matches), mu4e returns only up to @code{m4ue-search-result-limit} matches. You can customize that variable, or simply press the emacs prefix @samp{C-u} to get all matches. In other words, when you press @samp{C-u s hello} you will get all matches, while @samp{s hello} only gets you up-to-a-limited-number matches. Same for the other search based commands, @code{mu4e-jump-to-maildir} (default: @key{j}) and @code{mu4e-search-bookmark} (default: @key{b}). @end itemize @node Known issues / missing features @chapter Known issues / missing features In this chapter we list a number of known issue and/or missing features in @samp{mu4e}. Thus, users won't have to search in vain for things that are not there (yet), and the author can use it as a todo-list. @itemize @item @emph{Thread handling is incomplete.} While threads are calculated and are visible in the headers buffer, there is no functionality to manipulate them (e.g., collapse the thread, or delete a whole thread at once). But note that you can manipulate a number of consequetive messages at once by selecting them, and then using one of the manipulation commands, such as @code{mu4e-mark-for-move} or @code{mu4e-mark-for-delete}. @item @emph{Forwarding messaging does not forward attachments.} This is a missing features, which will be added in some future version. Of course, you can save attachments, and then re-attach them by hand. @item @emph{No support for crypto when reading mail}. Currently, you cannot conveniently read encrypted mail or check signatures (it should be possible with e.g. EPA though, @inforef{Top, EasyPG Assistant, epa}.) For outgoing messages, it should work though, using the built-in mechanisms. @item @emph{Difficulties with attachments in messages with complex MIME-hierarchy.} While dealing with attachments usually works fine, we have found some problems with specific mails. This is an issue in @samp{mu}, and it is under investigation. @item @emph{mu4e is very much keyboard-driven}. It would be nice to add support for mousing as well. @end itemize @bye