1 .\" notmuch - Not much of an email program, (just index, search and tagging)
3 .\" Copyright © 2009 Carl Worth
5 .\" Notmuch is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
6 .\" it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
7 .\" the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
8 .\" (at your option) any later version.
10 .\" Notmuch is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
11 .\" but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
12 .\" MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
13 .\" GNU General Public License for more details.
15 .\" You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
16 .\" along with this program. If not, see http://www.gnu.org/licenses/ .
18 .\" Author: Carl Worth <cworth@cworth.org>
19 .TH NOTMUCH 1 2009-10-31 "Notmuch 0.1"
21 notmuch \- thread-based email index, search, and tagging
24 .IR command " [" args " ...]"
26 Notmuch is a command-line based program for indexing, searching,
27 reading, and tagging large collections of email messages.
29 The quickest way to get started with Notmuch is to simply invoke the
31 command with no arguments, which will interactively guide you through
32 the process of indexing your mail.
34 While the command-line program
36 provides powerful functionality, it does not provide the most
37 convenient interface for that functionality. More sophisticated
38 interfaces are expected to be built on top of either the command-line
39 interface, or more likely, on top of the notmuch library
40 interface. See http://notmuchmail.org for more about alternate
41 interfaces to notmuch.
45 command is used to configure Notmuch for first use, (or to reconfigure
51 Interactively sets up notmuch for first use.
53 The setup command will prompt for your full name, your primary email
54 address, any alternate email addresses you use, and the directory
55 containing your email archives. Your answers will be written to a
56 configuration file in ${NOTMUCH_CONFIG} (if set) or
57 ${HOME}/.notmuch-config . This configuration file will be created with
58 descriptive comments, making it easy to edit by hand later to change the
59 configuration. Or you can run
61 again to change the configuration.
63 The mail directory you specify can contain any number of
64 sub-directories and should primarily contain only files with individual
65 email messages (eg. maildir or mh archives are perfect). If there are
66 other, non-email files (such as indexes maintained by other email
67 programs) then notmuch will do its best to detect those and ignore
70 Mail storage that uses mbox format, (where one mbox file contains many
71 messages), will not work with notmuch. If that's how your mail is
72 currently stored, it is recommended you first convert it to maildir
73 format with a utility such as mb2md before running
78 with no command argument will run
80 if the setup command has not previously been completed.
85 command is used to incorporate new mail into the notmuch database.
90 Find and import any new messages to the database.
94 command scans all sub-directories of the database, performing
95 full-text indexing on new messages that are found. Each new message
96 will automatically be tagged with both the
97 .BR inbox " and " unread
102 once after first running
104 to create the initial database. The first run may take a long time if
105 you have a significant amount of mail (several hundred thousand
106 messages or more). Subsequently, you should run
108 whenever new mail is delivered and you wish to incorporate it into the
109 database. These subsequent runs will be much quicker than the initial
114 with no command argument will run
118 has previously been completed, but
120 has not previously been run.
123 Several of the notmuch commands accept search terms with a common
126 section below for more details on the supported syntax.
129 .BR search ", " show " and " count
130 commands are used to query the email database.
133 .BR search " [options...] <search-term>..."
135 Search for messages matching the given search terms, and display as
136 results the threads containing the matched messages.
138 The output consists of one line per thread, giving a thread ID, the
139 date of the newest (or oldest, depending on the sort option) matched
140 message in the thread, the number of matched messages and total
141 messages in the thread, the names of all participants in the thread,
142 and the subject of the newest (or oldest) message.
144 Supported options for
149 .BR \-\-format= ( json | text )
151 Presents the results in either JSON or plain-text (default).
156 .B \-\-output=(summary|threads|messages|files|tags)
162 Output a summary of each thread with any message matching the search
163 terms. The summary includes the thread ID, date, the number of
164 messages in the thread (both the number matched and the total number),
165 the authors of the thread and the subject.
171 Output the thread IDs of all threads with any message matching the
172 search terms, either one per line (\-\-format=text) or as a JSON array
179 Output the message IDs of all messages matching the search terms,
180 either one per line (\-\-format=text) or as a JSON array
187 Output the filenames of all messages matching the search terms, either
188 one per line (\-\-format=text) or as a JSON array (\-\-format=json).
194 Output all tags that appear on any message matching the search terms,
195 either one per line (\-\-format=text) or as a JSON array
202 .BR \-\-sort= ( newest\-first | oldest\-first )
204 This option can be used to present results in either chronological order
205 .RB ( oldest\-first )
206 or reverse chronological order
207 .RB ( newest\-first ).
209 Note: The thread order will be distinct between these two options
210 (beyond being simply reversed). When sorting by
212 the threads will be sorted by the oldest message in each thread, but
215 the threads will be sorted by the newest message in each thread.
219 By default, results will be displayed in reverse chronological order,
220 (that is, the newest results will be displayed first).
224 section below for details of the supported syntax for <search-terms>.
227 .BR show " [options...] <search-term>..."
229 Shows all messages matching the search terms.
231 The messages will be grouped and sorted based on the threading (all
232 replies to a particular message will appear immediately after that
233 message in date order). The output is not indented by default, but
234 depth tags are printed so that proper indentation can be performed by
235 a post-processor (such as the emacs interface to notmuch).
237 Supported options for
242 .B \-\-entire\-thread
244 By default only those messages that match the search terms will be
245 displayed. With this option, all messages in the same thread as any
246 matched message will be displayed.
251 .B \-\-format=(text|json|mbox|raw)
257 The default plain-text format has all text-content MIME parts
258 decoded. Various components in the output,
259 .RB ( message ", " header ", " body ", " attachment ", and MIME " part ),
260 will be delimited by easily-parsed markers. Each marker consists of a
261 Control-L character (ASCII decimal 12), the name of the marker, and
262 then either an opening or closing brace, ('{' or '}'), to either open
263 or close the component. For a multipart MIME message, these parts will
270 The output is formatted with Javascript Object Notation (JSON). This
271 format is more robust than the text format for automated
272 processing. The nested structure of multipart MIME messages is
273 reflected in nested JSON output. JSON output always includes all
274 messages in a matching thread; in effect
277 .B \-\-entire\-thread
284 All matching messages are output in the traditional, Unix mbox format
285 with each message being prefixed by a line beginning with "From " and
286 a blank line separating each message. Lines in the message content
287 beginning with "From " (preceded by zero or more '>' characters) have
288 an additional '>' character added. This reversible escaping
289 is termed "mboxrd" format and described in detail here:
290 http://homepage.ntlworld.com/jonathan.deboynepollard/FGA/mail-mbox-formats.html
296 The original, raw content of the email message is displayed.
297 Consumers of this format should expect to implement MIME decoding and
298 similar functions. This format must only be used with search terms
299 matching a single message.
304 is to display a single thread of email messages. For this, use a
305 search term of "thread:<thread-id>" as can be seen in the first
306 column of output from the
312 section below for details of the supported syntax for <search-terms>.
315 .BR count " <search-term>..."
317 Count messages matching the search terms.
319 The number of matching messages is output to stdout.
321 With no search terms, a count of all messages in the database will be
328 command is useful for preparing a template for an email reply.
331 .BR reply " [options...] <search-term>..."
333 Constructs a reply template for a set of messages.
335 To make replying to email easier,
337 takes an existing set of messages and constructs a suitable mail
338 template. The Reply-to header (if any, otherwise From:) is used for
339 the To: address. Vales from the To: and Cc: headers are copied, but
340 not including any of the current user's email addresses (as configured
341 in primary_mail or other_email in the .notmuch\-config file) in the
344 It also builds a suitable new subject, including Re: at the front (if
345 not already present), and adding the message IDs of the messages being
346 replied to to the References list and setting the In\-Reply\-To: field
349 Finally, the original contents of the emails are quoted by prefixing
350 each line with '> ' and included in the body.
352 The resulting message template is output to stdout.
354 Supported options for
359 .BR \-\-format= ( default | headers\-only )
363 Includes subject and quoted message body.
366 Only produces In\-Reply\-To, References, To, Cc, and Bcc headers.
371 section below for details of the supported syntax for <search-terms>.
373 Note: It is most common to use
375 with a search string matching a single message, (such as
376 id:<message-id>), but it can be useful to reply to several messages at
377 once. For example, when a series of patches are sent in a single
378 thread, replying to the entire thread allows for the reply to comment
379 on issue found in multiple patches.
385 command is the only command available for manipulating database
390 .BR tag " +<tag>|\-<tag> [...] [\-\-] <search-term>..."
392 Add/remove tags for all messages matching the search terms.
394 Tags prefixed by '+' are added while those prefixed by '\-' are
395 removed. For each message, tag removal is performed before tag
398 The beginning of <search-terms> is recognized by the first
399 argument that begins with neither '+' nor '\-'. Support for
400 an initial search term beginning with '+' or '\-' is provided
401 by allowing the user to specify a "\-\-" argument to separate
402 the tags from the search terms.
406 section below for details of the supported syntax for <search-terms>.
410 .BR dump " and " restore
411 commands can be used to create a textual dump of email tags for backup
412 purposes, and to restore from that dump
416 .BR dump " [<filename>]"
418 Creates a plain-text dump of the tags of each message.
420 The output is to the given filename, if any, or to stdout.
422 These tags are the only data in the notmuch database that can't be
423 recreated from the messages themselves. The output of notmuch dump is
424 therefore the only critical thing to backup (and much more friendly to
425 incremental backup than the native database files.)
427 .BR restore " <filename>"
429 Restores the tags from the given file (see
430 .BR "notmuch dump" "."
432 Note: The dump file format is specifically chosen to be
433 compatible with the format of files produced by sup-dump.
434 So if you've previously been using sup for mail, then the
436 command provides you a way to import all of your tags (or labels as
442 command can used to output a single part of a multi-part MIME message.
446 .BR part " \-\-part=<part-number> <search-term>..."
448 Output a single MIME part of a message.
450 A single decoded MIME part, with no encoding or framing, is output to
451 stdout. The search terms must match only a single message, otherwise
452 this command will fail.
454 The part number should match the part "id" field output by the
455 "\-\-format=json" option of "notmuch show". If the message specified by
456 the search terms does not include a part with the specified "id" there
461 section below for details of the supported syntax for <search-terms>.
466 command can be used to get or set settings int the notmuch
471 .BR "config get " <section> . <item>
473 The value of the specified configuration item is printed to stdout. If
474 the item has multiple values, each value is separated by a newline
477 Available configuration items include at least
492 .BR "config set " <section> . "<item> [values ...]"
494 The specified configuration item is set to the given value. To
495 specify a multiple-value item, provide each value as a separate
496 command-line argument.
498 If no values are provided, the specified configuration item will be
499 removed from the configuration file.
503 Several notmuch commands accept a common syntax for search terms.
505 The search terms can consist of free-form text (and quoted phrases)
506 which will match all messages that contain all of the given
507 terms/phrases in the body, the subject, or any of the sender or
510 As a special case, a search string consisting of exactly a single
511 asterisk ("*") will match all messages.
513 In addition to free text, the following prefixes can be used to force
514 terms to match against specific portions of an email, (where
515 <brackets> indicate user-supplied values):
517 from:<name-or-address>
521 subject:<word-or-quoted-phrase>
525 tag:<tag> (or is:<tag>)
531 folder:<directory-path>
535 prefix is used to match the name or address of the sender of an email
540 prefix is used to match the names or addresses of any recipient of an
541 email message, (whether To, Cc, or Bcc).
543 Any term prefixed with
545 will match only text from the subject of an email. Searching for a
546 phrase in the subject is supported by including quotation marks around
547 the phrase, immediately following
552 prefix can be used to search for specific filenames (or extensions) of
553 attachments to email messages.
557 valid tag values include
558 .BR inbox " and " unread
559 by default for new messages added by
561 as well as any other tag values added manually with
566 message ID values are the literal contents of the Message\-ID: header
567 of email messages, but without the '<', '>' delimiters.
571 prefix can be used with the thread ID values that are generated
572 internally by notmuch (and do not appear in email messages). These
573 thread ID values can be seen in the first column of output from
578 prefix can be used to search for email message files that are
579 contained within particular directories within the mail store. Only
580 the directory components below the top-level mail database path are
581 available to be searched.
583 In addition to individual terms, multiple terms can be
584 combined with Boolean operators (
585 .BR and ", " or ", " not
586 , etc.). Each term in the query will be implicitly connected by a
587 logical AND if no explicit operator is provided, (except that terms
588 with a common prefix will be implicitly combined with OR until we get
589 Xapian defect #402 fixed).
591 Parentheses can also be used to control the combination of the Boolean
592 operators, but will have to be protected from interpretation by the
593 shell, (such as by putting quotation marks around any parenthesized
596 Finally, results can be restricted to only messages within a
597 particular time range, (based on the Date: header) with a syntax of:
599 <intial-timestamp>..<final-timestamp>
601 Each timestamp is a number representing the number of seconds since
602 1970\-01\-01 00:00:00 UTC. This is not the most convenient means of
603 expressing date ranges, but until notmuch is fixed to accept a more
604 convenient form, one can use the date program to construct
605 timestamps. For example, with the bash shell the folowing syntax would
606 specify a date range to return messages from 2009\-10\-01 until the
609 $(date +%s \-d 2009\-10\-01)..$(date +%s)
611 The following environment variables can be used to control the
615 Specifies the location of the notmuch configuration file. Notmuch will
616 use ${HOME}/.notmuch\-config if this variable is not set.
618 The emacs-based interface to notmuch (available as
620 in the Notmuch distribution).
623 .B http://notmuchmail.org
625 Feel free to send questions, comments, or kudos to the notmuch mailing
626 list <notmuch@notmuchmail.org> . Subscription is not required before
627 posting, but is available from the notmuchmail.org website.
629 Real-time interaction with the Notmuch community is available via IRC
630 (server: irc.freenode.net, channel: #notmuch).