Notmuch Feature

Email search engine

1. Support

Since: NeoMutt 2016-03-17

Dependencies:

2. Introduction

Notmuch is an email fulltext indexing and tagging engine.

3. Using Notmuch

3.1. Folders URL

notmuch://[<path>][?<item>=<name>[& ...]]

The <path> is an absolute path to the directory where the notmuch database is found as returned by notmuch config get database.path command. Note that the <path> should NOT include .notmuch directory name.

If the "<path>" is not defined then $nm_default_url or $folder is used, for example:

set nm_default_url = "notmuch:///home/foo/maildir"
virtual-mailboxes "My INBOX" "notmuch://?query=tag:inbox"

3.2. Items

query=<string>

See SEARCH SYNTAX in notmuch man page. Don't forget to use operators ( and/ or) in your queries.

Note that proper URL should not contain blank space and all bad chars should be encoded, for example

tag:AAA and tag:BBB – encoding -> tag:AAA%20and%20tag:BBB

but NeoMutt config file parser is smart enough to accept space in quoted strings. It means that you can use

notmuch:///foo?query=tag:AAA and tag:BBB

in your config files to keep things readable.

For more details about Xapian queries, see: https://xapian.org/docs/queryparser.html

limit=<number>

Restricts number of messages/threads in the result. The default limit is nm_db_limit.

Due to a limitation with libnotmuch, unread and flagged message count may be inaccurate with limit statements. libnotmuch cannot return a specific tag count within the first X messages of a query.

type=<threads|messages>

Reads all matching messages or whole-threads. The default is 'messages' or nm_query_type.

4. Variables

Table 30.1. Notmuch Variables

Name Type Default Note
nm_config_file path auto Configuration file for the notmuch database. Either a path, auto for detecting a config. file, or empty for no configuration file. Only useful for notmuch 0.32+.
nm_config_profile string (empty) Configuration profile for the notmuch database. Only useful for notmuch 0.32+.
nm_db_limit number 0  
nm_default_url string (empty) Must use format: notmuch://<absolute path>
nm_exclude_tags string (empty)  
nm_flagged_tag string flagged  
nm_open_timeout number 5  
nm_query_type string messages  
nm_query_window_current_position number 0 Position of current search window
nm_query_window_current_search string (empty) Current search parameters
nm_query_window_duration number 0 Duration between start and end dates for windowed notmuch query. This corresponds to a bounded notmuch date: query. See notmuch-search-terms manual page for more info. Value of 0 disables windowed queries unless nm_query_window_enable=yes
nm_query_window_enable boolean no Enables windowed notmuch queries for nm_query_window_duration = 0
nm_query_window_or_terms string (empty) Additional notmuch search terms to always include in the window even if they're outside the date range. This turns the window from date:... to date:... or (additional search terms.) For example, to always include flagged, unread emails, set to tag:flagged and tag:unread
nm_query_window_timebase string week Time base for windowed notmuch queries. Must be one of: hour, day, week, month, or year
nm_record boolean no  
nm_record_tags string (empty)  
nm_unread_tag string unread  
virtual_spool_file boolean no Unnecessary since $spool_file supports mailbox descriptions.

More variables about tags configuration can be found in Custom backend Tags Feature

5. Functions

Notmuch adds the following functions to NeoMutt. By default, none of them are bound to keys.

Table 30.2. Notmuch Functions

Menus Function Description
index,pager <change-vfolder> switch to another virtual folder, a new folder maybe be specified by vfolder description (see virtual-mailboxes) or URL. the default is next vfolder with unread messages
index,pager <entire-thread> read entire thread of the current message
index,pager <sidebar-toggle-virtual> toggle between mailboxes and virtual mailboxes
index,pager <vfolder-from-query> generate virtual folder from notmuch search query. Note: TAB completion of 'tag:' names is available.
index,pager <vfolder-from-query-readonly> The same as <vfolder-from-query> ; however, the mailbox will be read-only.
index <vfolder-window-forward> generate virtual folder by moving the query's time window forward
index <vfolder-window-backward> generate virtual folder by moving the query's time window backward
index <vfolder-window-reset> generate virtual folder by moving the query's time window to the present

More functions about tags can be found in Custom backend Tags Feature

6. Commands

virtual-mailboxes description notmuch-URL { description notmuch-URL ...}
unvirtual-mailboxes { * | mailbox ... }

virtual-mailboxes is like the mailboxes command, except that it takes a description. The mailbox will be watched for new mail and will appear in the sidebar.

unvirtual-mailboxes is identical to the unmailboxes command.

More commands about tags can be found in Custom backend Tags Feature

8. neomuttrc

# Example NeoMutt config file for the notmuch feature.

# --------------------------------------------------------------------------
# VARIABLES – shown with their default values
# --------------------------------------------------------------------------
# This variable specifies notmuch query limit.
set nm_db_limit = 0
# This variable specifies the default Notmuch database in format:
# notmuch://<absolute path>
set nm_default_url = ""
# The messages tagged with these tags are excluded and not loaded
# from notmuch DB to NeoMutt unless specified explicitly.
set nm_exclude_tags = ""
# This option specifies timeout for Notmuch database. Default is 5 seconds.
set nm_open_timeout = 5
# This variable specifies notmuch query type, supported types: 'threads' and
# 'messages'.
set nm_query_type = messages
# When writing a message in the NeoMutt record (see $record in the NeoMutt docs),
# also add it to the notmuch DB. Replies inherit the tags from the original email.
set nm_record = no
# Tags modifications to the messages stored in the NeoMutt record.
# example:
#   set record = "~/sent-mails"
#   set nm_record = yes
#   set nm_record_tags = "-inbox,archive,me"
set nm_record_tags = ""
# This variable specifies the notmuch tag used for unread messages.
set nm_unread_tag = unread
# When set, NeoMutt will use the first virtual mailbox (see virtual-mailboxes)
# as a spool_file.
set virtual_spool_file = no
# setup time window preferences
# first setup the duration, and then the time unit of that duration
# when set to 0 (the default) the search window feature is disabled
# unless explicitly enabled with nm_query_window_enable.
set nm_query_window_enable=yes
set nm_query_window_duration=2
set nm_query_window_timebase="week" # or "hour", "day", "week", "month", "year"
# Extend query window to always show mail matching these terms.
set nm_query_window_or_terms="tag:unread and tag:flagged"
# --------------------------------------------------------------------------
# FUNCTIONS – shown with an example mapping
# --------------------------------------------------------------------------
# open a different virtual folder
bind index,pager X change-vfolder
# read entire thread of the current message
bind index,pager + entire-thread
# generate virtual folder from query
bind index,pager \eX vfolder-from-query
# generate virtual folder from query with time window
bind index < vfolder-window-backward
bind index > vfolder-window-forward
# toggle between mailboxes and virtual mailboxes
# bind index,pager ??? sidebar-toggle-virtual
# --------------------------------------------------------------------------
# COMMANDS – shown with an example
# --------------------------------------------------------------------------
# virtual-mailboxes description notmuch-URL { description notmuch-URL ...}
# virtual-mailboxes "Climbing" "notmuch://?query=climbing"
# unvirtual-mailboxes { * | mailbox ...}
#
# --------------------------------------------------------------------------

# vim: syntax=neomuttrc

9. See Also

10. Known Bugs

None

11. Credits

Karel Zak, Chris Mason, Christoph Rissner, David Riebenbauer, David Sterba, David Wilson, Don Zickus, Eric Davis, Jan Synacek, Jeremiah C. Foster, Josh Poimboeuf, Kirill A. Shutemov, Luke Macken, Mantas Mikulėnas, Patrick Brisbin, Philippe Le Brouster, Raghavendra D Prabhu, Sami Farin, Stefan Assmann, Stefan Kuhn, Tim Stoakes, Vladimir Marek, Víctor Manuel Jáquez Leal, Richard Russon, Bernard 'Guyzmo' Pratz

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