special-tags.mdwn



[[!img notmuch-logo.png alt="Notmuch logo" class="left"]]
# Tags special to notmuch

This page describes the tags that the notmuch lib, cli, and emacs ui recognize
and treat specially, and whether these tags can be configured.

## Tags special to lib

None of the tags recognized by the lib are configurable.

### Synchronization between tags and maildir flags

 - draft
 - flagged
 - passed
 - replied
 - unread


The above tags are recognized by the lib, and synchronized with the
corresponding maildir flags through the following lib function calls:

 - `notmuch_message_maildir_flags_to_tags()`
 - `notmuch_message_tags_to_maildir_flags()`

The cli calls the above functions if the maildir.synchronize_flags configuration
option is enabled. Maildir flags are synchronized to tags in "notmuch new", and
tags are synchronized to maildir flags in "notmuch tag" and "notmuch restore".

### Automatic tags

 - attachment
 - signed
 - encrypted

The above tags are assigned to messages that have an attachment, or are signed
or encrypted, when adding a message to the database through the lib function
call:

 - `notmuch_database_add_message()`

The cli calls the above function in "notmuch new".

## Tags special to cli

All of the tags recognized by the cli are configurable.

### Default tags for new messages

 - unread
 - inbox

These are the tags assigned to new message by default. The tags can be changed
using the new.tags configuration option.

### Default excluded tags

 - deleted
 - spam

These are the default tags used for excluding messages from search results. The
tags can be changed using the search.exclude_tags configuration option.

## Tags special to Emacs UI

All of the tags recognized by the emacs ui are configurable.

### Reading mail

 - unread
 - inbox

The elementary mail reading commands automatically remove the tag(s) specified
by `notmuch-show-mark-read-tags` ("unread" by default) when visiting a message,
and remove the tag(s) specified by `notmuch-archive-tags` ("inbox" by default)
when archiving a message.

### Other

 - replied
 - flagged

The tag(s) specified by `notmuch-message-replied-tags` ("replied" by default)
are added to messages that are replied to, and "flagged" messages are
highlighted through `notmuch-search-line-faces` by default.