https://www.djcbsoftware.nl/code/mu/mu4e.html
- Emacs interface for the
mumail indexer - Highly efficient for keyboard users
- Syncs your e-mail in the background using an external program
- Powerful search interface
- Can manage multiple e-mail accounts
Today we’ll cover syncing your e-mail and how you can read and manage it all with mu4e.
Future episodes will cover topics like multiple e-mail accounts, composing e-mail, Org Mode integration, and more.
IMPORTANT NOTE: I’m using Ubuntu 20 for this demonstration, it has an older mu4e version (1.2.0). Some things may be different in the newest version, I will discuss difference where appropriate.
Today we’ll sync a Gmail account since they’re pretty common. In another episode we’ll show a more traditional IMAP account too.
We’ll use a program called isync (in practice it’s mbsync!) to sync our mail. You can also use a program called offlineimap, it’s a bit slower but it works on Windows too. We’ll cover it in another video.
Install it:
sudo apt install isync
Set up an initial configuration at ~/.mbsyncrc:
IMAPAccount gmail
Host imap.gmail.com
User systemcrafters.test@gmail.com
PassCmd "cat ~/.oh-no-insecure-password"
SSLType IMAPS
CertificateFile /etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt
IMAPStore gmail-remote
Account gmail
MaildirStore gmail-local
Subfolders Verbatim
Path ~/Mail/
Inbox ~/Mail/Inbox
Channel gmail
Master :gmail-remote:
Slave :gmail-local:
Patterns * ![Gmail]* "[Gmail]/Sent Mail" "[Gmail]/Starred" "[Gmail]/All Mail" "[Gmail]/Trash"
Create Both
SyncState *
NOTE: Be careful of how you manage whitespace between lines in this file, the spaces define groupings!
Settings you may need to change:
PassCmd- We’re getting the contents of a plain text file here, you might want to use gpg!Pass- If you want to use plaintext password (not recommended!), doesn’t need quotation marksCertificateFile- This location can vary based on your Linux distribution!Patterns- Defines which folders will be synced
NOTE: Non-English users might need to pay extra attention to thePatternsline since Gmail renames the IMAP folders based on the selected user interface language one uses in the Gmail web interface. In Dutch e.g. the folder[Gmail]/Starredwould need to be changed to[Gmail]/Met ster. Changing thePatternsline to*and running the commandmbsync --list gmailmight give some insight into which folders are available. Unfortunately the mapping does not appear to be one to one, e.g. the labelSentis shown asVerzondenin Dutch whilembsyncreports[Gmail]/Verzonden berichtenas the name of the IMAP folder. Furthermore similar changes need to be made to themu4econfiguration below.
For the security conscious:
- Use GPG to decrypt an encrypted password file:
gpg --quiet --for-your-eyes-only --no-tty --decrypt ~/.passwords/gmail.gpg - Use the Password Store program to simplify this:
pass Mail/MyGmail
IMAP e-mail access is not enabled on your Gmail account by default! Follow these steps to enable it:
https://support.google.com/mail/answer/7126229?hl=en
Make sure to configure these settings!
- “Auto-expunge off”
- “Move the message to the trash”
This can go one of two ways:
If you have two-factor authentication turned on, you will need to create an App Password to access your account. More details can be found at this link:
https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/185833
If you don’t have two-factor authentication turned on, Google will still automatically block “less secure” apps like isync from accessing your mail over IMAP. Give access to mbsync by going to the following page:
https://myaccount.google.com/lesssecureapps
You might receive a scary e-mail from Google the first time you run this, just open it and confirm that it was you who tried to use the account!
mbsync -a
NOTE: mbsync won’t create the base maildir for you, you’ll have to create it: mkdir ~/Mail
Install it on Ubuntu via the mu4e package (it’s actually the dependency maildir-utils but we need mu4e anyway):
sudo apt install mu4e
Run the initial index, providing your e-mail address so it knows how to identify you:
mu index --maildir=~/Mail --my-address=systemcrafters.test@gmail.com
NOTE: You will need to use --my-address for every e-mail address you use in a multiple account setup.
Indexing could take a while depending on how much e-mail you have, but it’s quite fast in general.
NOTE: Starting with version 1.3.8, mu index doesn’t accept these arguments anymore. You need to run:
mu init --maildir=~/Mail --my-address=systemcrafters.test@gmail.com
And then:
mu index
You only need to run mu init again if you wish to change your maildir or your addresses.
Before we do this though, turn off evil-collection for mu4e.
NOTE: I’m only doing this to show the normal Emacs bindings, don’t do this if you want to use Evil bindings!
(delete 'mu4e evil-collection-mode-list)
(delete 'mu4e-conversation evil-collection-mode-list)
Add the initial mu4e configuration:
(use-package mu4e
:ensure nil
;; :load-path "/usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/mu4e/"
;; :defer 20 ; Wait until 20 seconds after startup
:config
;; This is set to 't' to avoid mail syncing issues when using mbsync
(setq mu4e-change-filenames-when-moving t)
;; Refresh mail using isync every 10 minutes
(setq mu4e-update-interval (* 10 60))
(setq mu4e-get-mail-command "mbsync -a")
(setq mu4e-maildir "~/Mail")
(setq mu4e-drafts-folder "/[Gmail]/Drafts")
(setq mu4e-sent-folder "/[Gmail]/Sent Mail")
(setq mu4e-refile-folder "/[Gmail]/All Mail")
(setq mu4e-trash-folder "/[Gmail]/Trash")
(setq mu4e-maildir-shortcuts
'(("/Inbox" . ?i)
("/[Gmail]/Sent Mail" . ?s)
("/[Gmail]/Trash" . ?t)
("/[Gmail]/Drafts" . ?d)
("/[Gmail]/All Mail" . ?a))))
NOTE: In the stream, I had trouble getting mail to sync in other folders. The problem was that I had configured the folder names wrong with mu4e! I was using /[Gmail].Trash where it should have been /[Gmail]/Trash. Simple explanation for an annoying problem!
IMPORTANT NOTE: As of mu4e 1.3.7, mu4e-maildir-shortcuts now has a new format! Here is the equivalent:
(setq mu4e-maildir-shortcuts
'((:maildir "/Inbox" :key ?i)
(:maildir "/[Gmail]/Sent Mail" :key ?s)
(:maildir "/[Gmail]/Trash" :key ?t)
(:maildir "/[Gmail]/Drafts" :key ?d)
(:maildir "/[Gmail]/All Mail" :key ?a))))
More Gmail configuration tips: https://www.djcbsoftware.nl/code/mu/mu4e/Gmail-configuration.html
Run mu4e, see the landing page.
When reading mail, you start out in the Headers buffer. When you select an email with RET, the View buffer is displayed in a window below the Headers buffer window.
Key Bindings:
| Key | Evil | Command | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Movement | |||
C-n | j | next-line | Moves to the next header line |
C-p | k | previous-line | Moves to the previous header line |
[[ | [[ | mu4e-headers-prev-unread | Moves to previous unread message |
]] | ]] | mu4e-headers-next-unread | Moves to next unread message |
j | J | mu4e~headers-jump-to-maildir | Jump to another mail directory |
| Toggles | |||
P | zt | mu4e-headers-toggle-threading | Toggles threaded message display |
W | zr | mu4e-headers-toggle-include-related | Toggles related message display |
| Marking | |||
d | d | mu4e-headers-mark-for-trash | Marks message for deletion |
m | m | mu4e-headers-mark-for-move | Marks message for move to folder |
+ | + | mu4e-headers-mark-for-flag | Marks message for flagging |
- | - | mu4e-headers-mark-for-unflag | Marks message for unflagging |
% | % | mu4e-headers-mark-pattern | Marks based on a regex pattern |
u | u | mu4e-headers-mark-for-unmark | Removes mark for message |
U | U | mu4e-mark-unmark-all | Unmarks all marks in the view |
x | x | mu4e-mark-execute-all | Executes all marks in the view |
| Searching | |||
s | s | mu4e-headers-search | Search all e-mails |
S | S | mu4e-headers-search-edit | Edit current search (useful!) |
/ | / | mu4e-headers-search-narrow | Narrow down the current results |
b | b | mu4e-headers-search-bookmark | Select a bookmark to search with |
B | B | mu4e-headers-search-bookmark-edit | Edit bookmark before search |
g | gr | mu4e-rerun-search | Rerun the current search |
| Composing | |||
C | C, cc | mu4e-compose-new | Compose a new e-mail |
R | R, cr | mu4e-compose-reply | Compose a reply to selected email |
F | F, cf | mu4e-compose-forward | Compose a forward for selected email |
E | E, ce | mu4e-compose-edit | Edit selected draft message |
| Other Actions | |||
q | q | mu4e~headers-quit-buffer | Quit the headers view |
Controlling the number of messages visible:
mu4e-headers-results-limit: The number of messages to display in mail listings (default 500)mu4e-headers-full-search: Ift, shows all messages, ignoring limit
You can toggle mu4e-headers-full-search with M-x mu4e-headers-toggle-full-search!
Many of the same keybindings work! Marking keys work on the currently viewed message.
| Key | Evil | Command | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Movement | |||
C-n | j | next-line | Moves to the next line in message |
C-p | k | previous-line | Moves to the previous line in message |
n | C-j | mu4e-view-headers-next | Moves to next email in header list |
p | C-k | mu4e-view-headers-prev | Moves to previous email in header list |
[[ | [[ | mu4e-headers-prev-unread | Moves to previous unread message |
]] | ]] | mu4e-headers-next-unread | Moves to next unread message |
Run M-x mu4e-update-mail-and-index to sync and index your e-mail at any time (bind it to a key!)
To auto-sync your mail at an interval, add this to mu4e config:
;; Run mu4e in the background to sync mail periodically
(mu4e t)
When doing this, it’s also good to :defer your mu4e config so that it doesn’t run immediately at startup:
(use-package mu4e
:ensure nil
:defer 20 ; Wait until 20 seconds after startup
:config
... the rest ...
something- General text search for “something”from:stallman- Emails from a particular senderdate:today..now- Date rangeflag:attach- Emails with an attachment- =”maildir:/Inbox”= - Search in a specific mail directory
You can also use logic statements like and , not:
=”maildir:/Inbox” and from:eli and docs=
Documentation: https://www.djcbsoftware.nl/code/mu/mu4e/Queries.html
You can create your own bookmarked queries!
Run these from anywhere in Emacs with M-x mu4e-headers-search-bookmark
In mu4e 1.2.0:
(setq mu4e-bookmarks
'(("flag:unread AND NOT flag:trashed" "Unread messages" ?i)
("date:today..now" "Today's messages" ?t)
("from:stallman" "The Boss" ?s)
("date:7d..now" "Last 7 days" ?w)
("mime:image/*" "Messages with images" ?p)))
As of mu4e 1.3.7:
(setq mu4e-bookmarks
'((:name "Unread messages" :query "flag:unread AND NOT flag:trashed" :key ?i)
(:name "Today's messages" :query "date:today..now" :key ?t)
(:name "The Boss" :query "from:stallman" :key ?s)
(:name "Last 7 days" :query "date:7d..now" :hide-unread t :key ?w)
(:name "Messages with images" :query "mime:image/*" :key ?p)))