+[[!img notmuch-logo.png alt="Notmuch logo" class="left"]]
# Tips and Tricks for using notmuch with Emacs
One of the more popular notmuch message reading clients is
When first starting notmuch in emacs, you will be presented with the
notmuch "hello" page. If it exits with an error after writing
"Welcome to notmutch. You have" you need to do the basic notmuch setup
-first (see above).
+first (see above).
From here you can do searches, see lists of recent
searches, saved searches, message tags, help information, etc.
If notmuch-show-mode behaves badly for you in emacs 24.x try adding one of
- (setq gnus-inhibit-images nil)
+ (setq gnus-inhibit-images nil)
or
- (require 'gnus-art)
+ (require 'gnus-art)
to your .emacs file.
;;; 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
+ ;;; load notmuch
(require 'notmuch)
;;; add here stuff required to be configured *after*
(autoload 'notmuch "~/.emacs.d/my-notmuch" "notmuch mail" t)
+## Initial cursor position in notmuch 0.15 hello window
+
+In notmuch version 0.15 emacs client the handling of cursor position in
+notmuch hello window has been simplified to a version which suits best
+most cases.
+
+Initially the cursor is positioned at the beginning of buffer.
+
+Some users liked the "ancient" version where cursor was moved to the
+first `Saved searches` button.
+
+Add the following code to your notmuch emacs configuration file in
+case you want this behaviour:
+
+ (add-hook 'notmuch-hello-refresh-hook
+ (lambda ()
+ (if (and (eq (point) (point-min))
+ (search-forward "Saved searches:" nil t))
+ (progn
+ (forward-line)
+ (widget-forward 1))
+ (if (eq (widget-type (widget-at)) 'editable-field)
+ (beginning-of-line)))))
## Add a key binding to add/remove/toggle a tag
(notmuch-show-add-tag "spam")
(notmuch-show-remove-tag "inbox")))
-Starting from notmuch 0.12 the functions `notmuch-show-add-tag` and
+Starting from notmuch 0.12 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
+noninteractive use. When upgrading to 0.12 the above needs to be
changed to this:
(define-key notmuch-show-mode-map "S"
The Emacs interface to notmuch will automatically add an `Fcc`
header to your outgoing mail so that any messages you send will also
be saved in your mail store. You can control where this copy of the
-message is saved by setting the variables `message-directory` (which
-defines a base directory) and `notmuch-fcc-dirs` which defines the
-subdirectory relative to `message-directory` in which to save the
-mail. Enter a directory (without the maildir `/cur` ending which
-will be appended automatically). To customize both variables at the
-same time, use the fancy command:
+message is saved by setting the variable `notmuch-fcc-dirs` which defines the
+subdirectory relative to the `database.path` setting from your
+notmuch configuration in which to save the mail. Enter a directory
+(without the maildir `/cur` ending which will be appended
+automatically). Additional information can be found as usual using:
+
+ M-x describe-variable notmuch-fcc-dirs
+
+An additional variable that can affect FCC settings in some cases is
+`message-directory`. Emacs message-mode uses this variable for
+postponed messages.
+
+To customize both variables at the same time, use the fancy command:
M-x customize-apropos<RET>\(notmuch-fcc-dirs\)\|\(message-directory\)
interface (using the `[save]` button next to a previous search) or by
customising the variable `notmuch-saved-searches`.
-An example setting might be:
+An example setting for notmuch versions up to 0.17.x might be:
(setq notmuch-saved-searches '(("inbox" . "tag:inbox")
("unread" . "tag:inbox AND tag:unread")
("notmuch" . "tag:inbox AND to:notmuchmail.org")))
+Starting from notmuch 0.18 the variable changed. It is backwards
+compatible so the above will still work but the new style will be used
+if you use customize and there are some new features available. The above would become
+
+ (setq notmuch-saved-searches '((:name "inbox" :query "tag:inbox")
+ (:name "unread" :query "tag:inbox AND tag:unread")
+ (:name "notmuch" :query "tag:inbox AND to:notmuchmail.org")))
+
+The additional features are the possibility to set the search order
+for the search, and the possibility to specify a different query for
+displaying the count for the saved-search. For example
+
+ (setq notmuch-saved-searches '((:name "inbox"
+ :query "tag:inbox"
+ :count-query "tag:inbox and tag:unread"
+ :sort-order 'oldest-first)))
+
+specifies a single saved search for inbox, but the number displayed by
+the search will be the number of unread messages in the inbox, and the
+sort order for this search will be oldest-first.
+
Of course, you can have any number of saved searches, each configured
-with any supported search terms (see "notmuch help search-terms").
+with any supported search terms (see "notmuch help search-terms"), and
+in the new style variable they can each have different count-queries
+and sort orders.
Some users find it useful to add `and not tag:delete` to those
searches, as they use the `delete` tag to mark messages as
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 three
+candidates based on a search string. There are currently four
available:
* The python tool `notmuch_address.py` (`git clone
cc -o addrlookup addrlookup.c `pkg-config --cflags --libs gobject-2.0` -lnotmuch
- * Shell/fgrep/perl combination [nottoomuch-addresses.sh](http://www.iki.fi/too/nottoomuch/nottoomuch-addresses/).
+ * Shell/fgrep/perl combination [nottoomuch-addresses.sh](https://github.com/domo141/nottoomuch/blob/master/nottoomuch-addresses.rst).
This tools maintains it's own address "database" gathered from email
files notmuch knows and search from that "database" is done by `fgrep(1)`.
+ * python/sqlite combination [notmuch-abook](https://github.com/guyzmo/notmuch-abook/)
+ This tools also maintains an address database in sqlite after harvesting
+ from notmuch. It also includes a vim plugin.
+
You can perform tab-completion using any of these programs.
Just add the following to your .emacs:
You can add the sender of a message to Google Contacts by piping the message
(`notmuch-show-pipe-message`) to `goobook add`.
+### Akonadi
+
+ git clone https://github.com/mmehnert/akonadimailsearch
+
+Install the development packages for kdepim on your system.
+Enter the cloned repository and create a build directory:
+
+ mkdir build
+ cd build
+ cmake ..; make;
+
+You will find the akonadimailsearch binary in the build/src directory.
+Create a ~/bin/akonadimailsearch.sh file with the following content and make it executable:
+(Adjust the path for the akonadimailsearch binary.)
+
+ #!/bin/sh
+ akonadimailsearch "$@" 2>/dev/null
+
+As described above, you can now add the following settings to your ~/.emacs file:
+
+ (require 'notmuch-address)
+ (setq notmuch-address-command "~/bin/akonadimailsearch.sh")
+ (notmuch-address-message-insinuate)
+
+
+
## How to sign/encrypt messages with gpg
-Messages can by signed using gpg by invoking
+Messages can by signed using gpg by invoking
`M-x mml-secure-sign-pgpmime` (or `M-x mml-secure-encrypt-pgpmime`).
-These functions are available via the standard `message-mode` keybindings
+These functions are available via the standard `message-mode` keybindings
`C-c C-m s p` and `C-c C-m c p`. To sign outgoing mail by default, use the
`message-setup-hook` in your `.emacs` file:
Looking into `gnus-alias.el` gives a bit more information...
-### Example Configuration
+### Example Configuration
Here is an example configuration.
;; Use "home" identity by default
(setq gnus-alias-default-identity "home")
;; Define rules to match work identity
- (setq gnus-alias-identity-rules
+ (setq gnus-alias-identity-rules)
'(("work" ("any" "john.doe@\\(example\\.com\\|help\\.example.com\\)" both) "work"))
;; Determine identity when message-mode loads
(add-hook 'message-setup-hook 'gnus-alias-determine-identity)
M-x describe-variable RET gnus-alias-default-identity
M-x customize-group RET gnus-alias RET
- or
+ or
M-x gnus-alias-customize RET
The last two do the same thing.
lines. Add this to your `.emacs` to replace tabs with spaces in subject
lines:
- (defun notmuch-show-subject-tabs-to-spaces ()
- "Replace tabs with spaces in subject line."
- (goto-char (point-min))
- (when (re-search-forward "^Subject:" nil t)
- (while (re-search-forward "\t" (line-end-position) t)
- (replace-match " " nil nil))))
+ (defun notmuch-show-subject-tabs-to-spaces ()
+ "Replace tabs with spaces in subject line."
+ (goto-char (point-min))
+ (when (re-search-forward "^Subject:" nil t)
+ (while (re-search-forward "\t" (line-end-position) t)
+ (replace-match " " nil nil))))
- (add-hook 'notmuch-show-markup-headers-hook 'notmuch-show-subject-tabs-to-spaces)
+ (add-hook 'notmuch-show-markup-headers-hook 'notmuch-show-subject-tabs-to-spaces)
And in header lines (this will only work with the yet to be released
notmuch version 0.15):
- (defun notmuch-show-header-tabs-to-spaces ()
- "Replace tabs with spaces in header line."
- (setq header-line-format
- (notmuch-show-strip-re
- (replace-regexp-in-string "\t" " " (notmuch-show-get-subject)))))
+ (defun notmuch-show-header-tabs-to-spaces ()
+ "Replace tabs with spaces in header line."
+ (setq header-line-format
+ (notmuch-show-strip-re
+ (replace-regexp-in-string "\t" " " (notmuch-show-get-subject)))))
+
+ (add-hook 'notmuch-show-hook 'notmuch-show-header-tabs-to-spaces)
+
+## Hiding unread messages in notmuch-show
+
+I like to have an inbox saved search, but only show unread messages when they
+view a thread. This takes two steps:
+
+1. Apply
+[this patch from Mark Walters](http://notmuchmail.org/pipermail/notmuch/2012/010817.html)
+to add the `notmuch-show-filter-thread` function.
+1. Add the following hook to your emacs configuration:
+
+ (defun expand-only-unread-hook () (interactive)
+ (let ((unread nil)
+ (open (notmuch-show-get-message-ids-for-open-messages)))
+ (notmuch-show-mapc (lambda ()
+ (when (member "unread" (notmuch-show-get-tags))
+ (setq unread t))))
+ (when unread
+ (let ((notmuch-show-hook (remove 'expand-only-unread-hook notmuch-show-hook)))
+ (notmuch-show-filter-thread "tag:unread")))))
+
+ (add-hook 'notmuch-show-hook 'expand-only-unread-hook)
+
+## Changing the color of a saved search based on some other search
+
+I like to have a saved search for my inbox, but have it change color when there
+are thread with unread messages in the inbox. I accomplish this with the
+following code in my emacs config:
+
+ (defun color-inbox-if-unread () (interactive)
+ (save-excursion
+ (goto-char (point-min))
+ (let ((cnt (car (process-lines "notmuch" "count" "tag:inbox and tag:unread"))))
+ (when (> (string-to-number cnt) 0)
+ (save-excursion
+ (when (search-forward "inbox" (point-max) t)
+ (let* ((overlays (overlays-in (match-beginning 0) (match-end 0)))
+ (overlay (car overlays)))
+ (when overlay
+ (overlay-put overlay 'face '((:inherit bold) (:foreground "green")))))))))))
+ (add-hook 'notmuch-hello-refresh-hook 'color-inbox-if-unread)
+
+## Linking to notmuch messages and threads from the Circe IRC client
+
+[Circe](https://github.com/jorgenschaefer/circe/wiki) is an IRC client for emacs.
+To have clickable buttons for notmuch messages and threads, add the following to
+`lui-buttons-list` (using, e.g. M-x customize-variable)
+
+ ("\\(?:id\\|mid\\|thread\\):[0-9A-Za-z][0-9A-Za-z.@-]*" 0 notmuch-show 0)
+
+If you have notmuch-pick installed, it works fine for this as well.
+
+## Linking to notmuch messages from org-mode
+
+Support for linking to notmuch messages is distributed with org-mode,
+but as a contrib file, so you might have to work a bit to load it.
+
+In Debian and derivatives,
+
+ (add-to-list 'load-path "/usr/share/org-mode/lisp")
+
+Then
+
+ (require 'org-notmuch)
+
+In general it is nice to have a key for org-links (not just for notmuch). For example
+
+ (define-key global-map "\C-cl" 'org-store-link)
+
+## Viewing diffs in notmuch
+
+The following code allows you to view an inline patch in diff-mode
+directly from notmuch. This means that normal diff-mode commands like
+refine, next hunk etc all work.
+
+ (defun my-notmuch-show-view-as-patch ()
+ "View the the current message as a patch."
+ (interactive)
+ (let* ((id (notmuch-show-get-message-id))
+ (subject (concat "Subject: " (notmuch-show-get-subject) "\n"))
+ (diff-default-read-only t)
+ (buf (get-buffer-create (concat "*notmuch-patch-" id "*")))
+ (map (make-sparse-keymap)))
+ (define-key map "q" 'notmuch-kill-this-buffer)
+ (switch-to-buffer buf)
+ (let ((inhibit-read-only t))
+ (erase-buffer)
+ (insert subject)
+ (insert (notmuch-get-bodypart-internal id 1 nil)))
+ (set-buffer-modified-p nil)
+ (diff-mode)
+ (lexical-let ((new-ro-bind (cons 'buffer-read-only map)))
+ (add-to-list 'minor-mode-overriding-map-alist new-ro-bind))
+ (goto-char (point-min))))
+
+and then this function needs to bound into the keymap with something like
- (add-hook 'notmuch-show-hook 'notmuch-show-header-tabs-to-spaces)
+ (define-key 'notmuch-show-mode-map "D" 'my-notmuch-show-view-as-patch)
projects / notmuch-wiki / blobdiff