-# Tips and Tricks for using notmuch with Emacs
+[[!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
-**notmuch.el**, an [emacs](http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/) major
-mode for interacting with notmuch. It is included in the notmuch
-package. This page goes over some usage tips for using notmuch with
-Emacs.
+Here are some tips and tricks for using Notmuch with Emacs. See the [[Notmuch
+Emacs Interface|notmuch-emacs]] page for basics.
[[!toc levels=2]]
-## Setup
-
-To use the Notmuch emacs mode, first add the following line to your
-`.emacs` rc file:
-
- (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.
-
-## Navigating & reading mails
-
-When first starting notmuch in emacs, you will be presented with the
-notmuch "hello" page. From here you can do searches, see lists of
-recent searches, saved searches, message tags, help information, etc.
-
-Executing a search will open a new buffer in `notmuch-search-mode`
-displaying the search results. Each line in the search results
-represents a message thread. Hitting the '?' key will show help for
-this mode.
-
-In general, the 'q' will kill the current notmuch buffer and return
-you to the previous buffer (sort of like a 'pop').
-
-In search mode, navigating to a thread and hitting return will then
-open a new buffer in `notmuch-show-mode`, which will show the actual
-message contents of the thread.
-
-## Sending mail
-
-In any notmuch mode, you can start a new message by hitting the 'm'
-key. To reply to a message or thread, just hit the 'r' key.
-
-When composing new messages, you will be entered in emacs's
-`message-mode`, which is a powerful mode for composing and sending
-messages. When in message mode, you can type `C-c ?` for help.
-
-If you would like to use address autocompletion when composing
-messages, see [address completion](#address_completion).
-
-When you are ready to send a message, type `C-c C-c`. By default
-message mode will use your sendmail command to send mail, so make sure
-that works. One annoying standard configuration of message mode is
-that it will hide the sent mail in your emacs frame stack, but it will
-not close it. If you type several mails in an emacs session they will
-accumulate and make switching between buffers more annoying. You can
-avoid that behavior by adding `(setq message-kill-buffer-on-exit t)`
-in your `.emacs` file (or doing `M-x
-customize-variable<RET>message-kill-buffer-on-exit<RET>`) which will
-really close the mail window after sending it.
-
-## Attaching files
-
-Using the `M-x mml-attach-file` command, you can attach any file to be
-sent with your mail. By default this command is bound to the menu item
-*Attachments--Attach File* with the key binding `C-c C-a`. The
-variable `mml-dnd-attach-options` (`M-x
-customize-variable<RET>mml-dnd-attach-options<RET>`) can be set to
-allow the prompting for various attachment options (such as
-inline/attachment) if you want to do that.
-
-For those who prefer a more graphical interface, you can also simply
-drag and drop files from a file manager into a mail composition window
-to have them attached. In Ubuntu this works without any modifications
-if files are dragged from the file manager.
-
-And for those who prefer working from command line, the following
-script opens new emacs window with empty message and attaches files
-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) $attach_cmds)"
-
-
------
-
-# Advanced tips and tweaks
-
-## Use separate emacs lisp file for notmuch configuration
-
-Instead of adding notmuch configuration code to `.emacs`, there
-is an option to collect those to a separate file (which is only
-loaded when `notmuch` is invoked). To do this, write, for example
-a file called `~/.emacs.d/my-notmuch.el`:
-
- ;; my-notmuch.el -- my notmuch mail configuration
- ;;
-
- ;; add here stuff required to be configured *before*
- ;; notmuch is loaded;
-
- ; uncomment and modify in case some elisp files are not found in load-path
- ; (add-to-list 'load-path "~/vc/ext/notmuch/emacs")
-
- ;; load notmuch
- (require 'notmuch)
-
- ;; add here stuff required to be configured *after*
- ;; notmuch is loaded;
-
- ;(setq user-mail-address (notmuch-user-primary-email)
- ; user-full-name (notmuch-user-name))
-
- ; uncomment & modify if you want to use external smtp server to send mail
- ; (setq smtpmail-smtp-server "smtp.server.tld"
- ; message-send-mail-function 'message-smtpmail-send-it)
-
-Then, adto `.emacs`:
-
- (autoload 'notmuch "~/.emacs.d/my-notmuch" "notmuch mail" t)
-
+## Controlling external handlers for attachments
+
+You can choose e.g. which pdf viewer to invoke from notmuch-show mode by
+adding a .mailcap file in your home directory. Here is an example:
+
+ application/pdf; /usr/bin/mupdf %s; test=test "$DISPLAY" != ""; description=Portable Document Format; nametemplate=%s.pdf
+ application/x-pdf; /usr/bin/mupdf %s; test=test "$DISPLAY" != ""; description=Portable Document Format; nametemplate=%s.pdf
+
+### Convert ".pdf" and ".docx" to text and pop to buffer
+
+Add the following (hacky but effective!) code to `.emacs.d/notmuch-config.el`;
+the overwritten `defcustom` will change action when pressing RET on top of an
+attachment; ".pdf" and ".docx" attachments are converted to text (using
+"pdf2text" and "docx2txt.pl" commands to do the conversion), saving to file
+(the default action of `notmuch-show-part-button-default-action`) is offered
+to attachments of other types.
+
+ (defun user/mm-pipe-- (handle cmd)
+ ;; conveniently, '-' '-' a args to pdftotext and docx2txt.pl work fine
+ ;; fixme: naming inconsistency (fn name and buffer name)
+ (let ((buffer (get-buffer-create "*attachment-to-text*")))
+ (with-current-buffer buffer
+ (setq buffer-read-only nil)
+ (erase-buffer))
+ (with-temp-buffer
+ ;; "based on mm-pipe-part in mm-decode.el"
+ (mm-with-unibyte-buffer
+ (mm-insert-part handle)
+ (mm-add-meta-html-tag handle)
+ (let ((coding-system-for-write 'binary))
+ (call-process-region (point-min) (point-max)
+ cmd nil buffer nil "-" "-"))))
+ (pop-to-buffer buffer)
+ (goto-char (point-min))
+ (text-mode)
+ (visual-line-mode)
+ (view-mode)))
+
+ (defun user/notmuch-show-pop-attachment-to-buffer ()
+ ;; "based on notmuch-show-apply-to-current-part-handle"
+ (interactive)
+ (let ((handle (notmuch-show-current-part-handle)))
+ ;;(message "%s" handle)
+ (unwind-protect
+ (pcase (car (nth 1 handle))
+ ("application/pdf"
+ (user/mm-pipe-- handle "pdftotext"))
+ ("application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document"
+ (user/mm-pipe-- handle "docx2txt.pl"))
+ (_ (notmuch-show-save-part)))
+ (kill-buffer (mm-handle-buffer handle)))))
+
+ (setq notmuch-show-part-button-default-action
+ #'user/notmuch-show-pop-attachment-to-buffer)
+
+## Overwriting the sender address
+
+If you want to always use the same sender address, then the following
+defadvice can help you.
+
+ (defadvice notmuch-mua-reply (around notmuch-fix-sender)
+ (let ((sender "Max Monster <max.monster@example.com>"))
+ ad-do-it))
+ (ad-activate 'notmuch-mua-reply)
+
+## 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
-The `notmuch-{search,show}-{add,remove}-tag` functions are very useful
-for making quick tag key bindings. For instance, here's an example
-of how to make a key binding to add the "spam" tag and remove the
-"inbox" tag in notmuch-show-mode:
+The `notmuch-{search,show,tree}-tag` functions are very useful for
+making quick tag key bindings. The arguments to these functions have
+changed as notmuch has evolved but the following should work on all
+versions of notmuch from 0.13 on. These functions take a list of
+tag changes as argument. For example, an argument of (list "+spam"
+"-inbox") adds the tag spam and deletes the tag inbox. Note the
+argument must be a list even if there is only a single tag change
+e.g., use (list "+deleted") to add the deleted tag.
-In notmuch versions up to 0.11.x
+For instance, here's an example 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")))
+ (notmuch-show-tag (list "+spam" "-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:
+You can do the same for threads in `notmuch-search-mode` by just
+replacing "show" with "search" in the keymap and called functions, or
+for messages in `notmuch-tree-mode` by replacing "show" by "tree". If
+you want to tag a whole thread in `notmuch-tree-mode` use
+`notmuch-tree-tag-thread` instead of `notmuch-tree-tag`.
- (define-key notmuch-show-mode-map "S"
- (lambda ()
- "mark message as spam"
- (interactive)
- (notmuch-show-tag-message "+spam" "-inbox")))
+You may also want the function in search mode apply to the all threads
+in the selected region (if there is one). For notmuch prior to 0.17
+this behaviour will occur automatically with the functions given
+above. To get this behaviour on 0.17+ do the following:
-You can do the same for threads in `notmuch-search-mode` by just
-replacing "show" with "search" in the called functions.
+ (define-key notmuch-search-mode-map "S"
+ (lambda (&optional beg end)
+ "mark thread as spam"
+ (interactive (notmuch-interactive-region))
+ (notmuch-search-tag (list "+spam" "-inbox") beg end)))
-(Starting from notmuch 0.12 use `notmuch-search-tag-thread` instead,
-starting from 0.13 use `notmuch-search-tag`).
+The analogous functionality in notmuch-tree is currently missing.
-The definition above makes use of a lambda function, but you could
+The definitions above make use of a lambda function, but you could
also define a separate function first:
- (defun 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)
+ (notmuch-show-add-tag (list "+spam" "-inbox")))
-(See above for analogy how to apply this for notmuch 0.12 and later)
+ (define-key notmuch-show-mode-map "S" 'notmuch-show-tag-spam)
Here's a more complicated example of how to add a toggle "deleted"
key:
"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"))))
+ (notmuch-show-tag (list "-deleted"))
+ (notmuch-show-tag (list "+deleted")))))
## Adding many tagging keybindings
(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:
+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)
+And in tree mode:
+
+ (define-key notmuch-tree-mode-map "r" (notmuch-tree-close-message-pane-and #'notmuch-show-reply))
+ (define-key notmuch-tree-mode-map "R" (notmuch-tree-close-message-pane-and #'notmuch-show-reply-sender))
## How to do FCC/BCC...
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>\(notmuch-fcc-dirs\)\|\(message-directory\)
`notmuch-fcc-dirs` in the customization window for how to arrange
this.
+The `notmuch-fcc-dirs` variable is only taken into account when mails
+are composed using `notmuch-mua-mail`. If you want to use the notmuch
+mail user agent by default, the `mail-user-agent` needs to be
+customized to use the `notmuch-user-agent`.
+
## How to customize `notmuch-saved-searches`
When starting notmuch, a list of saved searches and message counts is
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
## Viewing HTML messages with an external viewer
-The emacs client can display an HTML message inline using either the
-`html2text` library or some text browser, like w3m or lynx. This is
-controlled by the `mm-text-html-renderer` variable.
+The Emacs client can generally display HTML messages inline using one of the
+supported HTML renderers. This is controlled by the `mm-text-html-renderer`
+variable.
-The first option is theorically better, because it can generate
-strings formatted for emacs and do whatever you want, e.g., substitute
-text inside <b> tags for bold text in the buffer. The library, however
-is still in a very early development phase and cannot yet process
-properly many elements, like tables and <style> directives, and even
-the generated text is often poorly formatted.
+Sometimes it may be necessary to display the message, or a single MIME part, in
+an external browser. This can be done by `(notmuch-show-view-part)`, bound to
+`. v` by default.
-Among the available browsers, w3m seems to do a better job converting
-the html, and if you have the w3m emacs package, you can use it,
-instead of the w3m-standalone, and thus preserve the text formatting.
+This command will try to view the message part the point is on with an
+external viewer. The mime-type of the part will determine what viewer
+will be used. Typically a 'text/html' part will be send to your
+browser.
-But if the rendering fails for one reason or another, or if you really
-need to see the graphical presentation of the HTML message, it can be
-useful to display the message in an external viewer, such as a web
-browser. Here's a little script that Keith Packard wrote, which he
-calls `view-html`:
+The configuration for this is kept in so called `mailcap`
+files. (typically the file is `~/.mailcap` or `/etc/mailcap`) If the
+wrong viewer is started or something else goes wrong, there's a good
+chance something needs to be adapted in the mailcap configuration.
+
+For Example: The `copiousoutput` setting in mailcap files needs to be
+removed for some mime-types to prevent immediate removal of temporary
+files so the configured viewer can access them.
- #!/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
-necessary. Then within the emacs client, press '|' to pipe the
-current message, then type "view-html".
-
-Keith mentions the following caveat, "Note that if iceweasel isn't
-already running, it seems to shut down when the script exits. I
-don't know why."
## msmtp, message mode and multiple accounts
for the domains you want to send out using specific SMTP servers and
the rest will go to the default account.
-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](http://www.emacswiki.org/cgi-bin/wiki/GnusMSMTP#toc2) on the
-emacswiki.
+## sending mail using smtpmail
+
+<!-- By default message mode will use the system `sendmail` command to send
+mail. However, on a typical desktop machine there may not be local SMTP
+daemon running (nor it is configured to send mail outside of the system). -->
+
+If setting up local `sendmail` or `msmtp` is not feasible or desirable,
+the Emacs `smtpmail` package can be used to send email by talking to remote
+SMTP server via TCP connection. It is pretty easy to configure:
+
+1. Emacs variable `message-send-mail-function` has not been set
+
+ Initially, Emacs variable `message-send-mail-function` has value of
+ `sendmail-query-once`. When (notmuch) message mode is about to send email,
+ `sendmail-query-once` will ask how emacs should send email. Typing `smtp`
+ will configure `smtpmail` and Emacs may prompt for SMTP settings.
+
+1. `M-x customize-group RET smtpmail`
+
+ As a minimum, 'Smtpmail Smtp Server' needs to be set.
+
+ After doing that, continue with `M-x load-library RET message` and
+ `M-x customize-variable RET message-send-mail-function`.
+ In the customization buffer select `message-smtpmail-send-it`.
+
+1. Set some variables in .emacs or in [notmuch init file](/notmuch-emacs#notmuch_init_file)
+
+ (setq smtpmail-smtp-server "smtp.server.tld" ;; <-- edit this !!!
+ ;; smtpmail-smtp-service 25 ;; 25 is default -- uncomment and edit if needed
+ ;; smtpmail-stream-type 'starttls
+ ;; smtpmail-debug-info t
+ ;; smtpmail-debug-verb t
+ message-send-mail-function 'message-smtpmail-send-it)
+
+Note that emacs 24 or newer is required for `smtpmail-stream-type`
+(and smtp authentication) to be effective.
+
+More information for smtpmail is available:
+
+* In Emacs: `M-x info-display-manual smtpmail`
+* [EmacsWiki Page](http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/SendingMail)
## <span id="address_completion">Address completion when composing</span>
There are currently three solutions to this:
+### notmuch address
+
+Starting with Notmuch 0.21, there is a builtin command to perform
+autocompletion directly within Notmuch. Starting with 0.22, it is
+configured by default, so if you have previously configured another
+completion mechanism, you may want to try out the new internal
+method. Use `M-x customize-variable RET notmuch-address-command` and
+reset the value to "internal address completion" (`'internal` in
+lisp).
+
+If you are not yet running 0.22, you can still use it by adding a
+wrapper around the command called, say, `notmuch-address`:
+
+ #!/bin/sh
+ exec notmuch address from:"$*"
+
+Then you can set the `notmuch-address-command` to `notmuch-address`
+(if it is in your `$PATH` of course, otherwise use an absolute path).
+
### bbdb
[bbdb](http://bbdb.sourceforge.net) is a contact database for emacs
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
http://commonmeasure.org/~jkr/git/notmuch_addresses.git`) (slower, but
no compilation required so good for testing the setup)
+ * The C-based [notmuch-addrlookup](https://github.com/aperezdc/notmuch-addrlookup-c) by [Adrian Perez](http://perezdecastro.org/), which is faster but needs to be compiled.
+
+ git clone https://github.com/aperezdc/notmuch-addrlookup-c
+ cd notmuch-addrlookup-c
+ make
+
* The vala-based
- [addrlookup](http://github.com/spaetz/vala-notmuch) (faster, but
- needs compiling). The addrlookup binary needs to be compiled.
+ [addrlookup](http://github.com/spaetz/vala-notmuch) The addrlookup binary needs to be compiled.
Grab
`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
- * 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).
+ * Shell/fgrep/perl combination [nottoomuch-addresses.sh](https://github.com/domo141/nottoomuch/blob/master/nottoomuch-addresses.rst).
+ This tools maintains its 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 perform tab-completion using any of these programs.
+Just add the following to your [notmuch init file](/notmuch-emacs#notmuch_init_file):
(require 'notmuch-address)
(setq notmuch-address-command "/path/to/address_fetching_program")
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. Copy it to ~/bin .
+
+You can now add the following settings to your
+[notmuch init file](/notmuch-emacs#notmuch_init_file):
+
+ (require 'notmuch-address)
+ (setq notmuch-address-command "~/bin/akonadimailsearch")
+ (notmuch-address-message-insinuate)
+
+### Completion selection with helm
+
+An address query might return multiple possible matches from which you
+will have to select one. To ease this task, several different
+frameworks in emacs support completion selection. One of them is
+[helm](https://github.com/emacs-helm/helm). The following snippet
+improves the out-of-the-box support for helm in notmuch as it enables
+the required-match option and also does not ignore the first returned
+address.
+
+ (setq notmuch-address-selection-function
+ (lambda (prompt collection initial-input)
+ (completing-read prompt (cons initial-input collection) nil t nil 'notmuch-address-history)))
+
+
## How to sign/encrypt messages with gpg
-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 `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:
+Messages can be 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
+`C-c C-m s p` and `C-c C-m c p`.
+
+In Emacs 28 you will be asked whether to sign the message using the
+sender and are offered to remember your choice. In Emacs 27 you will
+get a slightly misleading error and have to manually add the following
+line to you init file. Older Emacsen just do this unconditionally.
+
+ (setq mml-secure-openpgp-sign-with-sender t)
+
+To sign outgoing mail by default, use the `message-setup-hook` in your
+init file:
;; Sign messages by default.
(add-hook 'message-setup-hook 'mml-secure-sign-pgpmime)
of `mml-secure-sign-pgpmime` to sign the whole message instead of just one
part.
+If you want to automatically encrypt outgoing messages if the keyring
+contains a public key for every recipient, you can add something like
+that to your `.emacs` file:
+
+ (defun message-recipients ()
+ "Return a list of all recipients in the message, looking at TO, CC and BCC.
+
+ Each recipient is in the format of `mail-extract-address-components'."
+ (mapcan (lambda (header)
+ (let ((header-value (message-fetch-field header)))
+ (and
+ header-value
+ (mail-extract-address-components header-value t))))
+ '("To" "Cc" "Bcc")))
+
+ (defun message-all-epg-keys-available-p ()
+ "Return non-nil if the pgp keyring has a public key for each recipient."
+ (require 'epa)
+ (let ((context (epg-make-context epa-protocol)))
+ (catch 'break
+ (dolist (recipient (message-recipients))
+ (let ((recipient-email (cadr recipient)))
+ (when (and recipient-email (not (epg-list-keys context recipient-email)))
+ (throw 'break nil))))
+ t)))
+
+ (defun message-sign-encrypt-if-all-keys-available ()
+ "Add MML tag to encrypt message when there is a key for each recipient.
+
+ Consider adding this function to `message-send-hook' to
+ systematically send encrypted emails when possible."
+ (when (message-all-epg-keys-available-p)
+ (mml-secure-message-sign-encrypt)))
+
+ (add-hook 'message-send-hook #'message-sign-encrypt-if-all-keys-available
+
### Troubleshooting message-mode gpg support
- If you have trouble with expired subkeys, you may have encountered
2011-02-02. Note that if you have the Debian package easypg
installed, it will shadow the fixed version of easypg included with
emacs.
+
+- If you wish `mml-secure-encrypt` to encrypt also for the sender, then
+ `M-x customize-variable mml2015-encrypt-to-self` might suit your need.
+
+## Reading and verifying encrypted and signed messages
+
+Encrypted and signed mime messages can be read and verified with:
+
+ (setq notmuch-crypto-process-mime t)
+
+Decrypting inline pgp messages can be done by selecting an the inline pgp area
+and using:
+
+ M-x epa-decrypt-region RET
+
+Verifying of inline pgp messages is not supported directly ([reasons
+here](https://dkg.fifthhorseman.net/notes/inline-pgp-harmful/)). You can still
+verify a part using
+
+ M-x notmuch-show-pipe-part RET gpg --verify RET
+
+## Multiple identities using gnus-alias
+
+[gnus-alias](http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/GnusAlias) allows you to
+define multiple identities when using `message-mode`. You can specify
+the from address, organization, extra headers (including *Bcc*), extra
+body text, and signature for each identity. Identities are chosen
+based on a set of rules. When you are in message mode, you can switch
+identities using gnus-alias.
+
+### Installation
+
+- put `gnus-alias.el` on your load Emacs-Lisp load path (add new directory
+ to load path by writing `(add-to-list 'load-path "/some/load/path")` into
+ your `.emacs`.
+
+- Add the following to your `.emacs`
+
+ (autoload 'gnus-alias-determine-identity "gnus-alias" "" t)
+ (add-hook 'message-setup-hook 'gnus-alias-determine-identity)
+
+Looking into `gnus-alias.el` gives a bit more information...
+
+### Example Configuration
+
+Here is an example configuration.
+
+ ;; Define two identities, "home" and "work"
+ (setq gnus-alias-identity-alist
+ '(("home"
+ nil ;; Does not refer to any other identity
+ "John Doe <jdoe@example.net>" ;; Sender address
+ nil ;; No organization header
+ nil ;; No extra headers
+ nil ;; No extra body text
+ "~/.signature")
+ ("work"
+ nil
+ "John Doe <john.doe@example.com>"
+ "Example Corp."
+ (("Bcc" . "john.doe@example.com"))
+ nil
+ "~/.signature.work")))
+ ;; Use "home" identity by default
+ (setq gnus-alias-default-identity "home")
+ ;; Define rules to match work identity
+ (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)
+
+When `gnus-alias` has been loaded (using autoload, require, *M-x load-library*
+or *M-x load-file* (load-file takes file path -- therefore it can be used
+without any `.emacs` changes)) the following commands can be used to get(/set)
+more information (some of these have "extensive documentation"):
+
+ M-x describe-variable RET gnus-alias-identity-alist
+ M-x describe-variable RET gnus-alias-identity-rules
+ M-x describe-variable RET gnus-alias-default-identity
+
+ M-x customize-group RET gnus-alias RET
+ or
+ M-x gnus-alias-customize RET
+
+The last two do the same thing.
+
+See also the **Usage:** section in `gnus-alias.el`.
+
+## Multiple identities (and more) with message-templ
+
+Another option for multiple identities is
+[message-templ](http://git.tethera.net/message-templ.git)
+(also a available in marmalade). This provides roughly the same
+facilities as wanderlust's template facility.
+
+See
+[example.emacs.el](https://git.tethera.net/message-templ.git/tree/example.emacs.el)
+for some simple examples of usage.
+
+## Resending (or bouncing) messages
+
+Add the following to your [notmuch init file](/notmuch-emacs#notmuch_init_file) to be able
+to resend the current message in show mode.
+
+ (define-key notmuch-show-mode-map "b"
+ (lambda (&optional address)
+ "Bounce the current message."
+ (interactive "sBounce To: ")
+ (notmuch-show-view-raw-message)
+ (message-resend address)))
+
+## `notmuch-hello` refresh status message
+
+Add the following to your [notmuch init file](/notmuch-emacs#notmuch_init_file) to get a
+status message about the change in the number of messages in the mail store
+when refreshing the `notmuch-hello` buffer.
+
+ (defvar notmuch-hello-refresh-count 0)
+
+ (defun notmuch-hello-refresh-status-message ()
+ (unless no-display
+ (let* ((new-count
+ (string-to-number
+ (car (process-lines notmuch-command "count"))))
+ (diff-count (- new-count notmuch-hello-refresh-count)))
+ (cond
+ ((= notmuch-hello-refresh-count 0)
+ (message "You have %s messages."
+ (notmuch-hello-nice-number new-count)))
+ ((> diff-count 0)
+ (message "You have %s more messages since last refresh."
+ (notmuch-hello-nice-number diff-count)))
+ ((< diff-count 0)
+ (message "You have %s fewer messages since last refresh."
+ (notmuch-hello-nice-number (- diff-count)))))
+ (setq notmuch-hello-refresh-count new-count))))
+
+ (add-hook 'notmuch-hello-refresh-hook 'notmuch-hello-refresh-status-message)
+
+## Replacing tabs with spaces in subject and header
+
+Mailman mailing list software rewrites and rewraps long message subjects in
+a way that causes TABs to appear in the middle of the subject and header
+lines. Add this to your [notmuch init file](/notmuch-emacs#notmuch_init_file) 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))))
+
+ (add-hook 'notmuch-show-markup-headers-hook 'notmuch-show-subject-tabs-to-spaces)
+
+And in header lines:
+
+ (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](https://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")
+
+In NixOS, using `emacsWithPackages (epkgs: [ epkgs.orgPackages.org-plus-contrib ])`,
+
+ (loop for p in load-path
+ do (if (file-accessible-directory-p p)
+ (let ((m (directory-files-recursively p "^ol-notmuch.el$")))
+ (if m (add-to-list 'load-path (file-name-directory (car m)))))))
+
+Then
+
+ (require 'ol-notmuch)
+
+In general it is nice to have a key for org-links (not just for notmuch). For example
+
+ (define-key global-map "\C-c l" 'org-store-link)
+
+If you're using `use-package` the package can be loaded using the following:
+
+```emacs-lisp
+(use-package ol-notmuch
+ :ensure t
+ :bind
+ ("C-c l" . org-store-link))
+```
+
+Note the package was renamed from `org-notmuch` to `ol-notmuch` in recent
+versions of org-mode. If you're using an old version of notmuch you might want
+to `(require 'org-notmuch)` instead.
+
+## 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))
+ (msg (notmuch-show-get-message-properties))
+ (part (notmuch-show-get-part-properties))
+ (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-bury-or-kill-this-buffer)
+ (switch-to-buffer buf)
+ (let ((inhibit-read-only t))
+ (erase-buffer)
+ (insert subject)
+ (insert (notmuch-get-bodypart-text msg part 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 to `. d` in the keymap
+
+ (define-key 'notmuch-show-part-map "d" 'my-notmuch-show-view-as-patch)
+
+## Interfacing with Patchwork
+
+[Patchwork](http://jk.ozlabs.org/projects/patchwork/) is a web-based system for
+tracking patches sent to a mailing list. While the Notmuch project doesn't use
+it, many other open source projects do. Having an easy way to get from a patch
+email in your favorite mail client to the web page of the patch in the Patchwork
+instance is a cool thing to have. Here's how to abuse the notmuch stash feature
+to achieve this. (Don't know stash? See `notmuch-show-stash-mlarchive-link`,
+bound to `c l` in `notmuch-show`.)
+
+The trick needed is turning the email Message-ID into a unique Patchwork ID
+assigned by Patchwork. We'll use the `pwclient` command-line tool to achieve
+this. You'll first need to get that working and configured for the Patchwork
+instance you're using. That part is beyond this tip here; please refer to
+Patchwork documentation.
+
+Check your configuration on the command-line, for example:
+
+ /path/to/pwclient -p <the-project> -n 5 -f "%{id}"
+
+Note that the -f format argument may require a reasonably new version of the
+client. Once you have the above working, you can `M-x customize-variable RET
+notmuch-show-stash-mlarchive-link-alist RET`.
+
+Add a new entry with "Function returning the URL:" set to:
+
+ (lambda (message-id)
+ (concat "http://patchwork.example.com/patch/"
+ (nth 0
+ (process-lines "/path/to/pwclient" "search"
+ "-p" "the-project"
+ "-m" (concat "<" message-id ">")
+ "-n" "1"
+ "-f" "%{id}"))))
+
+Replacing `http://patchwork.example.com/patch/`, `/path/to/pwclient`, and
+`the-project` appropriately. You should now be able to stash the Patchwork URL
+using `c l`.
+
+Going further, if the patch has been committed, you can get the commit hash with
+this:
+
+ (lambda (message-id)
+ (nth 0
+ (process-lines "/path/to/pwclient" "search"
+ "-p" "the-project"
+ "-m" (concat "<" message-id ">")
+ "-n" "1"
+ "-f" "%{commit_ref}")))
+
+And finally, if the project has a web interface to its source repository, you
+can turn the commit hash into a URL pointing there, for example:
+
+ (lambda (message-id)
+ (concat "http://cgit.example.com/the-project/commit/?id="
+ (nth 0
+ (process-lines "/path/to/pwclient" "search"
+ "-p" "the-project"
+ "-m" (concat "<" message-id ">")
+ "-n" "1"
+ "-f" "%{commit_ref}"))))
+
+## Never forget attachments
+
+Very often we forget to actually attach the file when we send an email
+that's supposed to have an attachment. Did this never happen to you?
+If not, then it will.
+
+Since version 0.29 Notmuch includes the `notmuch-mua-attachment-check`
+function. This function checks whether a message references an
+attachment and if it finds none it asks for confirmation before
+sending the message. The function is meant to be added to the
+`message-send-hook`, like so:
+
+ (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'notmuch-mua-attachment-check)
+
+The "customize"able variable `notmuch-mua-attachment-regexp` controls
+how reference to an attachment are identified. By default, it
+identifies English and French terms. For example, the following makes
+it recognise English and Portuguese terms:
+
+ (setq-default notmuch-mua-attachment-regexp
+ "\\b\\(attach\\|attachment\\|attached\\|anexo\\|anexado\\)\\b")
+
+
+## Avoid forgetting the subject
+
+It happens that we forget to enter the Subject line, particularly when
+we leave that to the end. It's easy to write a function that checks
+whether the Subject is empty, and add it to `message-send-hook` to get
+confirmation:
+
+ (defun my-notmuch-mua-empty-subject-check ()
+ "Request confirmation before sending a message with empty subject"
+ (when (and (null (message-field-value "Subject"))
+ (not (y-or-n-p "Subject is empty, send anyway? ")))
+ (error "Sending message cancelled: empty subject.")))
+ (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'my-notmuch-mua-empty-subject-check)
+
+
+## Applying patches to git repositories
+
+The `notmuch-extract-thread-patches` and
+`notmuch-extract-message-patches` commands from the `elpa-mailscripts`
+package in Debian (and its derivatives) can do this for you.
+
+## Allow content preference based on message context
+
+The preference for which sub-part of a multipart/alternative part is shown is
+globally set. For example, if you prefer showing the html version over the text
+based, you can set:
+
+ (setq notmuch-multipart/alternative-discouraged '("text/plain" "text/html"))
+
+However, sometimes you might want to adapt your preference depending on the
+context. You can override the default settings on a per-message basis by
+providing a function that has access to the message and which returns the
+discouraged type list. For example:
+
+ (defun my/determine-discouraged (msg)
+ (let* ((headers (plist-get msg :headers))
+ (from (or (plist-get headers :From) "")))
+ (cond
+ ((string-match "whatever@mail.address.com" from)
+ '("text/plain"))
+ (t
+ '("text/html" "multipart/related")))))
+
+ (setq notmuch-multipart/alternative-discouraged
+ 'my/determine-discouraged)
+
+This would discourage text/html and multipart/related generally, but discourage
+text/plain should the message be sent from whatever@mail.address.com.
+
+## See the recipient address instead of your address when listing sent messages
+
+If you like to see your sent messages in unthreaded view, by default you will
+see your address in the authors column, which is maybe not what you want. The
+following code allows for showing the recipients if your email address (an
+arbitrary address, whatever@mail.address.com in the example) is included in the
+From field.
+
+ (defun my/notmuch-unthreaded-show-recipient-if-sent (format-string result)
+ (let* ((headers (plist-get result :headers))
+ (to (plist-get headers :To))
+ (author (plist-get headers :From))
+ (face (if (plist-get result :match)
+ 'notmuch-tree-match-author-face
+ 'notmuch-tree-no-match-author-face)))
+ (propertize
+ (format format-string
+ (if (string-match "whatever@mail.address.com" author)
+ (concat "↦ " (notmuch-tree-clean-address to))
+ (notmuch-tree-clean-address to)
+ author))
+ 'face face)))
+
+ (setq notmuch-unthreaded-result-format
+ '(("date" . "%12s ")
+ (my/notmuch-unthreaded-show-recipient-if-sent . "%-20.20s")
+ ((("subject" . "%s"))
+ . " %-54s ")
+ ("tags" . "(%s)")))
+
+## Issues with Emacs 24 (unsupported since notmuch 0.31 (2020-09-05))
+
+If notmuch-show-mode behaves badly for you in emacs 24.x try adding one of
+
+ (setq gnus-inhibit-images nil)
+
+or
+
+ (require 'gnus-art)
+
+to your .emacs file.
projects / notmuch-wiki / blobdiff