# Approaches to initial tagging of messages

This page collects scripts and strategies for organizing mail using
notmuch and doing automated initial tagging.

Here's a very general and ad-hoc approach to initial message tagging.
The [new] config section allows you to control which tags new messages
receive.  This sets all new messages to get the "new" tag:

    [new]
    tags=new;

After running "notmuch new", all new messages will be marked "new".
You can then do various tag post-processing by just acting on messages
with that tag.  For instance, a post-processing script might do the
following:

    # immediately archive all messages from "me"
    notmuch tag -new -- tag:new and from:me@example.com

    # delete all messages from a spammer:
    notmuch tag +deleted -- from:spam@spam.com

    # tag all message from notmuch mailing list
    notmuch tag +notmuch -- to:notmuch@notmuchmail.org

    # finally, retag all "new" messages s "inbox" and "unread"
    notmuch tag +inbox +unread -new -- tag:new

Since the post-processing is only acting on a few messages, it is
generally extrememly fast.

## Other solutions

* [This
  email](http://notmuchmail.org/pipermail/notmuch/2010/001691.html)
  (and related thread) details Carl Worth's approach to tagging. It is
  email id:87r5o8stbj.fsf@yoom.home.cworth.org in the notmuch mailing
  list archives.


* [This
  email](http://notmuchmail.org/pipermail/notmuch/2010/001690.html)
  (and related thread) details one user's setup, which includes using
  the inbox tag as a "new mail" flag. It is email
  id:87hbp5j9dv.fsf@hackervisions.org in the notmuch mailing list
  archives.