1 <h1>NOTMUCH-PROPERTIES(7)</h1>
5 notmuch-properties - notmuch message property conventions and documen‐
11 <b>notmuch</b> <b>count</b> <b>property:</b><<u>key</u>>=<<u>value</u>>
13 <b>notmuch</b> <b>search</b> <b>property:</b><<u>key</u>>=<<u>value</u>>
15 <b>notmuch</b> <b>show</b> <b>property:</b><<u>key</u>>=<<u>value</u>>
17 <b>notmuch</b> <b>reindex</b> <b>property:</b><<u>key</u>>=<<u>value</u>>
19 <b>notmuch</b> <b>tag</b> +<<u>tag</u>> <b>property:</b><<u>key</u>>=<<u>value</u>>
21 <b>notmuch</b> <b>dump</b> <b>--include=properties</b>
23 <b>notmuch</b> <b>restore</b> <b>--include=properties</b>
28 Several notmuch commands can search for, modify, add or remove proper‐
29 ties associated with specific messages. Properties are key/value
30 pairs, and a message can have more than one key/value pair for the same
33 While users can select based on a specific property in their search
34 terms with the prefix <b>property:</b>, the notmuch command-line interface
35 does not provide mechanisms for modifying properties directly to the
38 Instead, message properties are expected to be set and used programmat‐
39 ically, according to logic in notmuch itself, or in extensions to it.
41 Extensions to notmuch which make use of properties are encouraged to
42 report the specific properties used to the upstream notmuch project, as
43 a way of avoiding collisions in the property namespace.
48 Any property with a key that starts with "index." will be removed (and
49 possibly re-set) upon reindexing (see <a href='../notmuch-reindex-1/'>notmuch-reindex</a>(1)).
52 <h2>MESSAGE PROPERTIES</h2>
54 The following properties are set by notmuch internally in the course of
57 <b>index.decryption</b>
58 If a message contains encrypted content, and notmuch tries to
59 decrypt that content during indexing, it will add the property
60 <b>index.decryption=success</b> when the cleartext was successfully in‐
61 dexed. If notmuch attempts to decrypt any part of a message
62 during indexing and that decryption attempt fails, it will add
63 the property <b>index.decryption=failure</b> to the message.
65 Note that it's possible for a single message to have both <b>in-</b>
66 <b>dex.decryption=success</b> and <b>index.decryption=failure</b>. Consider
67 an encrypted e-mail message that contains another encrypted
68 e-mail message as an attachment -- if the outer message can be
69 decrypted, but the attached part cannot, then both properties
70 will be set on the message as a whole.
72 If notmuch never tried to decrypt an encrypted message during
73 indexing (which is the default, see <b>index.decrypt</b> in <a href='../notmuch-config-1/'>not‐</a>
74 <a href='../notmuch-config-1/'>much-config</a>(1)), then this property will not be set on that mes‐
78 When <a href='../notmuch-show-1/'>notmuch-show</a>(1) or <a href='../notmuch-reply-1/'>notmuch-reply</a>(1) encounters a message
79 with an encrypted part, if notmuch finds a <b>session-key</b> property
80 associated with the message, it will try that stashed session
83 If you do not want to use any stashed session keys that might be
84 present, you should pass those programs <b>--decrypt=false</b>.
86 Using a stashed session key with "notmuch show" will speed up
87 rendering of long encrypted threads. It also allows the user to
88 destroy the secret part of any expired encryption-capable subkey
89 while still being able to read any retained messages for which
90 they have stashed the session key. This enables truly deletable
91 e-mail, since (once the session key and asymmetric subkey are
92 both destroyed) there are no keys left that can be used to de‐
93 crypt any copy of the original message previously stored by an
96 However, access to the stashed session key for an encrypted mes‐
97 sage permits full byte-for-byte reconstruction of the cleartext
98 message. This includes attachments, cryptographic signatures,
99 and other material that cannot be reconstructed from the index
102 See <b>index.decrypt</b> in <a href='../notmuch-config-1/'>notmuch-config</a>(1) for more details about
103 how to set notmuch's policy on when to store session keys.
105 The session key should be in the ASCII text form produced by
106 GnuPG. For OpenPGP, that consists of a decimal representation
107 of the hash algorithm used (identified by number from RFC 4880,
108 e.g. 9 means AES-256) followed by a colon, followed by a hexa‐
109 decimal representation of the algorithm-specific key. For exam‐
110 ple, an AES-128 key might be stashed in a notmuch property as:
111 <b>session-key=7:14B16AF65536C28AF209828DFE34C9E0</b>.
113 <b>index.repaired</b>
114 Some messages arrive in forms that are confusing to view; they
115 can be mangled by mail transport agents, or the sending mail
116 user agent may structure them in a way that is confusing. If
117 notmuch knows how to both detect and repair such a problematic
118 message, it will do so during indexing.
120 If it applies a message repair during indexing, it will use the
121 <b>index.repaired</b> property to note the type of repair(s) it per‐
124 <b>index.repaired=skip-protected-headers-legacy-display</b> indicates
125 that when indexing the cleartext of an encrypted message, not‐
126 much skipped over a "legacy-display" text/rfc822-headers part
127 that it found in that message, since it was able to index the
128 built-in protected headers directly.
130 <b>index.repaired=mixedup</b> indicates the repair of a "Mixed Up" en‐
131 crypted PGP/MIME message, a mangling typically produced by Mi‐
133 <u>https://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-dkg-openpgp-pgpmime-message-mangling</u>
134 for more information.
139 <a href='../notmuch-1/'>notmuch</a>(1), <a href='../notmuch-config-1/'>notmuch-config</a>(1), <a href='../notmuch-dump-1/'>notmuch-dump</a>(1), <a href='../notmuch-insert-1/'>notmuch-insert</a>(1), <a href='../notmuch-new-1/'>not‐</a>
140 <a href='../notmuch-new-1/'>much-new</a>(1), <a href='../notmuch-reindex-1/'>notmuch-reindex</a>(1), <a href='../notmuch-reply-1/'>notmuch-reply</a>(1), <a href='../notmuch-restore-1/'>notmuch-restore</a>(1),
141 <a href='../notmuch-search-terms-7/'>notmuch-search-terms</a>(7), <a href='../notmuch-show-1/'>notmuch-show</a>(1)
146 Carl Worth and many others
151 2009-2022, Carl Worth and many others