1 [[!img notmuch-logo.png alt="Notmuch logo" class="left"]]
2 # Tips and Tricks for using Notmuch with Emacs
4 Here are some tips and tricks for using Notmuch with Emacs. See the [[Notmuch
5 Emacs Interface|notmuch-emacs]] page for basics.
9 ## Issues with Emacs 24
11 If notmuch-show-mode behaves badly for you in emacs 24.x try adding one of
13 (setq gnus-inhibit-images nil)
21 ## Controlling external handlers for attachments
23 You can choose e.g. which pdf viewer to invoke from notmuch-show mode by
24 adding a .mailcap file in your home directory. Here is an example:
26 application/pdf; /usr/bin/mupdf %s; test=test "$DISPLAY" != ""; description=Portable Document Format; nametemplate=%s.pdf
27 application/x-pdf; /usr/bin/mupdf %s; test=test "$DISPLAY" != ""; description=Portable Document Format; nametemplate=%s.pdf
29 ## Overwriting the sender address
31 If you want to always use the same sender address, then the following
32 defadvice can help you.
34 (defadvice notmuch-mua-reply (around notmuch-fix-sender)
35 (let ((sender "Max Monster <max.monster@example.com>"))
37 (ad-activate 'notmuch-mua-reply)
39 ## Initial cursor position in notmuch 0.15 hello window
41 In notmuch version 0.15 emacs client the handling of cursor position in
42 notmuch hello window has been simplified to a version which suits best
45 Initially the cursor is positioned at the beginning of buffer.
47 Some users liked the "ancient" version where cursor was moved to the
48 first `Saved searches` button.
50 Add the following code to your notmuch emacs configuration file in
51 case you want this behaviour:
53 (add-hook 'notmuch-hello-refresh-hook
55 (if (and (eq (point) (point-min))
56 (search-forward "Saved searches:" nil t))
60 (if (eq (widget-type (widget-at)) 'editable-field)
61 (beginning-of-line)))))
63 ## Add a key binding to add/remove/toggle a tag
65 The `notmuch-{search,show,tree}-tag` functions are very useful for
66 making quick tag key bindings. The arguments to these functions have
67 changed as notmuch has evolved but the following should work on all
68 versions of notmuch from 0.13 on. These functions take a list of
69 tag changes as argument. For example, an argument of (list "+spam"
70 "-inbox") adds the tag spam and deletes the tag inbox. Note the
71 argument must be a list even if there is only a single tag change
72 e.g., use (list "+deleted") to add the deleted tag.
74 For instance, here's an example of how to make a key binding to add
75 the "spam" tag and remove the "inbox" tag in notmuch-show-mode:
77 (define-key notmuch-show-mode-map "S"
79 "mark message as spam"
81 (notmuch-show-tag (list "+spam" "-inbox"))))
83 You can do the same for threads in `notmuch-search-mode` by just
84 replacing "show" with "search" in the keymap and called functions, or
85 for messages in `notmuch-tree-mode` by replacing "show" by "tree". If
86 you want to tag a whole thread in `notmuch-tree-mode` use
87 `notmuch-tree-tag-thread` instead of `notmuch-tree-tag`.
89 You may also want the function in search mode apply to the all threads
90 in the selected region (if there is one). For notmuch prior to 0.17
91 this behaviour will occur automatically with the functions given
92 above. To get this behaviour on 0.17+ do the following:
94 (define-key notmuch-search-mode-map "S"
95 (lambda (&optional beg end)
97 (interactive (notmuch-search-interactive-region))
98 (notmuch-search-tag (list "+spam" "-inbox") beg end)))
100 The analogous functionality in notmuch-tree is currently missing.
102 The definitions above make use of a lambda function, but you could
103 also define a separate function first:
105 (defun notmuch-show-tag-spam ()
106 "mark message as spam"
108 (notmuch-show-add-tag (list "+spam" "-inbox")))
110 (define-key notmuch-show-mode-map "S" 'notmuch-show-tag-spam)
112 Here's a more complicated example of how to add a toggle "deleted"
115 (define-key notmuch-show-mode-map "d"
117 "toggle deleted tag for message"
119 (if (member "deleted" (notmuch-show-get-tags))
120 (notmuch-show-tag (list "-deleted"))
121 (notmuch-show-tag (list "+deleted")))))
123 ## Adding many tagging keybindings
125 If you want to have have many tagging keybindings, you can save the typing
126 the few lines of boilerplate for every binding (for versions before 0.12,
127 you will need to change notmuch-show-apply-tag-macro).
129 (eval-after-load 'notmuch-show
130 '(define-key notmuch-show-mode-map "`" 'notmuch-show-apply-tag-macro))
132 (setq notmuch-show-tag-macro-alist
134 '("m" "+notmuch::patch" "+notmuch::moreinfo" "-notmuch::needs-review")
135 '("n" "+notmuch::patch" "+notmuch::needs-review" "-notmuch::pushed")
136 '("o" "+notmuch::patch" "+notmuch::obsolete"
137 "-notmuch::needs-review" "-notmuch::moreinfo")
138 '("p" "-notmuch::pushed" "-notmuch::needs-review"
139 "-notmuch::moreinfo" "+pending")
140 '("P" "-pending" "-notmuch::needs-review" "-notmuch::moreinfo" "+notmuch::pushed")
141 '("r" "-notmuch::patch" "+notmuch::review")
142 '("s" "+notmuch::patch" "-notmuch::obsolete" "-notmuch::needs-review" "-notmuch::moreinfo" "+notmuch::stale")
143 '("t" "+notmuch::patch" "-notmuch::needs-review" "+notmuch::trivial")
144 '("w" "+notmuch::patch" "+notmuch::wip" "-notmuch::needs-review")))
146 (defun notmuch-show-apply-tag-macro (key)
148 (let ((macro (assoc key notmuch-show-tag-macro-alist)))
149 (apply 'notmuch-show-tag-message (cdr macro))))
151 ## Restore reply-to-all key binding to 'r'
153 Starting from notmuch 0.12 the 'r' key is bound to reply-to-sender instead of
154 reply-to-all. Here's how to swap the reply to sender/all bindings in show mode:
156 (define-key notmuch-show-mode-map "r" 'notmuch-show-reply)
157 (define-key notmuch-show-mode-map "R" 'notmuch-show-reply-sender)
161 (define-key notmuch-search-mode-map "r" 'notmuch-search-reply-to-thread)
162 (define-key notmuch-search-mode-map "R" 'notmuch-search-reply-to-thread-sender)
166 (define-key notmuch-tree-mode-map "r" (notmuch-tree-close-message-pane-and #'notmuch-show-reply))
167 (define-key notmuch-tree-mode-map "R" (notmuch-tree-close-message-pane-and #'notmuch-show-reply-sender))
169 ## How to do FCC/BCC...
171 The Emacs interface to notmuch will automatically add an `Fcc`
172 header to your outgoing mail so that any messages you send will also
173 be saved in your mail store. You can control where this copy of the
174 message is saved by setting the variable `notmuch-fcc-dirs` which defines the
175 subdirectory relative to the `database.path` setting from your
176 notmuch configuration in which to save the mail. Enter a directory
177 (without the maildir `/cur` ending which will be appended
178 automatically). Additional information can be found as usual using:
180 M-x describe-variable notmuch-fcc-dirs
182 An additional variable that can affect FCC settings in some cases is
183 `message-directory`. Emacs message-mode uses this variable for
186 To customize both variables at the same time, use the fancy command:
188 M-x customize-apropos<RET>\(notmuch-fcc-dirs\)\|\(message-directory\)
190 This mechanism also allows you to select different folders to be
191 used for the outgoing mail depending on your selected `From`
192 address. Please see the documentation for the variable
193 `notmuch-fcc-dirs` in the customization window for how to arrange
196 ## How to customize `notmuch-saved-searches`
198 When starting notmuch, a list of saved searches and message counts is
199 displayed, replacing the older `notmuch-folders` command. The set of
200 saved searches displayed can be modified directly from the notmuch
201 interface (using the `[save]` button next to a previous search) or by
202 customising the variable `notmuch-saved-searches`.
204 An example setting for notmuch versions up to 0.17.x might be:
206 (setq notmuch-saved-searches '(("inbox" . "tag:inbox")
207 ("unread" . "tag:inbox AND tag:unread")
208 ("notmuch" . "tag:inbox AND to:notmuchmail.org")))
210 Starting from notmuch 0.18 the variable changed. It is backwards
211 compatible so the above will still work but the new style will be used
212 if you use customize and there are some new features available. The above would become
214 (setq notmuch-saved-searches '((:name "inbox" :query "tag:inbox")
215 (:name "unread" :query "tag:inbox AND tag:unread")
216 (:name "notmuch" :query "tag:inbox AND to:notmuchmail.org")))
218 The additional features are the possibility to set the search order
219 for the search, and the possibility to specify a different query for
220 displaying the count for the saved-search. For example
222 (setq notmuch-saved-searches '((:name "inbox"
224 :count-query "tag:inbox and tag:unread"
225 :sort-order oldest-first)))
227 specifies a single saved search for inbox, but the number displayed by
228 the search will be the number of unread messages in the inbox, and the
229 sort order for this search will be oldest-first.
231 Of course, you can have any number of saved searches, each configured
232 with any supported search terms (see "notmuch help search-terms"), and
233 in the new style variable they can each have different count-queries
236 Some users find it useful to add `and not tag:delete` to those
237 searches, as they use the `delete` tag to mark messages as
238 deleted. This causes messages that are marked as deleted to be removed
239 from the commonly used views of messages. Use whatever seems most
242 ## Viewing HTML messages with an external viewer
244 The Emacs client can generally display HTML messages inline using one of the
245 supported HTML renderers. This is controlled by the `mm-text-html-renderer`
248 Sometimes it may be necessary to display the message, or a single MIME part, in
249 an external browser. This can be done by `(notmuch-show-view-part)`, bound to
252 ## msmtp, message mode and multiple accounts
254 As an alternative to running a mail server such as sendmail or postfix
255 just to send email, it is possible to use
256 [msmtp](http://msmtp.sourceforge.net/). This small application will
257 look like `/usr/bin/sendmail` to a MUA such as emacs message mode, but
258 will just forward the email to an external SMTP server. It's fairly
259 easy to set up and it supports several accounts for using different
260 SMTP servers. The msmtp pages have several examples.
262 A typical scenario is that you want to use the company SMTP server
263 for email coming from your company email address, and your personal
264 server for personal email. If msmtp is passed the envelope address
265 on the command line (the -f/--from option) it will automatically
266 pick the matching account. The only trick here seems to be getting
267 emacs to actually pass the envelope from. There are a number of
268 overlapping configuration variables that control this, and it's a
269 little confusion, but setting these three works for me:
271 - `mail-specify-envelope-from`: `t`
273 - `message-sendmail-envelope-from`: `header`
275 - `mail-envelope-from`: `header`
277 With that in place, you need a `.msmtprc` with the accounts configured
278 for the domains you want to send out using specific SMTP servers and
279 the rest will go to the default account.
281 ## sending mail using smtpmail
283 <!-- By default message mode will use the system `sendmail` command to send
284 mail. However, on a typical desktop machine there may not be local SMTP
285 daemon running (nor it is configured to send mail outside of the system). -->
287 If setting up local `sendmail` or `msmtp` is not feasible or desirable,
288 the Emacs `smtpmail` package can be used to send email by talking to remote
289 SMTP server via TCP connection. It is pretty easy to configure:
291 1. Emacs variable `message-send-mail-function` has not been set
293 Initially, Emacs variable `message-send-mail-function` has value of
294 `sendmail-query-once`. When (notmuch) message mode is about to send email,
295 `sendmail-query-once` will ask how emacs should send email. Typing `smtp`
296 will configure `smtpmail` and Emacs may prompt for SMTP settings.
298 1. `M-x customize-group RET smtpmail`
300 As a minimum, 'Smtpmail Smtp Server' needs to be set.
302 After doing that, continue with `M-x load-library RET message` and
303 `M-x customize-variable RET message-send-mail-function`.
304 In the customization buffer select `message-smtpmail-send-it`.
306 1. Set some variables in .emacs or in [notmuch init file](/notmuch-emacs#notmuch_init_file)
308 (setq smtpmail-smtp-server "smtp.server.tld" ;; <-- edit this !!!
309 ;; smtpmail-smtp-service 25 ;; 25 is default -- uncomment and edit if needed
310 ;; smtpmail-stream-type 'starttls
311 ;; smtpmail-debug-info t
312 ;; smtpmail-debug-verb t
313 message-send-mail-function 'message-smtpmail-send-it)
315 Note that emacs 24 or newer is required for `smtpmail-stream-type`
316 (and smtp authentication) to be effective.
318 More information for smtpmail is available:
320 * In Emacs: `M-x info-display-manual smtpmail`
321 * [EmacsWiki Page](http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/SendingMail)
324 ## <span id="address_completion">Address completion when composing</span>
326 There are currently three solutions to this:
330 Starting with Notmuch 0.21, there is a builtin command to perform
331 autocompletion directly within Notmuch. Starting with 0.22, it is
332 configured by default, so if you have previously configured another
333 completion mechanism, you may want to try out the new internal
334 method. Use `M-x customize-variable RET notmuch-address-command` and
335 reset the value to "internal address completion" (`'internal` in
338 If you are not yet running 0.22, you can still use it by adding a
339 wrapper around the command called, say, `notmuch-address`:
342 exec notmuch address from:"$*"
344 Then you can set the `notmuch-address-command` to `notmuch-address`
345 (if it is in your `$PATH` of course, otherwise use an absolute path).
349 [bbdb](http://bbdb.sourceforge.net) is a contact database for emacs
350 that works quite nicely together with message mode, including
351 address autocompletion.
353 ### notmuch database as an address book
355 You can also use the notmuch database as a mail address book itself.
356 To do this you need a command line tool that outputs likely address
357 candidates based on a search string. There are currently four
360 * The python tool `notmuch_address.py` (`git clone
361 http://commonmeasure.org/~jkr/git/notmuch_addresses.git`) (slower, but
362 no compilation required so good for testing the setup)
364 * 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.
366 git clone https://github.com/aperezdc/notmuch-addrlookup-c
367 cd notmuch-addrlookup-c
371 [addrlookup](http://github.com/spaetz/vala-notmuch) The addrlookup binary needs to be compiled.
373 `http://github.com/spaetz/vala-notmuch/raw/static-sources/src/addrlookup.c`
376 cc -o addrlookup addrlookup.c `pkg-config --cflags --libs gobject-2.0` -lnotmuch
378 * Shell/fgrep/perl combination [nottoomuch-addresses.sh](https://github.com/domo141/nottoomuch/blob/master/nottoomuch-addresses.rst).
379 This tools maintains its own address "database" gathered from email
380 files notmuch knows and search from that "database" is done by `fgrep(1)`.
382 * python/sqlite combination [notmuch-abook](https://github.com/guyzmo/notmuch-abook/)
383 This tools also maintains an address database in sqlite after harvesting
384 from notmuch. It also includes a vim plugin.
386 You can perform tab-completion using any of these programs.
387 Just add the following to your [notmuch init file](/notmuch-emacs#notmuch_init_file):
389 (require 'notmuch-address)
390 (setq notmuch-address-command "/path/to/address_fetching_program")
391 (notmuch-address-message-insinuate)
395 [GooBook](http://code.google.com/p/goobook/) is a command-line tool for
396 accessing Google Contacts. Install and set it up according to its documentation.
398 To use GooBook with notmuch, use this wrapper script and set it up like the
402 goobook query "$*" | sed 's/\(.*\)\t\(.*\)\t.*/\2 \<\1\>/' | sed '/^$/d'
404 You can add the sender of a message to Google Contacts by piping the message
405 (`notmuch-show-pipe-message`) to `goobook add`.
409 git clone https://github.com/mmehnert/akonadimailsearch
411 Install the development packages for kdepim on your system.
412 Enter the cloned repository and create a build directory:
418 You will find the akonadimailsearch binary in the build/src directory. Copy it to ~/bin .
420 You can now add the following settings to your
421 [notmuch init file](/notmuch-emacs#notmuch_init_file):
423 (require 'notmuch-address)
424 (setq notmuch-address-command "~/bin/akonadimailsearch")
425 (notmuch-address-message-insinuate)
427 ### Completion selection with helm
429 An address query might return multiple possible matches from which you
430 will have to select one. To ease this task, several different
431 frameworks in emacs support completion selection. One of them is
432 [helm](https://github.com/emacs-helm/helm). The following snippet
433 improves the out-of-the-box support for helm in notmuch as it enables
434 the required-match option and also does not ignore the first returned
437 (setq notmuch-address-selection-function
438 (lambda (prompt collection initial-input)
439 (completing-read prompt (cons initial-input collection) nil t nil 'notmuch-address-history)))
442 ## How to sign/encrypt messages with gpg
444 Messages can be signed using gpg by invoking
445 `M-x mml-secure-sign-pgpmime` (or `M-x mml-secure-encrypt-pgpmime`).
446 These functions are available via the standard `message-mode` keybindings
447 `C-c C-m s p` and `C-c C-m c p`. To sign outgoing mail by default, use the
448 `message-setup-hook` in your `.emacs` file:
450 ;; Sign messages by default.
451 (add-hook 'message-setup-hook 'mml-secure-sign-pgpmime)
453 This inserts the required `<#part sign=pgpmime>` into the beginning
454 of the mail text body and will be converted into a pgp signature
455 when sending (so one can just manually delete that line if signing
458 Alternatively, you may prefer to use `mml-secure-message-sign-pgpmime` instead
459 of `mml-secure-sign-pgpmime` to sign the whole message instead of just one
462 If you want to automatically encrypt outgoing messages if the keyring
463 contains a public key for every recipient, you can add something like
464 that to your `.emacs` file:
466 (defun message-recipients ()
467 "Return a list of all recipients in the message, looking at TO, CC and BCC.
469 Each recipient is in the format of `mail-extract-address-components'."
470 (mapcan (lambda (header)
471 (let ((header-value (message-fetch-field header)))
474 (mail-extract-address-components header-value t))))
477 (defun message-all-epg-keys-available-p ()
478 "Return non-nil if the pgp keyring has a public key for each recipient."
480 (let ((context (epg-make-context epa-protocol)))
482 (dolist (recipient (message-recipients))
483 (let ((recipient-email (cadr recipient)))
484 (when (and recipient-email (not (epg-list-keys context recipient-email)))
485 (throw 'break nil))))
488 (defun message-sign-encrypt-if-all-keys-available ()
489 "Add MML tag to encrypt message when there is a key for each recipient.
491 Consider adding this function to `message-send-hook' to
492 systematically send encrypted emails when possible."
493 (when (message-all-epg-keys-available-p)
494 (mml-secure-message-sign-encrypt)))
496 (add-hook 'message-send-hook #'message-sign-encrypt-if-all-keys-available
498 ### Troubleshooting message-mode gpg support
500 - If you have trouble with expired subkeys, you may have encountered
501 emacs bug #7931. This is fixed in git commit 301ea744c on
502 2011-02-02. Note that if you have the Debian package easypg
503 installed, it will shadow the fixed version of easypg included with
506 - If you wish `mml-secure-encrypt` to encrypt also for the sender, then
507 `M-x customize-variable mml2015-encrypt-to-self` might suit your need.
509 ## Reading and verifying encrypted and signed messages
511 Encrypted and signed mime messages can be read and verified with:
513 (setq notmuch-crypto-process-mime t)
515 Decrypting or verifying inline pgp messages can be done by selecting
516 an the inline pgp area and and using:
518 M-x epa-decrypt-region RET
520 ## Multiple identities using gnus-alias
522 [gnus-alias](http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/GnusAlias) allows you to
523 define multiple identities when using `message-mode`. You can specify
524 the from address, organization, extra headers (including *Bcc*), extra
525 body text, and signature for each identity. Identities are chosen
526 based on a set of rules. When you are in message mode, you can switch
527 identities using gnus-alias.
531 - put `gnus-alias.el` on your load Emacs-Lisp load path (add new directory
532 to load path by writing `(add-to-list 'load-path "/some/load/path")` into
535 - Add the following to your `.emacs`
537 (autoload 'gnus-alias-determine-identity "gnus-alias" "" t)
538 (add-hook 'message-setup-hook 'gnus-alias-determine-identity)
540 Looking into `gnus-alias.el` gives a bit more information...
542 ### Example Configuration
544 Here is an example configuration.
546 ;; Define two identities, "home" and "work"
547 (setq gnus-alias-identity-alist
549 nil ;; Does not refer to any other identity
550 "John Doe <jdoe@example.net>" ;; Sender address
551 nil ;; No organization header
552 nil ;; No extra headers
553 nil ;; No extra body text
557 "John Doe <john.doe@example.com>"
559 (("Bcc" . "john.doe@example.com"))
561 "~/.signature.work")))
562 ;; Use "home" identity by default
563 (setq gnus-alias-default-identity "home")
564 ;; Define rules to match work identity
565 (setq gnus-alias-identity-rules)
566 '(("work" ("any" "john.doe@\\(example\\.com\\|help\\.example.com\\)" both) "work"))
567 ;; Determine identity when message-mode loads
568 (add-hook 'message-setup-hook 'gnus-alias-determine-identity)
570 When `gnus-alias` has been loaded (using autoload, require, *M-x load-library*
571 or *M-x load-file* (load-file takes file path -- therefore it can be used
572 without any `.emacs` changes)) the following commands can be used to get(/set)
573 more information (some of these have "extensive documentation"):
575 M-x describe-variable RET gnus-alias-identity-alist
576 M-x describe-variable RET gnus-alias-identity-rules
577 M-x describe-variable RET gnus-alias-default-identity
579 M-x customize-group RET gnus-alias RET
581 M-x gnus-alias-customize RET
583 The last two do the same thing.
585 See also the **Usage:** section in `gnus-alias.el`.
587 ## Multiple identities (and more) with message-templ
589 Another option for multiple identities is
590 [message-templ](http://pivot.cs.unb.ca/git?p=message-templ.git;a=summary)
591 (also a available in marmalade). This provides roughly the same
592 facilities as wanderlust's template facility.
595 [example.emacs.el](http://pivot.cs.unb.ca/git?p=message-templ.git;a=blob;f=example.emacs.el;hb=HEAD)
596 for some simple examples of usage.
598 ## Resending (or bouncing) messages
600 Add the following to your [notmuch init file](/notmuch-emacs#notmuch_init_file) to be able
601 to resend the current message in show mode.
603 (define-key notmuch-show-mode-map "b"
604 (lambda (&optional address)
605 "Bounce the current message."
606 (interactive "sBounce To: ")
607 (notmuch-show-view-raw-message)
608 (message-resend address)))
610 ## `notmuch-hello` refresh status message
612 Add the following to your [notmuch init file](/notmuch-emacs#notmuch_init_file) to get a
613 status message about the change in the number of messages in the mail store
614 when refreshing the `notmuch-hello` buffer.
616 (defvar notmuch-hello-refresh-count 0)
618 (defun notmuch-hello-refresh-status-message ()
622 (car (process-lines notmuch-command "count"))))
623 (diff-count (- new-count notmuch-hello-refresh-count)))
625 ((= notmuch-hello-refresh-count 0)
626 (message "You have %s messages."
627 (notmuch-hello-nice-number new-count)))
629 (message "You have %s more messages since last refresh."
630 (notmuch-hello-nice-number diff-count)))
632 (message "You have %s fewer messages since last refresh."
633 (notmuch-hello-nice-number (- diff-count)))))
634 (setq notmuch-hello-refresh-count new-count))))
636 (add-hook 'notmuch-hello-refresh-hook 'notmuch-hello-refresh-status-message)
638 ## Replacing tabs with spaces in subject and header
640 Mailman mailing list software rewrites and rewraps long message subjects in
641 a way that causes TABs to appear in the middle of the subject and header
642 lines. Add this to your [notmuch init file](/notmuch-emacs#notmuch_init_file) to replace
643 tabs with spaces in subject lines:
645 (defun notmuch-show-subject-tabs-to-spaces ()
646 "Replace tabs with spaces in subject line."
647 (goto-char (point-min))
648 (when (re-search-forward "^Subject:" nil t)
649 (while (re-search-forward "\t" (line-end-position) t)
650 (replace-match " " nil nil))))
652 (add-hook 'notmuch-show-markup-headers-hook 'notmuch-show-subject-tabs-to-spaces)
654 And in header lines (this will only work with the yet to be released
655 notmuch version 0.15):
657 (defun notmuch-show-header-tabs-to-spaces ()
658 "Replace tabs with spaces in header line."
659 (setq header-line-format
660 (notmuch-show-strip-re
661 (replace-regexp-in-string "\t" " " (notmuch-show-get-subject)))))
663 (add-hook 'notmuch-show-hook 'notmuch-show-header-tabs-to-spaces)
665 ## Hiding unread messages in notmuch-show
667 I like to have an inbox saved search, but only show unread messages when they
668 view a thread. This takes two steps:
671 [this patch from Mark Walters](https://notmuchmail.org/pipermail/notmuch/2012/010817.html)
672 to add the `notmuch-show-filter-thread` function.
673 1. Add the following hook to your emacs configuration:
675 (defun expand-only-unread-hook () (interactive)
677 (open (notmuch-show-get-message-ids-for-open-messages)))
678 (notmuch-show-mapc (lambda ()
679 (when (member "unread" (notmuch-show-get-tags))
682 (let ((notmuch-show-hook (remove 'expand-only-unread-hook notmuch-show-hook)))
683 (notmuch-show-filter-thread "tag:unread")))))
685 (add-hook 'notmuch-show-hook 'expand-only-unread-hook)
687 ## Changing the color of a saved search based on some other search
689 I like to have a saved search for my inbox, but have it change color when there
690 are thread with unread messages in the inbox. I accomplish this with the
691 following code in my emacs config:
693 (defun color-inbox-if-unread () (interactive)
695 (goto-char (point-min))
696 (let ((cnt (car (process-lines "notmuch" "count" "tag:inbox and tag:unread"))))
697 (when (> (string-to-number cnt) 0)
699 (when (search-forward "inbox" (point-max) t)
700 (let* ((overlays (overlays-in (match-beginning 0) (match-end 0)))
701 (overlay (car overlays)))
703 (overlay-put overlay 'face '((:inherit bold) (:foreground "green")))))))))))
704 (add-hook 'notmuch-hello-refresh-hook 'color-inbox-if-unread)
706 ## Linking to notmuch messages and threads from the Circe IRC client
708 [Circe](https://github.com/jorgenschaefer/circe/wiki) is an IRC client for emacs.
709 To have clickable buttons for notmuch messages and threads, add the following to
710 `lui-buttons-list` (using, e.g. M-x customize-variable)
712 ("\\(?:id\\|mid\\|thread\\):[0-9A-Za-z][0-9A-Za-z.@-]*" 0 notmuch-show 0)
714 If you have notmuch-pick installed, it works fine for this as well.
716 ## Linking to notmuch messages from org-mode
718 Support for linking to notmuch messages is distributed with org-mode,
719 but as a contrib file, so you might have to work a bit to load it.
721 In Debian and derivatives,
723 (add-to-list 'load-path "/usr/share/org-mode/lisp")
725 In NixOS, using `emacsWithPackages (epkgs: [ epkgs.orgPackages.org-plus-contrib ])`,
727 (loop for p in load-path
728 do (if (file-accessible-directory-p p)
729 (let ((m (directory-files-recursively p "^org-notmuch.el$")))
730 (if m (add-to-list 'load-path (file-name-directory (car m)))))))
734 (require 'org-notmuch)
736 In general it is nice to have a key for org-links (not just for notmuch). For example
738 (define-key global-map "\C-cl" 'org-store-link)
740 ## Viewing diffs in notmuch
742 The following code allows you to view an inline patch in diff-mode
743 directly from notmuch. This means that normal diff-mode commands like
744 refine, next hunk etc all work.
746 (defun my-notmuch-show-view-as-patch ()
747 "View the the current message as a patch."
749 (let* ((id (notmuch-show-get-message-id))
750 (msg (notmuch-show-get-message-properties))
751 (part (notmuch-show-get-part-properties))
752 (subject (concat "Subject: " (notmuch-show-get-subject) "\n"))
753 (diff-default-read-only t)
754 (buf (get-buffer-create (concat "*notmuch-patch-" id "*")))
755 (map (make-sparse-keymap)))
756 (define-key map "q" 'notmuch-bury-or-kill-this-buffer)
757 (switch-to-buffer buf)
758 (let ((inhibit-read-only t))
761 (insert (notmuch-get-bodypart-text msg part nil)))
762 (set-buffer-modified-p nil)
764 (lexical-let ((new-ro-bind (cons 'buffer-read-only map)))
765 (add-to-list 'minor-mode-overriding-map-alist new-ro-bind))
766 (goto-char (point-min))))
768 and then this function needs to bound to `. d` in the keymap
770 (define-key 'notmuch-show-part-map "d" 'my-notmuch-show-view-as-patch)
772 ## Interfacing with Patchwork
774 [Patchwork](http://jk.ozlabs.org/projects/patchwork/) is a web-based system for
775 tracking patches sent to a mailing list. While the Notmuch project doesn't use
776 it, many other open source projects do. Having an easy way to get from a patch
777 email in your favorite mail client to the web page of the patch in the Patchwork
778 instance is a cool thing to have. Here's how to abuse the notmuch stash feature
779 to achieve this. (Don't know stash? See `notmuch-show-stash-mlarchive-link`,
780 bound to `c l` in `notmuch-show`.)
782 The trick needed is turning the email Message-ID into a unique Patchwork ID
783 assigned by Patchwork. We'll use the `pwclient` command-line tool to achieve
784 this. You'll first need to get that working and configured for the Patchwork
785 instance you're using. That part is beyond this tip here; please refer to
786 Patchwork documentation.
788 Check your configuration on the command-line, for example:
790 /path/to/pwclient -p <the-project> -n 5 -f "%{id}"
792 Note that the -f format argument may require a reasonably new version of the
793 client. Once you have the above working, you can `M-x customize-variable RET
794 notmuch-show-stash-mlarchive-link-alist RET`.
796 Add a new entry with "Function returning the URL:" set to:
799 (concat "http://patchwork.example.com/patch/"
801 (process-lines "/path/to/pwclient" "search"
803 "-m" (concat "<" message-id ">")
807 Replacing `http://patchwork.example.com/patch/`, `/path/to/pwclient`, and
808 `the-project` appropriately. You should now be able to stash the Patchwork URL
811 Going further, if the patch has been committed, you can get the commit hash with
816 (process-lines "/path/to/pwclient" "search"
818 "-m" (concat "<" message-id ">")
820 "-f" "%{commit_ref}")))
822 And finally, if the project has a web interface to its source repository, you
823 can turn the commit hash into a URL pointing there, for example:
826 (concat "http://cgit.example.com/the-project/commit/?id="
828 (process-lines "/path/to/pwclient" "search"
830 "-m" (concat "<" message-id ">")
832 "-f" "%{commit_ref}"))))
834 ## Never forget attachments
836 Very often we forget to actually attach the file when we send an email
837 that's supposed to have an attachment. Did this never happen to you?
838 If not, then it will.
840 There is a hook out there that checks the content of the email for
841 keywords and warns you before the email is sent out if there's no
842 attachment. This is currently work in progress, but you can already
843 add the hook to your `~/.emacs.d/notmuch-config.el` file to test
844 it. Details available (and feedback welcome) in the [relevant
845 discussion](https://notmuchmail.org/pipermail/notmuch/2018/026414.html).