[[!img notmuch-logo.png alt="Notmuch logo" class="left"]]
-#Tips and Tricks for using notmuch with Emacs
+# Tips and Tricks for using notmuch with Emacs
-[[!toc levels=2]]
+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 (notmuch-emacs in Debian). This page goes over some usage
+tips for using notmuch with Emacs.
-The main Notmuch message reading client is **notmuch.el**, which is an
-[emacs](http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/) major mode, and is
-included in the notmuch package.
+[[!toc levels=2]]
## Setup
+Have a look at the [Howto](http://notmuchmail.org/howto/) for
+prerequisites. Be sure you have done the general setup using the
+notmuch cli command!
+
To use the Notmuch emacs mode, first add the following line to your
`.emacs` rc file:
- (require 'notmuch)
+ (autoload 'notmuch "notmuch" "notmuch mail" t)
-or you can load the package via autoload:
+or if you always want to load notmuch when you start emacs:
- (autoload 'notmuch "notmuch" "notmuch mail" t)
+ (require 'notmuch)
Then, either run "emacs -f notmuch", or execute the command `M-x
notmuch` from within a running emacs.
+### <span id="notmuch_init_file"> Notmuch Emacs configuration file: </span>
+
+(Since Notmuch 0.18)
+
+After notmuch is loaded `notmuch-init-file` (typically
+ `~/.emacs.d/notmuch-config.el`) is checked out. If such file exists
+it is loaded. Most emacs lisp based configuration not suitable via
+customization can be put there instead of `~/.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.
+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).
+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
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.
+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
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 [ $# -gt 0 ]; do
+ fullpath=$(readlink --canonicalize "$1")
+ attach_cmds="$attach_cmds (mml-attach-file \"$fullpath\")"
+ shift
+ done
+ emacsclient -a '' -c -e "(progn (compose-mail) $attach_cmds)"
+
+## Controlling external handlers for attachements
+
+You can choose e.g. which pdf viewer to invoke from notmuch-show mode by
+adding a .mailcap file in your home directory. Here is an example:
+
+ application/pdf; /usr/bin/mupdf %s; test=test "$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
+
+## Issues with Emacs 24
+
+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.
-----
# Advanced tips and tweaks
+## 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.
+
+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")))
+ (define-key notmuch-show-mode-map "S"
+ (lambda ()
+ "mark message as spam"
+ (interactive)
+ (notmuch-show-tag (list "+spam" "-inbox"))))
You can do the same for threads in `notmuch-search-mode` by just
-replacing "show" with "search" in the called functions.
+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`.
-The definition above makes use of a lambda function, but you could
+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:
+
+ (define-key notmuch-search-mode-map "S"
+ (lambda (&optional beg end)
+ "mark thread as spam"
+ (interactive (notmuch-search-interactive-region))
+ (notmuch-search-tag (list "+spam" "-inbox") beg end)))
+
+The analogous functionality in notmuch-tree is currently missing.
+
+The definitions above make 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 (list "+spam" "-inbox")))
+
+ (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:
- (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-tag (list "-deleted"))
+ (notmuch-show-tag (list "+deleted")))))
+
+## Adding many tagging keybindings
+
+If you want to have have many tagging keybindings, you can save the typing
+the few lines of boilerplate for every binding (for versions before 0.12,
+you will need to change notmuch-show-apply-tag-macro).
+
+ (eval-after-load 'notmuch-show
+ '(define-key notmuch-show-mode-map "`" 'notmuch-show-apply-tag-macro))
+
+ (setq notmuch-show-tag-macro-alist
+ (list
+ '("m" "+notmuch::patch" "+notmuch::moreinfo" "-notmuch::needs-review")
+ '("n" "+notmuch::patch" "+notmuch::needs-review" "-notmuch::pushed")
+ '("o" "+notmuch::patch" "+notmuch::obsolete"
+ "-notmuch::needs-review" "-notmuch::moreinfo")
+ '("p" "-notmuch::pushed" "-notmuch::needs-review"
+ "-notmuch::moreinfo" "+pending")
+ '("P" "-pending" "-notmuch::needs-review" "-notmuch::moreinfo" "+notmuch::pushed")
+ '("r" "-notmuch::patch" "+notmuch::review")
+ '("s" "+notmuch::patch" "-notmuch::obsolete" "-notmuch::needs-review" "-notmuch::moreinfo" "+notmuch::stale")
+ '("t" "+notmuch::patch" "-notmuch::needs-review" "+notmuch::trivial")
+ '("w" "+notmuch::patch" "+notmuch::wip" "-notmuch::needs-review")))
+
+ (defun notmuch-show-apply-tag-macro (key)
+ (interactive "k")
+ (let ((macro (assoc key notmuch-show-tag-macro-alist)))
+ (apply 'notmuch-show-tag-message (cdr macro))))
+
+## 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...
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>\(notmuch-fcc-dirs\)\|\(message-directory\)
+ 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`
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")))
+ (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 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.
-
-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.
-
-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`:
-
- #!/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."
+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.
+
+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.
## 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.
-
-
## <span id="address_completion">Address completion when composing</span>
-There are currently two solutions to this:
+There are currently three solutions to this:
+
+### bbdb
[bbdb](http://bbdb.sourceforge.net) is a contact database for emacs
that works quite nicely together with message mode, including
address autocompletion.
+### notmuch database as an address book
+
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 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
+ cc -o addrlookup addrlookup.c `pkg-config --cflags --libs gobject-2.0` -lnotmuch
+
+ * 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 [notmuch init file](#notmuch_init_file):
+
+ (require 'notmuch-address)
+ (setq notmuch-address-command "/path/to/address_fetching_program")
+ (notmuch-address-message-insinuate)
+
+### Google Contacts
+
+[GooBook](http://code.google.com/p/goobook/) is a command-line tool for
+accessing Google Contacts. Install and set it up according to its documentation.
+
+To use GooBook with notmuch, use this wrapper script and set it up like the
+programs above.
-You can perform tab-completion using either of these programs. Just add the following to your .emacs:
+ #!/bin/sh
+ goobook query "$*" | sed 's/\(.*\)\t\(.*\)\t.*/\2 \<\1\>/' | sed '/^$/d'
- (require 'notmuch-address)
- (setq notmuch-address-command "/path/to/address_fetching_program")
- (notmuch-address-message-insinuate)
+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_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 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:
- ;; 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
### Troubleshooting message-mode gpg support
-- If you have trouble with expired subkeys, you may have encounted
+- 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.
+
+## Reading and verifying encrypted and signed messages
+
+Encrypted and signed mime messages can be read and verified with:
+
+ (notmuch-crypto-process-mime t)
+
+Decrypting or verifying inline pgp messages can be done by selecting
+an the inline pgp area and and using:
+
+ M-x epa-decrypt-region 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`.
+
+## Resending (or bouncing) messages
+
+Add the following to your [notmuch init file](#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_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_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 (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)))))
+
+ (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
+
+ (define-key 'notmuch-show-mode-map "D" 'my-notmuch-show-view-as-patch)
projects / notmuch-wiki / blobdiff