Add some emacs tips about the inbox

[obsolete/notmuch-wiki] / emacstips.mdwn

diff --git a/emacstips.mdwn b/emacstips.mdwn
index a2c0b24c333a035e846f236cb7ec0183311e635a..887f2429184270dda437578fa18a990987e31a95 100644 (file)
--- a/emacstips.mdwn
+++ b/emacstips.mdwn
@@ -3,13 +3,17 @@
 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.
+package (notmuch-emacs in Debian).  This page goes over some usage
+tips for using notmuch with Emacs.
 
 [[!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:
 
@@ -25,8 +29,11 @@ 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.
+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
@@ -606,3 +613,44 @@ notmuch version 0.15):
                 (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)