[[!img notmuch-logo.png alt="Notmuch logo" class="left"]]
# Tips and Tricks for using Notmuch with Emacs
Here are some tips and tricks for using Notmuch with Emacs. See the [[Notmuch
Emacs Interface|notmuch-emacs]] page for basics.
[[!toc levels=2]]
## Controlling external handlers for attachments
You can choose e.g. which pdf viewer to invoke from notmuch-show mode by
adding a .mailcap file in your home directory. Here is an example:
application/pdf; /usr/bin/mupdf %s; test=test "$DISPLAY" != ""; description=Portable Document Format; nametemplate=%s.pdf
application/x-pdf; /usr/bin/mupdf %s; test=test "$DISPLAY" != ""; description=Portable Document Format; nametemplate=%s.pdf
### Convert ".pdf" and ".docx" to text and pop to buffer
Add the following (hacky but effective!) code to `.emacs.d/notmuch-config.el`;
the overwritten `defcustom` will change action when pressing RET on top of an
attachment; ".pdf" and ".docx" attachments are converted to text (using
"pdf2text" and "docx2txt.pl" commands to do the conversion), saving to file
(the default action of `notmuch-show-part-button-default-action`) is offered
to attachments of other types.
(defun user/mm-pipe-- (handle cmd)
;; conveniently, '-' '-' a args to pdftotext and docx2txt.pl work fine
;; fixme: naming inconsistency (fn name and buffer name)
(let ((buffer (get-buffer-create "*attachment-to-text*")))
(with-current-buffer buffer
(setq buffer-read-only nil)
(erase-buffer))
(with-temp-buffer
;; "based on mm-pipe-part in mm-decode.el"
(mm-with-unibyte-buffer
(mm-insert-part handle)
(mm-add-meta-html-tag handle)
(let ((coding-system-for-write 'binary))
(call-process-region (point-min) (point-max)
cmd nil buffer nil "-" "-"))))
(pop-to-buffer buffer)
(goto-char (point-min))
(text-mode)
(visual-line-mode)
(view-mode)))
(defun user/notmuch-show-pop-attachment-to-buffer ()
;; "based on notmuch-show-apply-to-current-part-handle"
(interactive)
(let ((handle (notmuch-show-current-part-handle)))
;;(message "%s" handle)
(unwind-protect
(pcase (car (nth 1 handle))
("application/pdf"
(user/mm-pipe-- handle "pdftotext"))
("application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document"
(user/mm-pipe-- handle "docx2txt.pl"))
(_ (notmuch-show-save-part)))
(kill-buffer (mm-handle-buffer handle)))))
(setq notmuch-show-part-button-default-action
#'user/notmuch-show-pop-attachment-to-buffer)
## Overwriting the sender address
If you want to always use the same sender address, then the following
defadvice can help you.
(defadvice notmuch-mua-reply (around notmuch-fix-sender)
(let ((sender "Max Monster <max.monster@example.com>"))
ad-do-it))
(ad-activate 'notmuch-mua-reply)
## Initial cursor position in notmuch 0.15 hello window
In notmuch version 0.15 emacs client the handling of cursor position in
notmuch hello window has been simplified to a version which suits best
most cases.
Initially the cursor is positioned at the beginning of buffer.
Some users liked the "ancient" version where cursor was moved to the
first `Saved searches` button.
Add the following code to your notmuch emacs configuration file in
case you want this behaviour:
(add-hook 'notmuch-hello-refresh-hook
(lambda ()
(if (and (eq (point) (point-min))
(search-forward "Saved searches:" nil t))
(progn
(forward-line)
(widget-forward 1))
(if (eq (widget-type (widget-at)) 'editable-field)
(beginning-of-line)))))
## Add a key binding to add/remove/toggle a tag
The `notmuch-{search,show,tree}-tag` functions are very useful for
making quick tag key bindings. The arguments to these functions have
changed as notmuch has evolved but the following should work on all
versions of notmuch from 0.13 on. These functions take a list of
tag changes as argument. For example, an argument of (list "+spam"
"-inbox") adds the tag spam and deletes the tag inbox. Note the
argument must be a list even if there is only a single tag change
e.g., use (list "+deleted") to add the deleted tag.
For instance, here's an example of how to make a key binding to add
the "spam" tag and remove the "inbox" tag in notmuch-show-mode:
(define-key notmuch-show-mode-map "S"
(lambda ()
"mark message as spam"
(interactive)
(notmuch-show-tag (list "+spam" "-inbox"))))
You can do the same for threads in `notmuch-search-mode` by just
replacing "show" with "search" in the keymap and called functions, or
for messages in `notmuch-tree-mode` by replacing "show" by "tree". If
you want to tag a whole thread in `notmuch-tree-mode` use
`notmuch-tree-tag-thread` instead of `notmuch-tree-tag`.
You may also want the function in search mode apply to the all threads
in the selected region (if there is one). For notmuch prior to 0.17
this behaviour will occur automatically with the functions given
above. To get this behaviour on 0.17+ do the following:
(define-key notmuch-search-mode-map "S"
(lambda (&optional beg end)
"mark thread as spam"
(interactive (notmuch-interactive-region))
(notmuch-search-tag (list "+spam" "-inbox") beg end)))
The analogous functionality in notmuch-tree is currently missing.
The definitions above make use of a lambda function, but you could
also define a separate function first:
(defun notmuch-show-tag-spam ()
"mark message as spam"
(interactive)
(notmuch-show-add-tag (list "+spam" "-inbox")))
(define-key notmuch-show-mode-map "S" 'notmuch-show-tag-spam)
Here's a more complicated example of how to add a toggle "deleted"
key:
(define-key notmuch-show-mode-map "d"
(lambda ()
"toggle deleted tag for message"
(interactive)
(if (member "deleted" (notmuch-show-get-tags))
(notmuch-show-tag (list "-deleted"))
(notmuch-show-tag (list "+deleted")))))
## Adding many tagging keybindings
If you want to have have many tagging keybindings, you can save the typing
the few lines of boilerplate for every binding (for versions before 0.12,
you will need to change notmuch-show-apply-tag-macro).
(eval-after-load 'notmuch-show
'(define-key notmuch-show-mode-map "`" 'notmuch-show-apply-tag-macro))
(setq notmuch-show-tag-macro-alist
(list
'("m" "+notmuch::patch" "+notmuch::moreinfo" "-notmuch::needs-review")
'("n" "+notmuch::patch" "+notmuch::needs-review" "-notmuch::pushed")
'("o" "+notmuch::patch" "+notmuch::obsolete"
"-notmuch::needs-review" "-notmuch::moreinfo")
'("p" "-notmuch::pushed" "-notmuch::needs-review"
"-notmuch::moreinfo" "+pending")
'("P" "-pending" "-notmuch::needs-review" "-notmuch::moreinfo" "+notmuch::pushed")
'("r" "-notmuch::patch" "+notmuch::review")
'("s" "+notmuch::patch" "-notmuch::obsolete" "-notmuch::needs-review" "-notmuch::moreinfo" "+notmuch::stale")
'("t" "+notmuch::patch" "-notmuch::needs-review" "+notmuch::trivial")
'("w" "+notmuch::patch" "+notmuch::wip" "-notmuch::needs-review")))
(defun notmuch-show-apply-tag-macro (key)
(interactive "k")
(let ((macro (assoc key notmuch-show-tag-macro-alist)))
(apply 'notmuch-show-tag-message (cdr macro))))
## Restore reply-to-all key binding to 'r'
Starting from notmuch 0.12 the 'r' key is bound to reply-to-sender instead of
reply-to-all. Here's how to swap the reply to sender/all bindings in show mode:
(define-key notmuch-show-mode-map "r" 'notmuch-show-reply)
(define-key notmuch-show-mode-map "R" 'notmuch-show-reply-sender)
In search mode:
(define-key notmuch-search-mode-map "r" 'notmuch-search-reply-to-thread)
(define-key notmuch-search-mode-map "R" 'notmuch-search-reply-to-thread-sender)
And in tree mode:
(define-key notmuch-tree-mode-map "r" (notmuch-tree-close-message-pane-and #'notmuch-show-reply))
(define-key notmuch-tree-mode-map "R" (notmuch-tree-close-message-pane-and #'notmuch-show-reply-sender))
## How to do FCC/BCC...
The Emacs interface to notmuch will automatically add an `Fcc`
header to your outgoing mail so that any messages you send will also
be saved in your mail store. You can control where this copy of the
message is saved by setting the variable `notmuch-fcc-dirs` which defines the
subdirectory relative to the `database.path` setting from your
notmuch configuration in which to save the mail. Enter a directory
(without the maildir `/cur` ending which will be appended
automatically). Additional information can be found as usual using:
M-x describe-variable notmuch-fcc-dirs
An additional variable that can affect FCC settings in some cases is
`message-directory`. Emacs message-mode uses this variable for
postponed messages.
To customize both variables at the same time, use the fancy command:
M-x customize-apropos<RET>\(notmuch-fcc-dirs\)\|\(message-directory\)
This mechanism also allows you to select different folders to be
used for the outgoing mail depending on your selected `From`
address. Please see the documentation for the variable
`notmuch-fcc-dirs` in the customization window for how to arrange
this.
The `notmuch-fcc-dirs` variable is only taken into account when mails
are composed using `notmuch-mua-mail`. If you want to use the notmuch
mail user agent by default, the `mail-user-agent` needs to be
customized to use the `notmuch-user-agent`.
## How to customize `notmuch-saved-searches`
When starting notmuch, a list of saved searches and message counts is
displayed, replacing the older `notmuch-folders` command. The set of
saved searches displayed can be modified directly from the notmuch
interface (using the `[save]` button next to a previous search) or by
customising the variable `notmuch-saved-searches`.
An example setting for notmuch versions up to 0.17.x might be:
(setq notmuch-saved-searches '(("inbox" . "tag:inbox")
("unread" . "tag:inbox AND tag:unread")
("notmuch" . "tag:inbox AND to:notmuchmail.org")))
Starting from notmuch 0.18 the variable changed. It is backwards
compatible so the above will still work but the new style will be used
if you use customize and there are some new features available. The above would become
(setq notmuch-saved-searches '((:name "inbox" :query "tag:inbox")
(:name "unread" :query "tag:inbox AND tag:unread")
(:name "notmuch" :query "tag:inbox AND to:notmuchmail.org")))
The additional features are the possibility to set the search order
for the search, and the possibility to specify a different query for
displaying the count for the saved-search. For example
(setq notmuch-saved-searches '((:name "inbox"
:query "tag:inbox"
:count-query "tag:inbox and tag:unread"
:sort-order oldest-first)))
specifies a single saved search for inbox, but the number displayed by
the search will be the number of unread messages in the inbox, and the
sort order for this search will be oldest-first.
Of course, you can have any number of saved searches, each configured
with any supported search terms (see "notmuch help search-terms"), and
in the new style variable they can each have different count-queries
and sort orders.
Some users find it useful to add `and not tag:delete` to those
searches, as they use the `delete` tag to mark messages as
deleted. This causes messages that are marked as deleted to be removed
from the commonly used views of messages. Use whatever seems most
useful to you.
## Viewing HTML messages with an external viewer
The Emacs client can generally display HTML messages inline using one of the
supported HTML renderers. This is controlled by the `mm-text-html-renderer`
variable.
Sometimes it may be necessary to display the message, or a single MIME part, in
an external browser. This can be done by `(notmuch-show-view-part)`, bound to
`. v` by default.
This command will try to view the message part the point is on with an
external viewer. The mime-type of the part will determine what viewer
will be used. Typically a 'text/html' part will be send to your
browser.
The configuration for this is kept in so called `mailcap`
files. (typically the file is `~/.mailcap` or `/etc/mailcap`) If the
wrong viewer is started or something else goes wrong, there's a good
chance something needs to be adapted in the mailcap configuration.
For Example: The `copiousoutput` setting in mailcap files needs to be
removed for some mime-types to prevent immediate removal of temporary
files so the configured viewer can access them.
## msmtp, message mode and multiple accounts
As an alternative to running a mail server such as sendmail or postfix
just to send email, it is possible to use
[msmtp](http://msmtp.sourceforge.net/). This small application will
look like `/usr/bin/sendmail` to a MUA such as emacs message mode, but
will just forward the email to an external SMTP server. It's fairly
easy to set up and it supports several accounts for using different
SMTP servers. The msmtp pages have several examples.
A typical scenario is that you want to use the company SMTP server
for email coming from your company email address, and your personal
server for personal email. If msmtp is passed the envelope address
on the command line (the -f/--from option) it will automatically
pick the matching account. The only trick here seems to be getting
emacs to actually pass the envelope from. There are a number of
overlapping configuration variables that control this, and it's a
little confusion, but setting these three works for me:
- `mail-specify-envelope-from`: `t`
- `message-sendmail-envelope-from`: `header`
- `mail-envelope-from`: `header`
With that in place, you need a `.msmtprc` with the accounts configured
for the domains you want to send out using specific SMTP servers and
the rest will go to the default account.
## sending mail using smtpmail
<!-- By default message mode will use the system `sendmail` command to send
mail. However, on a typical desktop machine there may not be local SMTP
daemon running (nor it is configured to send mail outside of the system). -->
If setting up local `sendmail` or `msmtp` is not feasible or desirable,
the Emacs `smtpmail` package can be used to send email by talking to remote
SMTP server via TCP connection. It is pretty easy to configure:
1. Emacs variable `message-send-mail-function` has not been set
Initially, Emacs variable `message-send-mail-function` has value of
`sendmail-query-once`. When (notmuch) message mode is about to send email,
`sendmail-query-once` will ask how emacs should send email. Typing `smtp`
will configure `smtpmail` and Emacs may prompt for SMTP settings.
1. `M-x customize-group RET smtpmail`
As a minimum, 'Smtpmail Smtp Server' needs to be set.
After doing that, continue with `M-x load-library RET message` and
`M-x customize-variable RET message-send-mail-function`.
In the customization buffer select `message-smtpmail-send-it`.
1. Set some variables in .emacs or in [notmuch init file](/notmuch-emacs#notmuch_init_file)
(setq smtpmail-smtp-server "smtp.server.tld" ;; <-- edit this !!!
;; smtpmail-smtp-service 25 ;; 25 is default -- uncomment and edit if needed
;; smtpmail-stream-type 'starttls
;; smtpmail-debug-info t
;; smtpmail-debug-verb t
message-send-mail-function 'message-smtpmail-send-it)
Note that emacs 24 or newer is required for `smtpmail-stream-type`
(and smtp authentication) to be effective.
More information for smtpmail is available:
* In Emacs: `M-x info-display-manual smtpmail`
* [EmacsWiki Page](http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/SendingMail)
## <span id="address_completion">Address completion when composing</span>
There are currently three solutions to this:
### notmuch address
Starting with Notmuch 0.21, there is a builtin command to perform
autocompletion directly within Notmuch. Starting with 0.22, it is
configured by default, so if you have previously configured another
completion mechanism, you may want to try out the new internal
method. Use `M-x customize-variable RET notmuch-address-command` and
reset the value to "internal address completion" (`'internal` in
lisp).
If you are not yet running 0.22, you can still use it by adding a
wrapper around the command called, say, `notmuch-address`:
#!/bin/sh
exec notmuch address from:"$*"
Then you can set the `notmuch-address-command` to `notmuch-address`
(if it is in your `$PATH` of course, otherwise use an absolute path).
### bbdb
[bbdb](http://bbdb.sourceforge.net) is a contact database for emacs
that works quite nicely together with message mode, including
address autocompletion.
### notmuch database as an address book
You can also use the notmuch database as a mail address book itself.
To do this you need a command line tool that outputs likely address
candidates based on a search string. There are currently four
available:
* The python tool `notmuch_address.py` (`git clone
http://commonmeasure.org/~jkr/git/notmuch_addresses.git`) (slower, but
no compilation required so good for testing the setup)
* The C-based [notmuch-addrlookup](https://github.com/aperezdc/notmuch-addrlookup-c) by [Adrian Perez](http://perezdecastro.org/), which is faster but needs to be compiled.
git clone https://github.com/aperezdc/notmuch-addrlookup-c
cd notmuch-addrlookup-c
make
* The vala-based
[addrlookup](http://github.com/spaetz/vala-notmuch) The addrlookup binary needs to be compiled.
Grab
`http://github.com/spaetz/vala-notmuch/raw/static-sources/src/addrlookup.c`
and build it with:
cc -o addrlookup addrlookup.c `pkg-config --cflags --libs gobject-2.0` -lnotmuch
* Shell/fgrep/perl combination [nottoomuch-addresses.sh](https://github.com/domo141/nottoomuch/blob/master/nottoomuch-addresses.rst).
This tools maintains its own address "database" gathered from email
files notmuch knows and search from that "database" is done by `fgrep(1)`.
* python/sqlite combination [notmuch-abook](https://github.com/guyzmo/notmuch-abook/)
This tools also maintains an address database in sqlite after harvesting
from notmuch. It also includes a vim plugin.
You can perform tab-completion using any of these programs.
Just add the following to your [notmuch init file](/notmuch-emacs#notmuch_init_file):
(require 'notmuch-address)
(setq notmuch-address-command "/path/to/address_fetching_program")
(notmuch-address-message-insinuate)
### Google Contacts
[GooBook](http://code.google.com/p/goobook/) is a command-line tool for
accessing Google Contacts. Install and set it up according to its documentation.
To use GooBook with notmuch, use this wrapper script and set it up like the
programs above.
#!/bin/sh
goobook query "$*" | sed 's/\(.*\)\t\(.*\)\t.*/\2 \<\1\>/' | sed '/^$/d'
You can add the sender of a message to Google Contacts by piping the message
(`notmuch-show-pipe-message`) to `goobook add`.
### Akonadi
git clone https://github.com/mmehnert/akonadimailsearch
Install the development packages for kdepim on your system.
Enter the cloned repository and create a build directory:
mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..; make;
You will find the akonadimailsearch binary in the build/src directory. Copy it to ~/bin .
You can now add the following settings to your
[notmuch init file](/notmuch-emacs#notmuch_init_file):
(require 'notmuch-address)
(setq notmuch-address-command "~/bin/akonadimailsearch")
(notmuch-address-message-insinuate)
### Completion selection with helm
An address query might return multiple possible matches from which you
will have to select one. To ease this task, several different
frameworks in emacs support completion selection. One of them is
[helm](https://github.com/emacs-helm/helm). The following snippet
improves the out-of-the-box support for helm in notmuch as it enables
the required-match option and also does not ignore the first returned
address.
(setq notmuch-address-selection-function
(lambda (prompt collection initial-input)
(completing-read prompt (cons initial-input collection) nil t nil 'notmuch-address-history)))
## How to sign/encrypt messages with gpg
Messages can be signed using gpg by invoking
`M-x mml-secure-sign-pgpmime` (or `M-x mml-secure-encrypt-pgpmime`).
These functions are available via the standard `message-mode` keybindings
`C-c C-m s p` and `C-c C-m c p`.
In Emacs 28 you will be asked whether to sign the message using the
sender and are offered to remember your choice. In Emacs 27 you will
get a slightly misleading error and have to manually add the following
line to you init file. Older Emacsen just do this unconditionally.
(setq mml-secure-openpgp-sign-with-sender t)
To sign outgoing mail by default, use the `message-setup-hook` in your
init file:
;; Sign messages by default.
(add-hook 'message-setup-hook 'mml-secure-sign-pgpmime)
This inserts the required `<#part sign=pgpmime>` into the beginning
of the mail text body and will be converted into a pgp signature
when sending (so one can just manually delete that line if signing
is not required).
Alternatively, you may prefer to use `mml-secure-message-sign-pgpmime` instead
of `mml-secure-sign-pgpmime` to sign the whole message instead of just one
part.
If you want to automatically encrypt outgoing messages if the keyring
contains a public key for every recipient, you can add something like
that to your `.emacs` file:
(defun message-recipients ()
"Return a list of all recipients in the message, looking at TO, CC and BCC.
Each recipient is in the format of `mail-extract-address-components'."
(mapcan (lambda (header)
(let ((header-value (message-fetch-field header)))
(and
header-value
(mail-extract-address-components header-value t))))
'("To" "Cc" "Bcc")))
(defun message-all-epg-keys-available-p ()
"Return non-nil if the pgp keyring has a public key for each recipient."
(require 'epa)
(let ((context (epg-make-context epa-protocol)))
(catch 'break
(dolist (recipient (message-recipients))
(let ((recipient-email (cadr recipient)))
(when (and recipient-email (not (epg-list-keys context recipient-email)))
(throw 'break nil))))
t)))
(defun message-sign-encrypt-if-all-keys-available ()
"Add MML tag to encrypt message when there is a key for each recipient.
Consider adding this function to `message-send-hook' to
systematically send encrypted emails when possible."
(when (message-all-epg-keys-available-p)
(mml-secure-message-sign-encrypt)))
(add-hook 'message-send-hook #'message-sign-encrypt-if-all-keys-available
### Troubleshooting message-mode gpg support
- If you have trouble with expired subkeys, you may have encountered
emacs bug #7931. This is fixed in git commit 301ea744c on
2011-02-02. Note that if you have the Debian package easypg
installed, it will shadow the fixed version of easypg included with
emacs.
- If you wish `mml-secure-encrypt` to encrypt also for the sender, then
`M-x customize-variable mml2015-encrypt-to-self` might suit your need.
## Reading and verifying encrypted and signed messages
Encrypted and signed mime messages can be read and verified with:
(setq notmuch-crypto-process-mime t)
Decrypting inline pgp messages can be done by selecting an the inline pgp area
and using:
M-x epa-decrypt-region RET
Verifying of inline pgp messages is not supported directly ([reasons
here](https://dkg.fifthhorseman.net/notes/inline-pgp-harmful/)). You can still
verify a part using
M-x notmuch-show-pipe-part RET gpg --verify RET
## Multiple identities using gnus-alias
[gnus-alias](http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/GnusAlias) allows you to
define multiple identities when using `message-mode`. You can specify
the from address, organization, extra headers (including *Bcc*), extra
body text, and signature for each identity. Identities are chosen
based on a set of rules. When you are in message mode, you can switch
identities using gnus-alias.
### Installation
- put `gnus-alias.el` on your load Emacs-Lisp load path (add new directory
to load path by writing `(add-to-list 'load-path "/some/load/path")` into
your `.emacs`.
- Add the following to your `.emacs`
(autoload 'gnus-alias-determine-identity "gnus-alias" "" t)
(add-hook 'message-setup-hook 'gnus-alias-determine-identity)
Looking into `gnus-alias.el` gives a bit more information...
### Example Configuration
Here is an example configuration.
;; Define two identities, "home" and "work"
(setq gnus-alias-identity-alist
'(("home"
nil ;; Does not refer to any other identity
"John Doe <jdoe@example.net>" ;; Sender address
nil ;; No organization header
nil ;; No extra headers
nil ;; No extra body text
"~/.signature")
("work"
nil
"John Doe <john.doe@example.com>"
"Example Corp."
(("Bcc" . "john.doe@example.com"))
nil
"~/.signature.work")))
;; Use "home" identity by default
(setq gnus-alias-default-identity "home")
;; Define rules to match work identity
(setq gnus-alias-identity-rules
'(("work" ("any" "john.doe@\\(example\\.com\\|help\\.example.com\\)" both) "work")))
;; Determine identity when message-mode loads
(add-hook 'message-setup-hook 'gnus-alias-determine-identity)
When `gnus-alias` has been loaded (using autoload, require, *M-x load-library*
or *M-x load-file* (load-file takes file path -- therefore it can be used
without any `.emacs` changes)) the following commands can be used to get(/set)
more information (some of these have "extensive documentation"):
M-x describe-variable RET gnus-alias-identity-alist
M-x describe-variable RET gnus-alias-identity-rules
M-x describe-variable RET gnus-alias-default-identity
M-x customize-group RET gnus-alias RET
or
M-x gnus-alias-customize RET
The last two do the same thing.
See also the **Usage:** section in `gnus-alias.el`.
## Multiple identities (and more) with message-templ
Another option for multiple identities is
[message-templ](http://git.tethera.net/message-templ.git)
(also a available in marmalade). This provides roughly the same
facilities as wanderlust's template facility.
See
[example.emacs.el](https://git.tethera.net/message-templ.git/tree/example.emacs.el)
for some simple examples of usage.
## Resending (or bouncing) messages
Add the following to your [notmuch init file](/notmuch-emacs#notmuch_init_file) to be able
to resend the current message in show mode.
(define-key notmuch-show-mode-map "b"
(lambda (&optional address)
"Bounce the current message."
(interactive "sBounce To: ")
(notmuch-show-view-raw-message)
(message-resend address)))
## `notmuch-hello` refresh status message
Add the following to your [notmuch init file](/notmuch-emacs#notmuch_init_file) to get a
status message about the change in the number of messages in the mail store
when refreshing the `notmuch-hello` buffer.
(defvar notmuch-hello-refresh-count 0)
(defun notmuch-hello-refresh-status-message ()
(unless no-display
(let* ((new-count
(string-to-number
(car (process-lines notmuch-command "count"))))
(diff-count (- new-count notmuch-hello-refresh-count)))
(cond
((= notmuch-hello-refresh-count 0)
(message "You have %s messages."
(notmuch-hello-nice-number new-count)))
((> diff-count 0)
(message "You have %s more messages since last refresh."
(notmuch-hello-nice-number diff-count)))
((< diff-count 0)
(message "You have %s fewer messages since last refresh."
(notmuch-hello-nice-number (- diff-count)))))
(setq notmuch-hello-refresh-count new-count))))
(add-hook 'notmuch-hello-refresh-hook 'notmuch-hello-refresh-status-message)
## Replacing tabs with spaces in subject and header
Mailman mailing list software rewrites and rewraps long message subjects in
a way that causes TABs to appear in the middle of the subject and header
lines. Add this to your [notmuch init file](/notmuch-emacs#notmuch_init_file) to replace
tabs with spaces in subject lines:
(defun notmuch-show-subject-tabs-to-spaces ()
"Replace tabs with spaces in subject line."
(goto-char (point-min))
(when (re-search-forward "^Subject:" nil t)
(while (re-search-forward "\t" (line-end-position) t)
(replace-match " " nil nil))))
(add-hook 'notmuch-show-markup-headers-hook 'notmuch-show-subject-tabs-to-spaces)
And in header lines:
(defun notmuch-show-header-tabs-to-spaces ()
"Replace tabs with spaces in header line."
(setq header-line-format
(notmuch-show-strip-re
(replace-regexp-in-string "\t" " " (notmuch-show-get-subject)))))
(add-hook 'notmuch-show-hook 'notmuch-show-header-tabs-to-spaces)
## Hiding unread messages in notmuch-show
I like to have an inbox saved search, but only show unread messages when they
view a thread. This takes two steps:
1. Apply
[this patch from Mark Walters](https://notmuchmail.org/pipermail/notmuch/2012/010817.html)
to add the `notmuch-show-filter-thread` function.
1. Add the following hook to your emacs configuration:
(defun expand-only-unread-hook () (interactive)
(let ((unread nil)
(open (notmuch-show-get-message-ids-for-open-messages)))
(notmuch-show-mapc (lambda ()
(when (member "unread" (notmuch-show-get-tags))
(setq unread t))))
(when unread
(let ((notmuch-show-hook (remove 'expand-only-unread-hook notmuch-show-hook)))
(notmuch-show-filter-thread "tag:unread")))))
(add-hook 'notmuch-show-hook 'expand-only-unread-hook)
## Changing the color of a saved search based on some other search
I like to have a saved search for my inbox, but have it change color when there
are thread with unread messages in the inbox. I accomplish this with the
following code in my emacs config:
(defun color-inbox-if-unread () (interactive)
(save-excursion
(goto-char (point-min))
(let ((cnt (car (process-lines "notmuch" "count" "tag:inbox and tag:unread"))))
(when (> (string-to-number cnt) 0)
(save-excursion
(when (search-forward "inbox" (point-max) t)
(let* ((overlays (overlays-in (match-beginning 0) (match-end 0)))
(overlay (car overlays)))
(when overlay
(overlay-put overlay 'face '((:inherit bold) (:foreground "green")))))))))))
(add-hook 'notmuch-hello-refresh-hook 'color-inbox-if-unread)
## Linking to notmuch messages and threads from the Circe IRC client
[Circe](https://github.com/jorgenschaefer/circe/wiki) is an IRC client for emacs.
To have clickable buttons for notmuch messages and threads, add the following to
`lui-buttons-list` (using, e.g. M-x customize-variable)
("\\(?:id\\|mid\\|thread\\):[0-9A-Za-z][0-9A-Za-z.@-]*" 0 notmuch-show 0)
If you have notmuch-pick installed, it works fine for this as well.
## Linking to notmuch messages from org-mode
Support for linking to notmuch messages is distributed with org-mode,
but as a contrib file, so you might have to work a bit to load it.
In Debian and derivatives,
(add-to-list 'load-path "/usr/share/org-mode/lisp")
In NixOS, using `emacsWithPackages (epkgs: [ epkgs.orgPackages.org-plus-contrib ])`,
(loop for p in load-path
do (if (file-accessible-directory-p p)
(let ((m (directory-files-recursively p "^ol-notmuch.el$")))
(if m (add-to-list 'load-path (file-name-directory (car m)))))))
Then
(require 'ol-notmuch)
In general it is nice to have a key for org-links (not just for notmuch). For example
(define-key global-map "\C-c l" 'org-store-link)
If you're using `use-package` the package can be loaded using the following:
```emacs-lisp
(use-package ol-notmuch
:ensure t
:bind
("C-c l" . org-store-link))
```
Note the package was renamed from `org-notmuch` to `ol-notmuch` in recent
versions of org-mode. If you're using an old version of notmuch you might want
to `(require 'org-notmuch)` instead.
## Viewing diffs in notmuch
The following code allows you to view an inline patch in diff-mode
directly from notmuch. This means that normal diff-mode commands like
refine, next hunk etc all work.
(defun my-notmuch-show-view-as-patch ()
"View the the current message as a patch."
(interactive)
(let* ((id (notmuch-show-get-message-id))
(msg (notmuch-show-get-message-properties))
(part (notmuch-show-get-part-properties))
(subject (concat "Subject: " (notmuch-show-get-subject) "\n"))
(diff-default-read-only t)
(buf (get-buffer-create (concat "*notmuch-patch-" id "*")))
(map (make-sparse-keymap)))
(define-key map "q" 'notmuch-bury-or-kill-this-buffer)
(switch-to-buffer buf)
(let ((inhibit-read-only t))
(erase-buffer)
(insert subject)
(insert (notmuch-get-bodypart-text msg part nil)))
(set-buffer-modified-p nil)
(diff-mode)
(lexical-let ((new-ro-bind (cons 'buffer-read-only map)))
(add-to-list 'minor-mode-overriding-map-alist new-ro-bind))
(goto-char (point-min))))
and then this function needs to bound to `. d` in the keymap
(define-key 'notmuch-show-part-map "d" 'my-notmuch-show-view-as-patch)
## Interfacing with Patchwork
[Patchwork](http://jk.ozlabs.org/projects/patchwork/) is a web-based system for
tracking patches sent to a mailing list. While the Notmuch project doesn't use
it, many other open source projects do. Having an easy way to get from a patch
email in your favorite mail client to the web page of the patch in the Patchwork
instance is a cool thing to have. Here's how to abuse the notmuch stash feature
to achieve this. (Don't know stash? See `notmuch-show-stash-mlarchive-link`,
bound to `c l` in `notmuch-show`.)
The trick needed is turning the email Message-ID into a unique Patchwork ID
assigned by Patchwork. We'll use the `pwclient` command-line tool to achieve
this. You'll first need to get that working and configured for the Patchwork
instance you're using. That part is beyond this tip here; please refer to
Patchwork documentation.
Check your configuration on the command-line, for example:
/path/to/pwclient -p <the-project> -n 5 -f "%{id}"
Note that the -f format argument may require a reasonably new version of the
client. Once you have the above working, you can `M-x customize-variable RET
notmuch-show-stash-mlarchive-link-alist RET`.
Add a new entry with "Function returning the URL:" set to:
(lambda (message-id)
(concat "http://patchwork.example.com/patch/"
(nth 0
(process-lines "/path/to/pwclient" "search"
"-p" "the-project"
"-m" (concat "<" message-id ">")
"-n" "1"
"-f" "%{id}"))))
Replacing `http://patchwork.example.com/patch/`, `/path/to/pwclient`, and
`the-project` appropriately. You should now be able to stash the Patchwork URL
using `c l`.
Going further, if the patch has been committed, you can get the commit hash with
this:
(lambda (message-id)
(nth 0
(process-lines "/path/to/pwclient" "search"
"-p" "the-project"
"-m" (concat "<" message-id ">")
"-n" "1"
"-f" "%{commit_ref}")))
And finally, if the project has a web interface to its source repository, you
can turn the commit hash into a URL pointing there, for example:
(lambda (message-id)
(concat "http://cgit.example.com/the-project/commit/?id="
(nth 0
(process-lines "/path/to/pwclient" "search"
"-p" "the-project"
"-m" (concat "<" message-id ">")
"-n" "1"
"-f" "%{commit_ref}"))))
## Never forget attachments
Very often we forget to actually attach the file when we send an email
that's supposed to have an attachment. Did this never happen to you?
If not, then it will.
Since version 0.29 Notmuch includes the `notmuch-mua-attachment-check`
function. This function checks whether a message references an
attachment and if it finds none it asks for confirmation before
sending the message. The function is meant to be added to the
`message-send-hook`, like so:
(add-hook 'message-send-hook 'notmuch-mua-attachment-check)
The "customize"able variable `notmuch-mua-attachment-regexp` controls
how reference to an attachment are identified. By default, it
identifies English and French terms. For example, the following makes
it recognise English and Portuguese terms:
(setq-default notmuch-mua-attachment-regexp
"\\b\\(attach\\|attachment\\|attached\\|anexo\\|anexado\\)\\b")
## Avoid forgetting the subject
It happens that we forget to enter the Subject line, particularly when
we leave that to the end. It's easy to write a function that checks
whether the Subject is empty, and add it to `message-send-hook` to get
confirmation:
(defun my-notmuch-mua-empty-subject-check ()
"Request confirmation before sending a message with empty subject"
(when (and (null (message-field-value "Subject"))
(not (y-or-n-p "Subject is empty, send anyway? ")))
(error "Sending message cancelled: empty subject.")))
(add-hook 'message-send-hook 'my-notmuch-mua-empty-subject-check)
## Applying patches to git repositories
The `notmuch-extract-thread-patches` and
`notmuch-extract-message-patches` commands from the `elpa-mailscripts`
package in Debian (and its derivatives) can do this for you.
## Allow content preference based on message context
The preference for which sub-part of a multipart/alternative part is shown is
globally set. For example, if you prefer showing the html version over the text
based, you can set:
(setq notmuch-multipart/alternative-discouraged '("text/plain" "text/html"))
However, sometimes you might want to adapt your preference depending on the
context. You can override the default settings on a per-message basis by
providing a function that has access to the message and which returns the
discouraged type list. For example:
(defun my/determine-discouraged (msg)
(let* ((headers (plist-get msg :headers))
(from (or (plist-get headers :From) "")))
(cond
((string-match "whatever@mail.address.com" from)
'("text/plain"))
(t
'("text/html" "multipart/related")))))
(setq notmuch-multipart/alternative-discouraged
'my/determine-discouraged)
This would discourage text/html and multipart/related generally, but discourage
text/plain should the message be sent from whatever@mail.address.com.
## See the recipient address instead of your address when listing sent messages
If you like to see your sent messages in unthreaded view, by default you will
see your address in the authors column, which is maybe not what you want. The
following code allows for showing the recipients if your email address (an
arbitrary address, whatever@mail.address.com in the example) is included in the
From field.
(defun my/notmuch-unthreaded-show-recipient-if-sent (format-string result)
"Custom function for `notmuch-unthreaded-result-format' to use instead of \"authors\".
Show \"From:\" address from RESULT, unless we sent the message. Then show \"To:\".
Formatted with FORMAT-STRING.
Example on wiki https://notmuchmail.org/emacstips/"
(let* ((headers (plist-get result :headers))
(to (plist-get headers :To))
(author (plist-get headers :From))
;; NOTE: `user-mail-address` has to be set correctly
(is-me? (string-match user-mail-address author))
(face (if (plist-get result :match)
'notmuch-tree-match-author-face
'notmuch-tree-no-match-author-face)))
(propertize
(format format-string
(if is-me?
;; NOTE: "To:" may have more than one address.
;; `notmuch-tree-clean-address` will pull
;; all but the last address combined as name
(concat "↪" (notmuch-tree-clean-address to))
(notmuch-tree-clean-address author)))
'face face)))
(setq notmuch-unthreaded-result-format
'(("date" . "%12s ")
(my/notmuch-unthreaded-show-recipient-if-sent . "%-20.20s")
((("subject" . "%s"))
. " %-54s ")
("tags" . "(%s)")))
## Issues with Emacs 24 (unsupported since notmuch 0.31 (2020-09-05))
If notmuch-show-mode behaves badly for you in emacs 24.x try adding one of
(setq gnus-inhibit-images nil)
or
(require 'gnus-art)
to your .emacs file.
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