1 [[!img notmuch-logo.png alt="Notmuch logo" class="left"]]
2 # Tips and Tricks for using notmuch with Emacs
4 One of the more popular notmuch message reading clients is
5 **notmuch.el**, an [emacs](http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/) major
6 mode for interacting with notmuch. It is included in the notmuch
7 package (notmuch-emacs in Debian). This page goes over some usage
8 tips for using notmuch with Emacs.
14 Have a look at the [Howto](http://notmuchmail.org/howto/) for
15 prerequisites. Be sure you have done the general setup using the
18 To use the Notmuch emacs mode, first add the following line to your
23 or you can load the package via autoload:
25 (autoload 'notmuch "notmuch" "notmuch mail" t)
27 Then, either run "emacs -f notmuch", or execute the command `M-x
28 notmuch` from within a running emacs.
30 ## Navigating & reading mails
32 When first starting notmuch in emacs, you will be presented with the
33 notmuch "hello" page. If it exits with an error after writing
34 "Welcome to notmutch. You have" you need to do the basic notmuch setup
36 From here you can do searches, see lists of recent
37 searches, saved searches, message tags, help information, etc.
39 Executing a search will open a new buffer in `notmuch-search-mode`
40 displaying the search results. Each line in the search results
41 represents a message thread. Hitting the '?' key will show help for
44 In general, the 'q' will kill the current notmuch buffer and return
45 you to the previous buffer (sort of like a 'pop').
47 In search mode, navigating to a thread and hitting return will then
48 open a new buffer in `notmuch-show-mode`, which will show the actual
49 message contents of the thread.
53 In any notmuch mode, you can start a new message by hitting the 'm'
54 key. To reply to a message or thread, just hit the 'r' key.
56 When composing new messages, you will be entered in emacs's
57 `message-mode`, which is a powerful mode for composing and sending
58 messages. When in message mode, you can type `C-c ?` for help.
60 If you would like to use address autocompletion when composing
61 messages, see [address completion](#address_completion).
63 When you are ready to send a message, type `C-c C-c`. By default
64 message mode will use your sendmail command to send mail, so make sure
65 that works. One annoying standard configuration of message mode is
66 that it will hide the sent mail in your emacs frame stack, but it will
67 not close it. If you type several mails in an emacs session they will
68 accumulate and make switching between buffers more annoying. You can
69 avoid that behavior by adding `(setq message-kill-buffer-on-exit t)`
70 in your `.emacs` file (or doing `M-x
71 customize-variable<RET>message-kill-buffer-on-exit<RET>`) which will
72 really close the mail window after sending it.
76 Using the `M-x mml-attach-file` command, you can attach any file to be
77 sent with your mail. By default this command is bound to the menu item
78 *Attachments--Attach File* with the key binding `C-c C-a`. The
79 variable `mml-dnd-attach-options` (`M-x
80 customize-variable<RET>mml-dnd-attach-options<RET>`) can be set to
81 allow the prompting for various attachment options (such as
82 inline/attachment) if you want to do that.
84 For those who prefer a more graphical interface, you can also simply
85 drag and drop files from a file manager into a mail composition window
86 to have them attached. In Ubuntu this works without any modifications
87 if files are dragged from the file manager.
89 And for those who prefer working from command line, the following
90 script opens new emacs window with empty message and attaches files
91 mentioned as script arguments. (Note: The script expects that you have
92 `(server-start)` in your `.emacs` file.)
97 fullpath=$(readlink --canonicalize "$1")
98 attach_cmds="$attach_cmds (mml-attach-file \"$fullpath\")"
101 emacsclient -a '' -c -e "(progn (compose-mail) $attach_cmds)"
103 ## Issues with Emacs 24
105 If notmuch-show-mode behaves badly for you in emacs 24.x try adding one of
107 (setq gnus-inhibit-images nil)
117 # Advanced tips and tweaks
119 ## Use separate emacs lisp file for notmuch configuration
121 Instead of adding notmuch configuration code to `.emacs`, there
122 is an option to collect those to a separate file (which is only
123 loaded when `notmuch` is invoked). To do this, write, for example
124 a file called `~/.emacs.d/my-notmuch.el`:
126 ;;; my-notmuch.el -- my notmuch mail configuration
129 ;;; add here stuff required to be configured *before*
130 ;;; notmuch is loaded;
132 ;; uncomment and modify in case some elisp files are not found in load-path
133 ;; (add-to-list 'load-path "~/vc/ext/notmuch/emacs")
138 ;;; add here stuff required to be configured *after*
139 ;;; notmuch is loaded;
141 ;; uncomment & modify if you want to use external smtp server to send mail
142 ;; (setq smtpmail-smtp-server "smtp.server.tld"
143 ;; message-send-mail-function 'message-smtpmail-send-it)
144 ;; uncomment to debug smtp sending problems
145 ;; (setq smtpmail-debug-info t)
147 Then, add to `.emacs`:
149 (autoload 'notmuch "~/.emacs.d/my-notmuch" "notmuch mail" t)
151 ## Initial cursor position in notmuch 0.15 hello window
153 In notmuch version 0.15 emacs client the handling of cursor position in
154 notmuch hello window has been simplified to a version which suits best
157 Initially the cursor is positioned at the beginning of buffer.
159 Some users liked the "ancient" version where cursor was moved to the
160 first `Saved searches` button.
162 Add the following code to your notmuch emacs configuration file in
163 case you want this behaviour:
165 (add-hook 'notmuch-hello-refresh-hook
167 (if (and (eq (point) (point-min))
168 (search-forward "Saved searches:" nil t))
172 (if (eq (widget-type (widget-at)) 'editable-field)
173 (beginning-of-line)))))
175 ## Add a key binding to add/remove/toggle a tag
177 The `notmuch-{search,show}-{add,remove}-tag` functions are very useful
178 for making quick tag key bindings. For instance, here's an example
179 of how to make a key binding to add the "spam" tag and remove the
180 "inbox" tag in notmuch-show-mode:
182 In notmuch versions up to 0.11.x
184 (define-key notmuch-show-mode-map "S"
186 "mark message as spam"
188 (notmuch-show-add-tag "spam")
189 (notmuch-show-remove-tag "inbox")))
191 Starting from notmuch 0.12 the functions `notmuch-show-add-tag` and
192 `notmuch-show-remove-tag` have changed to be more versatile and lost
193 noninteractive use. When upgrading to 0.12 the above needs to be
196 (define-key notmuch-show-mode-map "S"
198 "mark message as spam"
200 (notmuch-show-tag-message "+spam" "-inbox")))
202 You can do the same for threads in `notmuch-search-mode` by just
203 replacing "show" with "search" in the called functions.
205 Starting from notmuch 0.12 use `notmuch-search-tag-thread` instead:
207 (define-key notmuch-search-mode-map "S"
209 "mark messages in thread as spam"
211 (notmuch-show-tag-thread "+spam" "-inbox")))
213 Starting from notmuch 0.13 use `notmuch-search-tag` -- it has a little
214 different usage syntax:
216 (define-key notmuch-search-mode-map "S"
218 "mark messages in thread as spam"
220 (notmuch-search-tag '("+spam" "-inbox"))))
222 The definition above makes use of a lambda function, but you could
223 also define a separate function first:
225 (defun notmuch-show-tag-spam ()
226 "mark message as spam"
228 (notmuch-show-add-tag "spam")
229 (notmuch-show-remove-tag "inbox")))
230 (define-key notmuch-show-mode-map "S" 'notmuch-show-tag-spam)
232 (See above for analogy how to apply this for notmuch 0.12 and later)
234 Here's a more complicated example of how to add a toggle "deleted"
237 (define-key notmuch-show-mode-map "d"
239 "toggle deleted tag for message"
241 (if (member "deleted" (notmuch-show-get-tags))
242 (notmuch-show-remove-tag "deleted")
243 (notmuch-show-add-tag "deleted"))))
245 And version for notmuch 0.12
247 (define-key notmuch-show-mode-map "d"
249 "toggle deleted tag for message"
251 (notmuch-show-tag-message
252 (if (member "deleted" (notmuch-show-get-tags))
253 "-deleted" "+deleted"))))
255 ## Adding many tagging keybindings
257 If you want to have have many tagging keybindings, you can save the typing
258 the few lines of boilerplate for every binding (for versions before 0.12,
259 you will need to change notmuch-show-apply-tag-macro).
261 (eval-after-load 'notmuch-show
262 '(define-key notmuch-show-mode-map "`" 'notmuch-show-apply-tag-macro))
264 (setq notmuch-show-tag-macro-alist
266 '("m" "+notmuch::patch" "+notmuch::moreinfo" "-notmuch::needs-review")
267 '("n" "+notmuch::patch" "+notmuch::needs-review" "-notmuch::pushed")
268 '("o" "+notmuch::patch" "+notmuch::obsolete"
269 "-notmuch::needs-review" "-notmuch::moreinfo")
270 '("p" "-notmuch::pushed" "-notmuch::needs-review"
271 "-notmuch::moreinfo" "+pending")
272 '("P" "-pending" "-notmuch::needs-review" "-notmuch::moreinfo" "+notmuch::pushed")
273 '("r" "-notmuch::patch" "+notmuch::review")
274 '("s" "+notmuch::patch" "-notmuch::obsolete" "-notmuch::needs-review" "-notmuch::moreinfo" "+notmuch::stale")
275 '("t" "+notmuch::patch" "-notmuch::needs-review" "+notmuch::trivial")
276 '("w" "+notmuch::patch" "+notmuch::wip" "-notmuch::needs-review")))
278 (defun notmuch-show-apply-tag-macro (key)
280 (let ((macro (assoc key notmuch-show-tag-macro-alist)))
281 (apply 'notmuch-show-tag-message (cdr macro))))
283 ## Restore reply-to-all key binding to 'r'
285 Starting from notmuch 0.12 the 'r' key is bound to reply-to-sender instead of
286 reply-to-all. Here's how to swap the reply to sender/all bindings in show mode:
288 (define-key notmuch-show-mode-map "r" 'notmuch-show-reply)
289 (define-key notmuch-show-mode-map "R" 'notmuch-show-reply-sender)
293 (define-key notmuch-search-mode-map "r" 'notmuch-search-reply-to-thread)
294 (define-key notmuch-search-mode-map "R" 'notmuch-search-reply-to-thread-sender)
297 ## How to do FCC/BCC...
299 The Emacs interface to notmuch will automatically add an `Fcc`
300 header to your outgoing mail so that any messages you send will also
301 be saved in your mail store. You can control where this copy of the
302 message is saved by setting the variable `notmuch-fcc-dirs` which defines the
303 subdirectory relative to the `database.path` setting from your
304 notmuch configuration in which to save the mail. Enter a directory
305 (without the maildir `/cur` ending which will be appended
306 automatically). Additional information can be found as usual using:
308 M-x describe-variable notmuch-fcc-dirs
310 An additional variable that can affect FCC settings in some cases is
311 `message-directory`. Emacs message-mode uses this variable for
314 To customize both variables at the same time, use the fancy command:
316 M-x customize-apropos<RET>\(notmuch-fcc-dirs\)\|\(message-directory\)
318 This mechanism also allows you to select different folders to be
319 used for the outgoing mail depending on your selected `From`
320 address. Please see the documentation for the variable
321 `notmuch-fcc-dirs` in the customization window for how to arrange
324 ## How to customize `notmuch-saved-searches`
326 When starting notmuch, a list of saved searches and message counts is
327 displayed, replacing the older `notmuch-folders` command. The set of
328 saved searches displayed can be modified directly from the notmuch
329 interface (using the `[save]` button next to a previous search) or by
330 customising the variable `notmuch-saved-searches`.
332 An example setting for notmuch versions up to 0.17.x might be:
334 (setq notmuch-saved-searches '(("inbox" . "tag:inbox")
335 ("unread" . "tag:inbox AND tag:unread")
336 ("notmuch" . "tag:inbox AND to:notmuchmail.org")))
338 Starting from notmuch 0.18 the variable changed. It is backwards
339 compatible so the above will still work but the new style will be used
340 if you use customize and there are some new features available. The above would become
342 (setq notmuch-saved-searches '((:name "inbox" :query "tag:inbox")
343 (:name "unread" :query "tag:inbox AND tag:unread")
344 (:name "notmuch" :query "tag:inbox AND to:notmuchmail.org")))
346 The additional features are the possibility to set the search order
347 for the search, and the possibility to specify a different query for
348 displaying the count for the saved-search. For example
350 (setq notmuch-saved-searches '((:name "inbox"
352 :count-query "tag:inbox and tag:unread"
353 :sort-order 'oldest-first)))
355 specifies a single saved search for inbox, but the number displayed by
356 the search will be the number of unread messages in the inbox, and the
357 sort order for this search will be oldest-first.
359 Of course, you can have any number of saved searches, each configured
360 with any supported search terms (see "notmuch help search-terms"), and
361 in the new style variable they can each have different count-queries
364 Some users find it useful to add `and not tag:delete` to those
365 searches, as they use the `delete` tag to mark messages as
366 deleted. This causes messages that are marked as deleted to be removed
367 from the commonly used views of messages. Use whatever seems most
370 ## Viewing HTML messages with an external viewer
372 The emacs client can display an HTML message inline using either the
373 `html2text` library or some text browser, like w3m or lynx. This is
374 controlled by the `mm-text-html-renderer` variable.
376 The first option is theorically better, because it can generate
377 strings formatted for emacs and do whatever you want, e.g., substitute
378 text inside <b> tags for bold text in the buffer. The library, however
379 is still in a very early development phase and cannot yet process
380 properly many elements, like tables and <style> directives, and even
381 the generated text is often poorly formatted.
383 Among the available browsers, w3m seems to do a better job converting
384 the html, and if you have the w3m emacs package, you can use it,
385 instead of the w3m-standalone, and thus preserve the text formatting.
387 But if the rendering fails for one reason or another, or if you really
388 need to see the graphical presentation of the HTML message, it can be
389 useful to display the message in an external viewer, such as a web
390 browser. Here's a little script that Keith Packard wrote, which he
396 cat "$@" > "$dir"/msg
397 if munpack -C "$dir" -t < "$dir"/msg 2>&1 | grep 'Did not find'; then
398 sed -n '/[Hh][Tt][Mm][Ll]/,$p' "$dir"/msg > $dir/part1.html
401 for i in "$dir"/part*; do
402 if grep -q -i -e '<html>' -e 'text/html' "$i"; then
409 Save that script somewhere in your `${PATH}`, make it executable,
410 and change the invocation of `iceweasel` to any other HTML viewer if
411 necessary. Then within the emacs client, press '|' to pipe the
412 current message, then type "view-html".
414 Keith mentions the following caveat, "Note that if iceweasel isn't
415 already running, it seems to shut down when the script exits. I
418 ## msmtp, message mode and multiple accounts
420 As an alternative to running a mail server such as sendmail or postfix
421 just to send email, it is possible to use
422 [msmtp](http://msmtp.sourceforge.net/). This small application will
423 look like `/usr/bin/sendmail` to a MUA such as emacs message mode, but
424 will just forward the email to an external SMTP server. It's fairly
425 easy to set up and it supports several accounts for using different
426 SMTP servers. The msmtp pages have several examples.
428 A typical scenario is that you want to use the company SMTP server
429 for email coming from your company email address, and your personal
430 server for personal email. If msmtp is passed the envelope address
431 on the command line (the -f/--from option) it will automatically
432 pick the matching account. The only trick here seems to be getting
433 emacs to actually pass the envelope from. There are a number of
434 overlapping configuration variables that control this, and it's a
435 little confusion, but setting these three works for me:
437 - `mail-specify-envelope-from`: `t`
439 - `message-sendmail-envelope-from`: `header`
441 - `mail-envelope-from`: `header`
443 With that in place, you need a `.msmtprc` with the accounts configured
444 for the domains you want to send out using specific SMTP servers and
445 the rest will go to the default account.
447 If you have a hard time getting the above to work for you, as I did,
448 it's also possible to add a message-send-mail-hook in your .emacs to
449 send the from header explicitly as an argument to msmtp as described
450 [here](http://www.emacswiki.org/cgi-bin/wiki/GnusMSMTP#toc2) on the
454 ## <span id="address_completion">Address completion when composing</span>
456 There are currently three solutions to this:
460 [bbdb](http://bbdb.sourceforge.net) is a contact database for emacs
461 that works quite nicely together with message mode, including
462 address autocompletion.
464 ### notmuch database as an address book
466 You can also use the notmuch database as a mail address book itself.
467 To do this you need a command line tool that outputs likely address
468 candidates based on a search string. There are currently four
471 * The python tool `notmuch_address.py` (`git clone
472 http://commonmeasure.org/~jkr/git/notmuch_addresses.git`) (slower, but
473 no compilation required so good for testing the setup)
476 [addrlookup](http://github.com/spaetz/vala-notmuch) (faster, but
477 needs compiling). The addrlookup binary needs to be compiled.
479 `http://github.com/spaetz/vala-notmuch/raw/static-sources/src/addrlookup.c`
482 cc -o addrlookup addrlookup.c `pkg-config --cflags --libs gobject-2.0` -lnotmuch
484 * Shell/fgrep/perl combination [nottoomuch-addresses.sh](https://github.com/domo141/nottoomuch/blob/master/nottoomuch-addresses.rst).
485 This tools maintains it's own address "database" gathered from email
486 files notmuch knows and search from that "database" is done by `fgrep(1)`.
488 * python/sqlite combination [notmuch-abook](https://github.com/guyzmo/notmuch-abook/)
489 This tools also maintains an address database in sqlite after harvesting
490 from notmuch. It also includes a vim plugin.
492 You can perform tab-completion using any of these programs.
493 Just add the following to your .emacs:
495 (require 'notmuch-address)
496 (setq notmuch-address-command "/path/to/address_fetching_program")
497 (notmuch-address-message-insinuate)
501 [GooBook](http://code.google.com/p/goobook/) is a command-line tool for
502 accessing Google Contacts. Install and set it up according to its documentation.
504 To use GooBook with notmuch, use this wrapper script and set it up like the
508 goobook query "$*" | sed 's/\(.*\)\t\(.*\)\t.*/\2 \<\1\>/' | sed '/^$/d'
510 You can add the sender of a message to Google Contacts by piping the message
511 (`notmuch-show-pipe-message`) to `goobook add`.
515 git clone https://github.com/mmehnert/akonadimailsearch
517 Install the development packages for kdepim on your system.
518 Enter the cloned repository and create a build directory:
524 You will find the akonadimailsearch binary in the build/src directory.
525 Create a ~/bin/akonadimailsearch.sh file with the following content and make it executable:
526 (Adjust the path for the akonadimailsearch binary.)
529 akonadimailsearch "$@" 2>/dev/null
531 As described above, you can now add the following settings to your ~/.emacs file:
533 (require 'notmuch-address)
534 (setq notmuch-address-command "~/bin/akonadimailsearch.sh")
535 (notmuch-address-message-insinuate)
539 ## How to sign/encrypt messages with gpg
541 Messages can by signed using gpg by invoking
542 `M-x mml-secure-sign-pgpmime` (or `M-x mml-secure-encrypt-pgpmime`).
543 These functions are available via the standard `message-mode` keybindings
544 `C-c C-m s p` and `C-c C-m c p`. To sign outgoing mail by default, use the
545 `message-setup-hook` in your `.emacs` file:
547 ;; Sign messages by default.
548 (add-hook 'message-setup-hook 'mml-secure-sign-pgpmime)
550 This inserts the required `<#part sign=pgpmime>` into the beginning
551 of the mail text body and will be converted into a pgp signature
552 when sending (so one can just manually delete that line if signing
555 Alternatively, you may prefer to use `mml-secure-message-sign-pgpmime` instead
556 of `mml-secure-sign-pgpmime` to sign the whole message instead of just one
559 ### Troubleshooting message-mode gpg support
561 - If you have trouble with expired subkeys, you may have encountered
562 emacs bug #7931. This is fixed in git commit 301ea744c on
563 2011-02-02. Note that if you have the Debian package easypg
564 installed, it will shadow the fixed version of easypg included with
567 ## Multiple identities using gnus-alias
569 [gnus-alias](http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/GnusAlias) allows you to
570 define multiple identities when using `message-mode`. You can specify
571 the from address, organization, extra headers (including *Bcc*), extra
572 body text, and signature for each identity. Identities are chosen
573 based on a set of rules. When you are in message mode, you can switch
574 identities using gnus-alias.
578 - put `gnus-alias.el` on your load Emacs-Lisp load path (add new directory
579 to load path by writing `(add-to-list 'load-path "/some/load/path")` into
582 - Add the following to your `.emacs`
584 (autoload 'gnus-alias-determine-identity "gnus-alias" "" t)
585 (add-hook 'message-setup-hook 'gnus-alias-determine-identity)
587 Looking into `gnus-alias.el` gives a bit more information...
589 ### Example Configuration
591 Here is an example configuration.
593 ;; Define two identities, "home" and "work"
594 (setq gnus-alias-identity-alist
596 nil ;; Does not refer to any other identity
597 "John Doe <jdoe@example.net>" ;; Sender address
598 nil ;; No organization header
599 nil ;; No extra headers
600 nil ;; No extra body text
604 "John Doe <john.doe@example.com>"
606 (("Bcc" . "john.doe@example.com"))
608 "~/.signature.work")))
609 ;; Use "home" identity by default
610 (setq gnus-alias-default-identity "home")
611 ;; Define rules to match work identity
612 (setq gnus-alias-identity-rules)
613 '(("work" ("any" "john.doe@\\(example\\.com\\|help\\.example.com\\)" both) "work"))
614 ;; Determine identity when message-mode loads
615 (add-hook 'message-setup-hook 'gnus-alias-determine-identity)
617 When `gnus-alias` has been loaded (using autoload, require, *M-x load-library*
618 or *M-x load-file* (load-file takes file path -- therefore it can be used
619 without any `.emacs` changes)) the following commands can be used to get(/set)
620 more information (some of these have "extensive documentation"):
622 M-x describe-variable RET gnus-alias-identity-alist
623 M-x describe-variable RET gnus-alias-identity-rules
624 M-x describe-variable RET gnus-alias-default-identity
626 M-x customize-group RET gnus-alias RET
628 M-x gnus-alias-customize RET
630 The last two do the same thing.
632 See also the **Usage:** section in `gnus-alias.el`.
634 ## Resending (or bouncing) messages
636 Add the following to your `.emacs` to be able to resend the current message in
639 (define-key notmuch-show-mode-map "b"
640 (lambda (&optional address)
641 "Bounce the current message."
642 (interactive "sBounce To: ")
643 (notmuch-show-view-raw-message)
644 (message-resend address)))
646 ## `notmuch-hello` refresh status message
648 Add the following to your `.emacs` to get a status message about the change in
649 the number of messages in the mail store when refreshing the `notmuch-hello`
652 (defvar notmuch-hello-refresh-count 0)
654 (defun notmuch-hello-refresh-status-message ()
658 (car (process-lines notmuch-command "count"))))
659 (diff-count (- new-count notmuch-hello-refresh-count)))
661 ((= notmuch-hello-refresh-count 0)
662 (message "You have %s messages."
663 (notmuch-hello-nice-number new-count)))
665 (message "You have %s more messages since last refresh."
666 (notmuch-hello-nice-number diff-count)))
668 (message "You have %s fewer messages since last refresh."
669 (notmuch-hello-nice-number (- diff-count)))))
670 (setq notmuch-hello-refresh-count new-count))))
672 (add-hook 'notmuch-hello-refresh-hook 'notmuch-hello-refresh-status-message)
674 ## Replacing tabs with spaces in subject and header
676 Mailman mailing list software rewrites and rewraps long message subjects in
677 a way that causes TABs to appear in the middle of the subject and header
678 lines. Add this to your `.emacs` to replace tabs with spaces in subject
681 (defun notmuch-show-subject-tabs-to-spaces ()
682 "Replace tabs with spaces in subject line."
683 (goto-char (point-min))
684 (when (re-search-forward "^Subject:" nil t)
685 (while (re-search-forward "\t" (line-end-position) t)
686 (replace-match " " nil nil))))
688 (add-hook 'notmuch-show-markup-headers-hook 'notmuch-show-subject-tabs-to-spaces)
690 And in header lines (this will only work with the yet to be released
691 notmuch version 0.15):
693 (defun notmuch-show-header-tabs-to-spaces ()
694 "Replace tabs with spaces in header line."
695 (setq header-line-format
696 (notmuch-show-strip-re
697 (replace-regexp-in-string "\t" " " (notmuch-show-get-subject)))))
699 (add-hook 'notmuch-show-hook 'notmuch-show-header-tabs-to-spaces)
701 ## Hiding unread messages in notmuch-show
703 I like to have an inbox saved search, but only show unread messages when they
704 view a thread. This takes two steps:
707 [this patch from Mark Walters](http://notmuchmail.org/pipermail/notmuch/2012/010817.html)
708 to add the `notmuch-show-filter-thread` function.
709 1. Add the following hook to your emacs configuration:
711 (defun expand-only-unread-hook () (interactive)
713 (open (notmuch-show-get-message-ids-for-open-messages)))
714 (notmuch-show-mapc (lambda ()
715 (when (member "unread" (notmuch-show-get-tags))
718 (let ((notmuch-show-hook (remove 'expand-only-unread-hook notmuch-show-hook)))
719 (notmuch-show-filter-thread "tag:unread")))))
721 (add-hook 'notmuch-show-hook 'expand-only-unread-hook)
723 ## Changing the color of a saved search based on some other search
725 I like to have a saved search for my inbox, but have it change color when there
726 are thread with unread messages in the inbox. I accomplish this with the
727 following code in my emacs config:
729 (defun color-inbox-if-unread () (interactive)
731 (goto-char (point-min))
732 (let ((cnt (car (process-lines "notmuch" "count" "tag:inbox and tag:unread"))))
733 (when (> (string-to-number cnt) 0)
735 (when (search-forward "inbox" (point-max) t)
736 (let* ((overlays (overlays-in (match-beginning 0) (match-end 0)))
737 (overlay (car overlays)))
739 (overlay-put overlay 'face '((:inherit bold) (:foreground "green")))))))))))
740 (add-hook 'notmuch-hello-refresh-hook 'color-inbox-if-unread)
742 ## Linking to notmuch messages and threads from the Circe IRC client
744 [Circe](https://github.com/jorgenschaefer/circe/wiki) is an IRC client for emacs.
745 To have clickable buttons for notmuch messages and threads, add the following to
746 `lui-buttons-list` (using, e.g. M-x customize-variable)
748 ("\\(?:id\\|mid\\|thread\\):[0-9A-Za-z][0-9A-Za-z.@-]*" 0 notmuch-show 0)
750 If you have notmuch-pick installed, it works fine for this as well.
752 ## Linking to notmuch messages from org-mode
754 Support for linking to notmuch messages is distributed with org-mode,
755 but as a contrib file, so you might have to work a bit to load it.
757 In Debian and derivatives,
759 (add-to-list 'load-path "/usr/share/org-mode/lisp")
763 (require 'org-notmuch)
765 In general it is nice to have a key for org-links (not just for notmuch). For example
767 (define-key global-map "\C-cl" 'org-store-link)
769 ## Viewing diffs in notmuch
771 The following code allows you to view an inline patch in diff-mode
772 directly from notmuch. This means that normal diff-mode commands like
773 refine, next hunk etc all work.
775 (defun my-notmuch-show-view-as-patch ()
776 "View the the current message as a patch."
778 (let* ((id (notmuch-show-get-message-id))
779 (subject (concat "Subject: " (notmuch-show-get-subject) "\n"))
780 (diff-default-read-only t)
781 (buf (get-buffer-create (concat "*notmuch-patch-" id "*")))
782 (map (make-sparse-keymap)))
783 (define-key map "q" 'notmuch-kill-this-buffer)
784 (switch-to-buffer buf)
785 (let ((inhibit-read-only t))
788 (insert (notmuch-get-bodypart-internal id 1 nil)))
789 (set-buffer-modified-p nil)
791 (lexical-let ((new-ro-bind (cons 'buffer-read-only map)))
792 (add-to-list 'minor-mode-overriding-map-alist new-ro-bind))
793 (goto-char (point-min))))
795 and then this function needs to bound into the keymap with something like
797 (define-key 'notmuch-show-mode-map "D" 'my-notmuch-show-view-as-patch)