Since: NeoMutt 2016-09-10, NeoMutt 1.7.0

Dependencies: None

The Sidebar shows a list of all your mailboxes. The list can be turned on and off, it can be themed and the list style can be configured.

This part of the manual is a reference guide. If you want a simple introduction with examples see the Sidebar Howto. If you just want to get started, you could use the sample Sidebar neomuttrc.

For more details, and examples, about the $sidebar_format, see the Sidebar Intro.

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

This command specifies mailboxes that will always be displayed in the sidebar, even if $sidebar_new_mail_only is set and the mailbox does not contain new mail.

The “sidebar_unpin” command is used to remove a mailbox from the list of always displayed mailboxes. Use “sidebar_unpin *” to remove all mailboxes.

If the sidebar_indicator color isn't set, then the default NeoMutt indicator color will be used (the color used in the index panel).

# Example NeoMutt config file for the sidebar feature.

# --------------------------------------------------------------------------
# VARIABLES – shown with their default values
# --------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Should the Sidebar be shown?
set sidebar_visible = no
# How wide should the Sidebar be in screen columns?

# Note: Some characters, e.g. Chinese, take up two columns each.
set sidebar_width = 20
# Should the mailbox paths be abbreviated?
set sidebar_short_path = no
# Number of top-level mailbox path subdirectories to truncate for display
set sidebar_component_depth = 0
# When abbreviating mailbox path names, use any of these characters as path
# separators. Only the part after the last separators will be shown.
# For file folders '/' is good. For IMAP folders, often '.' is useful.
set sidebar_delim_chars = '/.'
# If the mailbox path is abbreviated, should it be indented?
set sidebar_folder_indent = no
# Indent mailbox paths with this string.
set sidebar_indent_string = '  '
# Make the Sidebar only display mailboxes that contain new, or flagged,
# mail.
set sidebar_new_mail_only = no
# Any mailboxes that are pinned will always be visible, even if the
# sidebar_new_mail_only option is enabled.
set sidebar_non_empty_mailbox_only = no
# Only show mailboxes that contain some mail
sidebar_pin '/home/user/mailbox1'
sidebar_pin '/home/user/mailbox2'
# When searching for mailboxes containing new mail, should the search wrap
# around when it reaches the end of the list?
set sidebar_next_new_wrap = no
# Show the Sidebar on the right-hand side of the screen
set sidebar_on_right = no
# The character to use as the divider between the Sidebar and the other NeoMutt
# panels.
set sidebar_divider_char = '|'
# Enable extended mailbox mode to calculate total, new, and flagged
# message counts for each mailbox.
set mail_check_stats
# Display the Sidebar mailboxes using this format string.
set sidebar_format = '%B%<F? [%F]>%* %<N?%N/>%S'
# Sort the mailboxes in the Sidebar using this method:
#       count    – total number of messages
#       flagged  – number of flagged messages
#       unread   – number of unread messages
#       path     – mailbox path
#       unsorted – do not sort the mailboxes
set sidebar_sort = 'unsorted'
# --------------------------------------------------------------------------
# FUNCTIONS – shown with an example mapping
# --------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Move the highlight to the previous mailbox
bind index,pager \Cp sidebar-prev
# Move the highlight to the next mailbox
bind index,pager \Cn sidebar-next
# Open the highlighted mailbox
bind index,pager \Co sidebar-open
# Move the highlight to the previous page
# This is useful if you have a LOT of mailboxes.
bind index,pager <F3> sidebar-page-up
# Move the highlight to the next page
# This is useful if you have a LOT of mailboxes.
bind index,pager <F4> sidebar-page-down
# Move the highlight to the previous mailbox containing new, or flagged,
# mail.
bind index,pager <F5> sidebar-prev-new
# Move the highlight to the next mailbox containing new, or flagged, mail.
bind index,pager <F6> sidebar-next-new
# Toggle the visibility of the Sidebar.
bind index,pager B sidebar-toggle-visible
# --------------------------------------------------------------------------
# COLORS – some unpleasant examples are given
# --------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Note: All color operations are of the form:
#       color OBJECT FOREGROUND BACKGROUND
# Color of the current, open, mailbox
# Note: This is a general NeoMutt option which colors all selected items.
color indicator cyan black
# Sidebar-specific color of the selected item
color sidebar_indicator cyan black
# Color of the highlighted, but not open, mailbox.
color sidebar_highlight black color8
# Color of the entire Sidebar panel
color sidebar_background default black
# Color of the divider separating the Sidebar from NeoMutt panels
color sidebar_divider color8 black
# Color to give mailboxes containing flagged mail
color sidebar_flagged red black
# Color to give mailboxes containing new mail
color sidebar_new green black
# Color to give mailboxes containing no new/flagged mail, etc.
color sidebar_ordinary color245 default
# Color to give the spool_file mailbox
color sidebar_spool_file color207 default
# Color to give mailboxes containing no unread mail
color sidebar_unread color136 default
# --------------------------------------------------------------------------

# vim: syntax=neomuttrc

None

Justin Hibbits, Thomer M. Gil, David Sterba, Evgeni Golov, Fabian Groffen, Jason DeTiberus, Stefan Assmann, Steve Kemp, Terry Chan, Tyler Earnest, Richard Russon