1 [[!img notmuch-logo.png alt="Notmuch logo" class="left"]]
2 #Tips and Tricks for using notmuch with Emacs
4 The main Notmuch message reading client is **notmuch.el**, which is an
5 [emacs](http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/) major mode, and is
6 included in the notmuch package.
10 To use the Notmuch emacs mode, first add the following line to your
15 Then, either run "emacs -f notmuch", or execute the command `M-x
16 notmuch` from within a running emacs.
18 ## Navigating & reading mails
20 When first starting notmuch in emacs, you will be presented with the
21 notmuch "hello" page. From here you can do searches, see lists of
22 recent searches, saved searches, message tags, help information, etc.
24 Executing a search will open a new buffer in `notmuch-search-mode`
25 displaying the search results. Each line in the search results
26 represents a message thread. Hitting the '?' key will show help for
29 In general, the 'q' will kill the current notmuch buffer and return
30 you to the previous buffer (sort of like a 'pop').
32 In search mode, navigating to a thread and hitting return will then
33 open a new buffer in `notmuch-show-mode`, which will show the actual
34 message contents of the thread.
38 In any notmuch mode, you can start a new message by hitting the 'm'
39 key. To reply to a message or thread, just hit the 'r' key.
41 When composing new messages, you will be entered in emacs's
42 `message-mode`, which is a powerful mode for composing and sending
43 messages. When in message move, you can type `C-c ?` for help.
45 If you would like to use address autocompletion when composing
46 messages, see [address completion](#address_completion).
48 When you are ready to send a message, type `C-c C-c`. By default
49 message mode will use your sendmail command to send mail, so make sure
50 that works. One annoying standard configuration of message mode is
51 that it will hide the sent mail in your emacs frame stack, but it will
52 not close it. If you type several mails in an emacs session they will
53 accumulate and make switching between buffers more annoying. You can
54 avoid that behavior by adding `(setq message-kill-buffer-on-exit t)`
55 in your `.emacs` file which will really close the mail window after
60 Using the `M-x mml-attach-file` command, you can attach any file to be
61 send with your mail. By default this command is bound to the menu item
62 *Attachments--Attach File* with the key binding `C-c C-a`. The
63 variable `mml-dnd-attach-options` (`M-x
64 customize-variable<RET>mml-dnd-attach-options`) can be set to allow
65 the prompting for various attachment options (such as
66 inline/attachment) if you want to do that.
68 For those who prefer a more graphical interface, you can also simply
69 drag and drop files from a file manager into a mail composition window
70 to have them attached. In Ubuntu this works without any modifications
71 if files are dragged from the file manager.
73 And for those who prefer working from command line, the following
74 script opens new emacs window with empty message and attaches files
75 mentioned as script arguments. (Note: The script expects that you have
76 `(server-start)` in your .emacs)
81 attach_cmds="$attach_cmds (mml-attach-file \"$1\")"
84 emacsclient -a '' -c -e "(progn (compose-mail) $attach_cmds)"
89 # Advanced tips and tweaks
91 ## Add a key binding to add/remove/toggle a tag
93 The `notmuch-{search,show}-{add,remove}-tag` functions are very useful
94 for making quick tag key bindings. For instance, here's an example
95 of how to make a key binding to add the "spam" tag and remove the
96 "inbox" tag in notmuch-show-mode:
98 (define-key notmuch-show-mode-map "S"
100 "mark message as spam"
102 (notmuch-show-add-tag "spam")
103 (notmuch-show-remove-tag "inbox")))
105 You can do the same for threads in `notmuch-search-mode` by just
106 replacing "show" with "search" in the called functions.
108 The definition above makes use of a lambda function, but you could
109 also define a separate function first:
111 (defun notmuch-show-tag-spam()
112 "mark message as spam"
114 (notmuch-show-add-tag "spam")
115 (notmuch-show-remove-tag "inbox")))
116 (define-key notmuch-show-mode-map "S" 'notmuch-show-tag-spam)
118 Here's a more complicated example of how to add a toggle "deleted"
121 (define-key notmuch-show-mode-map "d"
123 "toggle deleted tag for message"
125 (if (member "deleted" (notmuch-show-get-tags))
126 (notmuch-show-remove-tag "deleted")
127 (notmuch-show-add-tag "deleted"))))
129 ## How to do FCC/BCC...
131 The Emacs interface to notmuch will automatically add an `Fcc`
132 header to your outgoing mail so that any messages you send will also
133 be saved in your mail store. You can control where this copy of the
134 message is saved by setting the variables `message-directory` (which
135 defines a base directory) and `notmuch-fcc-dirs` which defines the
136 subdirectory relative to `message-directory` in which to save the
137 mail. Enter a directory (without the maildir `/cur` ending which
138 will be appended automatically). To customize both variables at the
139 same time, use the fancy command:
141 M-x customize-apropos<RET>\(notmuch-fcc-dirs\)\|\(message-directory\)
143 This mechanism also allows you to select different folders to be
144 used for the outgoing mail depending on your selected `From`
145 address. Please see the documentation for the variable
146 `notmuch-fcc-dirs` in the customization window for how to arrange
149 ## How to customize `notmuch-saved-searches`
151 When starting notmuch, a list of saved searches and message counts is
152 displayed, replacing the older `notmuch-folders` command. The set of
153 saved searches displayed can be modified directly from the notmuch
154 interface (using the `[save]` button next to a previous search) or by
155 customising the variable `notmuch-saved-searches`.
157 An example setting might be:
159 (setq notmuch-saved-searches '(("inbox" . "tag:inbox")
160 ("unread" . "tag:inbox AND tag:unread")
161 ("notmuch" . "tag:inbox AND to:notmuchmail.org")))
163 Of course, you can have any number of saved searches, each configured
164 with any supported search terms (see "notmuch help search-terms").
166 Some users find it useful to add `and not tag:delete` to those
167 searches, as they use the `delete` tag to mark messages as
168 deleted. This causes messages that are marked as deleted to be removed
169 from the commonly used views of messages. Use whatever seems most
172 ## Viewing HTML messages with an external viewer
174 The emacs client can often display an HTML message inline, but it
175 sometimes fails for one reason or another, (or is perhaps inadequate
176 if you really need to see the graphical presentation of the HTML
179 In this case, it can be useful to display the message in an external
180 viewer, such as a web browser. Here's a little script that Keith
181 Packard wrote, which he calls `view-html`:
186 cat "$@" > "$dir"/msg
187 if munpack -C "$dir" -t < "$dir"/msg 2>&1 | grep 'Did not find'; then
188 sed -n '/[Hh][Tt][Mm][Ll]/,$p' "$dir"/msg > $dir/part1.html
191 for i in "$dir"/part*; do
192 if grep -q -i -e '<html>' -e 'text/html' "$i"; then
199 Save that script somewhere in your `${PATH}`, make it executable,
200 and change the invocation of `iceweasel` to any other HTML viewer if
201 necessary. Then within the emacs client, press '|' to pipe the
202 current message, then type "view-html".
204 Keith mentions the following caveat, "Note that if iceweasel isn't
205 already running, it seems to shut down when the script exits. I
208 ## msmtp, message mode and multiple accounts
210 As an alternative to running a mail server such as sendmail or
211 postfix just to send email, it is possible to use
212 [msmtp](http://msmtp.sourceforge.net/). This small application will
213 look like `/usr/bin/sendmail` to a MUA such as emacs message mode, but
214 will just forward the email to an external SMTP server. It's fairly
215 easy to set up and it support several account for using different
216 SMTP servers. The msmtp pages have several examples.
218 A typical scenario is that you want to use the company SMTP server
219 for email coming from your company email address, and your personal
220 server for personal email. If msmtp is passed the envelope address
221 on the command line (the -f/--from option) it will automatically
222 pick the matching account. The only trick here seems to be getting
223 emacs to actually pass the envelope from. There are a number of
224 overlapping configuration variables that control this, and it's a
225 little confusion, but setting these three works for me:
227 - `mail-specify-envelope-from`: `t`
229 - `message-sendmail-envelope-from`: `header`
231 - `mail-envelope-from`: `header`
233 With that in place, you need a `.msmtprc` with the accounts configured
234 for the domains you want to send out using specific SMTP servers and
235 the rest will go to the default account.
237 ## <span id="address_completion">Address completion when composing</span>
239 There are currently two solutions to this:
241 [bbdb](http://bbdb.sourceforge.net) is a contact database for emacs
242 that works quite nicely together with message mode, including
243 address autocompletion.
245 You can also use the notmuch database as a mail address book itself.
246 To do this you need a command line tool that outputs likely address
247 candidates based on a search string. There are currently two
250 * The python tool `notmuch_address.py` (`git clone
251 http://jkr.acm.jhu.edu/git/notmuch_addresses.git`) (slower, but
252 no compilation required so good for testing the setup)
255 [addrlookup](http://github.com/spaetz/vala-notmuch) (faster, but
256 needs compiling). The addrlookup binary needs to be compiled.
258 `http://github.com/spaetz/vala-notmuch/raw/static-sources/src/addrlookup.c`
261 cc -o addrlookup addrlookup.c `pkg-config --cflags --libs gobject-2.0` -lnotmuch
263 EUDC is integrated into emacs and is needed for tab completion of
264 email addresses. See [this
265 mail](http://mid.gmane.org/87fx3uflkx.fsf@jhu.edu)
266 (id:87fx3uflkx.fsf@jhu.edu) for more information.
268 ## How to sign/encrypt messages with gpg
270 Messages can by signed using gpg by invoking `M-x
271 mml-secure-sign-pgpmime` (or `M-x
272 mml-secure-encrypt-pgpmime`). These functions are available via the
273 standard `message-mode` keybindings `C-c C-m s p` and `C-c C-m c
274 p`. To sign outgoing mail by default, use the `message-setup-hook`
275 in your `.emacs` file:
277 ;; Sign messages by default.
278 (add-hook 'message-setup-hook 'mml-secure-sign-pgpmime)
280 This inserts the required `<#part sign=pgpmime>` into the beginning
281 of the mail text body and will be converted into a pgp signature
282 when sending (so one can just manually delete that line if signing