+<!-- -*- mode: text; indent-tabs-mode: nil -*- -->
+
[[!img notmuch-logo.png alt="Notmuch logo" class="left"]]
#Tips and Tricks for using notmuch with Emacs
To use the Notmuch emacs mode, first add the following line to your
`.emacs` rc file:
- (require 'notmuch)
+ (require 'notmuch)
+
+or you can load the package via autoload:
+
+ (autoload 'notmuch "notmuch" "notmuch mail" t)
Then, either run "emacs -f notmuch", or execute the command `M-x
notmuch` from within a running emacs.
mentioned as script arguments. (Note: The script expects that you have
`(server-start)` in your `.emacs` file.)
- #!/bin/sh
- attach_cmds=""
- while [ "$1" ]; do
- fullpath=$(readlink --canonicalize $1)
- attach_cmds="$attach_cmds (mml-attach-file \"$fullpath\")"
- shift
- done
- emacsclient -a '' -c -e "(progn (compose-mail) $attach_cmds)"
+ #!/bin/sh
+ attach_cmds=""
+ while [ "$1" ]; do
+ fullpath=$(readlink --canonicalize "$1")
+ attach_cmds="$attach_cmds (mml-attach-file \"$fullpath\")"
+ shift
+ done
+ emacsclient -a '' -c -e "(progn (compose-mail) $attach_cmds)"
-----
# Advanced tips and tweaks
+## Use separate emacs lisp file for notmuch configuration
+
+Instead of adding notmuch configuration code to `.emacs`, there
+is an option to collect those to a separate file (which is only
+loaded when `notmuch` is invoked). To do this, write, for example
+a file called `~/.emacs.d/my-notmuch.el`:
+
+ ;; my-notmuch.el -- my notmuch mail configuration
+ ;;
+
+ ;; add here stuff required to be configured *before*
+ ;; notmuch is loaded;
+
+ ; uncomment and modify in case some elisp files are not found in load-path
+ ; (add-to-list 'load-path "~/vc/ext/notmuch/emacs")
+
+ ;; load notmuch
+ (require 'notmuch)
+
+ ;; add here stuff required to be configured *after*
+ ;; notmuch is loaded;
+
+ ;(setq user-mail-address (notmuch-user-primary-email)
+ ; user-full-name (notmuch-user-name))
+
+ ; uncomment & modify if you want to use external smtp server to send mail
+ ; (setq smtpmail-smtp-server "smtp.server.tld"
+ ; message-send-mail-function 'message-smtpmail-send-it)
+
+Then, adto `.emacs`:
+
+ (autoload 'notmuch "~/.emacs.d/my-notmuch" "notmuch mail" t)
+
+
## Add a key binding to add/remove/toggle a tag
The `notmuch-{search,show}-{add,remove}-tag` functions are very useful
of how to make a key binding to add the "spam" tag and remove the
"inbox" tag in notmuch-show-mode:
- (define-key notmuch-show-mode-map "S"
- (lambda ()
- "mark message as spam"
- (interactive)
- (notmuch-show-add-tag "spam")
- (notmuch-show-remove-tag "inbox")))
+In notmuch versions up to 0.11.x
+
+ (define-key notmuch-show-mode-map "S"
+ (lambda ()
+ "mark message as spam"
+ (interactive)
+ (notmuch-show-add-tag "spam")
+ (notmuch-show-remove-tag "inbox")))
+
+Starting from notmuch 0.12 (not released yet) the functions
+`notmuch-show-add-tag` and `notmuch-show-remove-tag` have changed to
+be more versatile and lost noninteractive use. When upgrading to 0.12
+the above needs to be changed to this:
+
+ (define-key notmuch-show-mode-map "S"
+ (lambda ()
+ "mark message as spam"
+ (interactive)
+ (notmuch-show-tag-message "+spam" "-inbox")))
You can do the same for threads in `notmuch-search-mode` by just
replacing "show" with "search" in the called functions.
+(Starting from notmuch 0.12 use `notmuch-search-tag-thread` instead)
+
The definition above makes use of a lambda function, but you could
also define a separate function first:
- (defun notmuch-show-tag-spam()
- "mark message as spam"
- (interactive)
- (notmuch-show-add-tag "spam")
- (notmuch-show-remove-tag "inbox")))
- (define-key notmuch-show-mode-map "S" 'notmuch-show-tag-spam)
+ (defun notmuch-show-tag-spam()
+ "mark message as spam"
+ (interactive)
+ (notmuch-show-add-tag "spam")
+ (notmuch-show-remove-tag "inbox")))
+ (define-key notmuch-show-mode-map "S" 'notmuch-show-tag-spam)
+
+(See above for analogy how to apply this for notmuch 0.12 and later)
Here's a more complicated example of how to add a toggle "deleted"
key:
- (define-key notmuch-show-mode-map "d"
- (lambda ()
- "toggle deleted tag for message"
- (interactive)
- (if (member "deleted" (notmuch-show-get-tags))
- (notmuch-show-remove-tag "deleted")
- (notmuch-show-add-tag "deleted"))))
+ (define-key notmuch-show-mode-map "d"
+ (lambda ()
+ "toggle deleted tag for message"
+ (interactive)
+ (if (member "deleted" (notmuch-show-get-tags))
+ (notmuch-show-remove-tag "deleted")
+ (notmuch-show-add-tag "deleted"))))
+
+And version for notmuch 0.12 (not released yet)
+
+ (define-key notmuch-show-mode-map "d"
+ (lambda ()
+ "toggle deleted tag for message"
+ (interactive)
+ (notmuch-show-tag-message
+ (if (member "deleted" (notmuch-show-get-tags))
+ "-deleted" "+deleted"))))
+
+## Restore reply-to-all key binding to 'r'
+
+Starting from notmuch 0.12 the 'r' key is bound to reply-to-sender instead of
+reply-to-all. Here's how to swap the reply to sender/all bindings in show mode:
+
+ (define-key notmuch-show-mode-map "r" 'notmuch-show-reply)
+ (define-key notmuch-show-mode-map "R" 'notmuch-show-reply-sender)
+
+And in search mode:
+
+ (define-key notmuch-search-mode-map "r" 'notmuch-search-reply-to-thread)
+ (define-key notmuch-search-mode-map "R" 'notmuch-search-reply-to-thread-sender)
+
## How to do FCC/BCC...
will be appended automatically). To customize both variables at the
same time, use the fancy command:
- M-x customize-apropos<RET>\(notmuch-fcc-dirs\)\|\(message-directory\)
+ M-x customize-apropos<RET>\(notmuch-fcc-dirs\)\|\(message-directory\)
This mechanism also allows you to select different folders to be
used for the outgoing mail depending on your selected `From`
An example setting might be:
- (setq notmuch-saved-searches '(("inbox" . "tag:inbox")
- ("unread" . "tag:inbox AND tag:unread")
- ("notmuch" . "tag:inbox AND to:notmuchmail.org")))
+ (setq notmuch-saved-searches '(("inbox" . "tag:inbox")
+ ("unread" . "tag:inbox AND tag:unread")
+ ("notmuch" . "tag:inbox AND to:notmuchmail.org")))
Of course, you can have any number of saved searches, each configured
with any supported search terms (see "notmuch help search-terms").
browser. Here's a little script that Keith Packard wrote, which he
calls `view-html`:
- #!/bin/sh
- dir=`mktemp -d`
- trap "rm -r $dir" 0
- cat "$@" > "$dir"/msg
- if munpack -C "$dir" -t < "$dir"/msg 2>&1 | grep 'Did not find'; then
- sed -n '/[Hh][Tt][Mm][Ll]/,$p' "$dir"/msg > $dir/part1.html
- rm "$dir"/msg
- fi
- for i in "$dir"/part*; do
- if grep -q -i -e '<html>' -e 'text/html' "$i"; then
- iceweasel "$i" &
- sleep 3
- exit 0
- fi
- done
+ #!/bin/sh
+ dir=`mktemp -d`
+ trap "rm -r $dir" 0
+ cat "$@" > "$dir"/msg
+ if munpack -C "$dir" -t < "$dir"/msg 2>&1 | grep 'Did not find'; then
+ sed -n '/[Hh][Tt][Mm][Ll]/,$p' "$dir"/msg > $dir/part1.html
+ rm "$dir"/msg
+ fi
+ for i in "$dir"/part*; do
+ if grep -q -i -e '<html>' -e 'text/html' "$i"; then
+ iceweasel "$i" &
+ sleep 3
+ exit 0
+ fi
+ done
Save that script somewhere in your `${PATH}`, make it executable,
and change the invocation of `iceweasel` to any other HTML viewer if
If you have a hard time getting the above to work for you, as I did,
it's also possible to add a message-send-mail-hook in your .emacs to
send the from header explicitly as an argument to msmtp as described
-[here on the
-emacswiki](http://www.emacswiki.org/cgi-bin/wiki/GnusMSMTP#toc2)
+[here](http://www.emacswiki.org/cgi-bin/wiki/GnusMSMTP#toc2) on the
+emacswiki.
## <span id="address_completion">Address completion when composing</span>
You can also use the notmuch database as a mail address book itself.
To do this you need a command line tool that outputs likely address
-candidates based on a search string. There are currently two
+candidates based on a search string. There are currently three
available:
* The python tool `notmuch_address.py` (`git clone
`http://github.com/spaetz/vala-notmuch/raw/static-sources/src/addrlookup.c`
and build it with:
- cc -o addrlookup addrlookup.c `pkg-config --cflags --libs gobject-2.0` -lnotmuch
+ cc -o addrlookup addrlookup.c `pkg-config --cflags --libs gobject-2.0` -lnotmuch
-You can perform tab-completion using either of these programs. Just add the following to your .emacs:
+ * Shell/fgrep/perl combination [nottoomuch-addresses.sh](http://www.iki.fi/too/nottoomuch/nottoomuch-addresses/).
+ This tools maintains it's own address "database" gathered from email
+ files notmuch knows and search from that "database" is done by fgrep(1).
- (require 'notmuch-address)
- (setq notmuch-address-command "/path/to/address_fetching_program")
- (notmuch-address-message-insinuate)
+You can perform tab-completion using any of these programs. Just add the following to your .emacs:
+
+ (require 'notmuch-address)
+ (setq notmuch-address-command "/path/to/address_fetching_program")
+ (notmuch-address-message-insinuate)
## How to sign/encrypt messages with gpg
p`. To sign outgoing mail by default, use the `message-setup-hook`
in your `.emacs` file:
- ;; Sign messages by default.
- (add-hook 'message-setup-hook 'mml-secure-sign-pgpmime)
+ ;; Sign messages by default.
+ (add-hook 'message-setup-hook 'mml-secure-sign-pgpmime)
This inserts the required `<#part sign=pgpmime>` into the beginning
of the mail text body and will be converted into a pgp signature
Alternatively, you may prefer to use `mml-secure-message-sign-pgpmime` instead
of `mml-secure-sign-pgpmime` to sign the whole message instead of just one
part.
+
+### Troubleshooting message-mode gpg support
+
+- If you have trouble with expired subkeys, you may have encountered
+ emacs bug #7931. This is fixed in git commit 301ea744c on
+ 2011-02-02. Note that if you have the Debian package easypg
+ installed, it will shadow the fixed version of easypg included with
+ emacs.
projects / notmuch-wiki / blobdiff