Manpages

NAME

neomuttrc - Configuration file for the NeoMutt Mail User Agent (MUA)

DESCRIPTION

A NeoMutt configuration file consists of a series of “commands”. Each line of the file may contain one or more commands. When multiple commands are used, they must be separated by a semicolon (“;”).

The hash mark, or pound sign (“#”), is used as a “comment” character. You can use it to annotate your initialization file. All text after the comment character to the end of the line is ignored.

Single quotes (“'”) and double quotes (“"”) can be used to quote strings which contain spaces or other special characters. The difference between the two types of quotes is similar to that of many popular shell programs, namely that a single quote is used to specify a literal string (one that is not interpreted for shell variables or quoting with a backslash [see next paragraph]), while double quotes indicate a string which should be evaluated. For example, backticks are evaluated inside of double quotes, but not single quotes.

“\” quotes the next character, just as in shells such as Bash and Zsh. For example, if you want to put quotes (“"”) inside of a string, you can use “\” to force the next character to be a literal instead of interpreted character.

“\\” means to insert a literal “\” into the line. “\n” and “\r” have their usual C meanings of line feed (LF) and carriage return (CR), respectively.

A “\” at the end of a line can be used to split commands over multiple lines, provided that the split points don’t appear in the middle of command names.

It is also possible to substitute the output of a Unix command in an initialization file. This is accomplished by enclosing the command in backticks (`command`).

Unix environment variables can be accessed like the way it is done in shells like sh and Bash: Prepend the name of the variable by a dollar (“$”) sign.

COMMANDS

Configuration Commands
The following are the commands understood by NeoMutt:

account-hook regex command

This hook is executed whenever you access a remote mailbox. Useful to adjust configuration settings to different IMAP or POP servers.

alias [ -group name ... ] key address [, address ... ]
unalias [ -group name ... ] { * | key ... }

alias defines a surrogate key for the given address(es). Each address will be resolved into either an email address (user@ example.com) or a named email address (User Name <user@ example.com>). The address may be specified in either format, or in the format “user [AT] example.com (User Name)”.

Note: If you want to create an alias for more than one address, you must separate the addresses with a comma (“,”).

unalias removes the alias corresponding to the given key or all aliases when “*” is used as an argument.

The optional -group flag causes the address(es) to be added to or removed from the named group.

alternates [ -group name ... ] regex [ regex ... ]
unalternates [ -group name ... ] { * | regex ... }

alternates is used to inform NeoMutt about alternate addresses where you receive mail; you can use regular expressions (regex) to specify alternate addresses. This affects NeoMutt’s idea about messages from you, and messages addressed to you.

unalternates can be used to write exceptions to alternates regular expression. To remove a regular expression from the alternates list, use the unalternates command with exactly the same regex or use “*” to remove all entries.

The optional -group flag causes all of the subsequent regular expressions to be added to or removed from the named group.

alternative_order mime-type[/mime-subtype] [ mime-type[/mime-subtype] ... ]
unalternative_order { * | mime-type[/mime-subtype] ... }

alternative_order command permits you to define an order of preference that is used by NeoMutt to determine which part of a multipart/alternative body to display. A mime-subtype of “*” matches any multipart/alternative subtype, as does an empty mime-subtype.

unalternative_order removes entries from the ordered list or deletes the entire list when “*” is used as an argument.

attachments { + | - }disposition mime-type [ mime-type ... ]
unattachments { + | - }disposition mime-type [ mime-type ... ]
attachments ?
unattachments *

You can make your message index display the number of qualifying attachments in each message, or search for messages by attachment count. You also can configure what kinds of attachments qualify for this feature with the attachments and unattachments commands.

disposition is the attachment’s Content-Disposition type — either inline or attachment. You can abbreviate this to I or A.

Disposition is prefixed by either a + symbol or a - symbol. If it’s a +, you’re saying that you want to allow this disposition and MIME type to qualify. If it’s a -, you’re saying that this disposition and MIME type is an exception to previous + rules.

mime-type is the MIME type of the attachment you want the command to affect. A MIME type is always of the format major/minor. The major part of mime-type must be literal text (or the special token “*”, but the minor part may be a regular expression. Therefore, “*/.*” matches any MIME type.

Note that the first MIME part is treated slightly differently: It is almost always the message text. Thus, it is not counted as an attachment if its disposition is inline and it is not a multipart/* or message/* MIME-type.

Entering the command “attachments ?” as a command will list your current settings in neomuttrc format, so that it can be pasted elsewhere.

Entering the command “unattachments *” as a command will Clear all attachment settings.

auto_view mime-type[/mime-subtype] [ mime-type[/mime-subtype] ... ]
unauto_view { * | mime-type[/mime-subtype] ... }

This commands permits you to specify that NeoMutt should automatically convert the given mime-types to text/plain when displaying messages. For this to work, there must be a mailcap(5) entry for the given mime-type with the copiousoutput option set. A mime-subtype of “*” matches any multipart/ alternative subtype, as does an empty mime-subtype.

bind map[,map ... ] key function
unbind { * | map | [,map...]} [ key ]

This command allows you to change the default or define additional key bindings (operation invoked when pressing a key).

map specifies in which menu the binding belongs. Multiple maps may be specified by separating them with commas (no additional whitespace is allowed). The currently defined maps are: alias, attach, browser, compose, editor, generic, index, mix, pager, pgp, postpone, query and smime.

key is the key (or key sequence) you wish to bind, e.g. “\Ca” for control-A. In addition, key may be specified as a three digit octal number prefixed with a “\” or as a symbolic name. The <what-key> function can be used to explore keycode and symbolic names for the keys on your keyboard.

function specifies which action to take when key is pressed. Note that the function name is to be specified without angle brackets.

Missing key sequence in unbind command means unbind all bindings in menus given in map .

For more information on keys and functions, please consult the NeoMutt manual.

charset-hook alias charset
iconv-hook charset local-charset

charset-hook defines an alias for a character set. This is useful to properly display messages which are tagged with a character set name not known to NeoMutt.

iconv-hook defines a system-specific name for a character set. This is useful when your system’s iconv(3) implementation does not understand MIME character set names (such as iso-8859-1), but instead insists on being fed with implementation-specific character set names (such as 8859-1). In this specific case, you’d put “iconv-hook iso-8859-1 8859-1” into your configuration file.

color object [ attribute ... ] foreground background
color { header | body } [ attribute ... ] foreground background regex
color status foreground background [regex [ num ]]
color index-object [ attribute ... ] foreground background pattern
color compose composeobject foreground background
color compose composeobject [ attribute ... ] foreground background
uncolor { index-object | header | body } { * | pattern ... }

If your terminal supports color, these commands can be used to assign foreground/background combinations to certain objects. The currently defined objects are: attach_headers, attachment, body, bold, error, hdrdefault, header, index, index_author, index_collapsed, index_date, index_flags, index_label, index_ number, index_size, index_subject, index_tag, index_tags, indicator, markers, message, normal, progress, prompt, quoted, quotedN, search, signature, status, stripe_even, stripe_odd, tilde, tree, underline.

If the sidebar is enabled the following objects are also valid: sidebar_background, sidebar_divider, sidebar_flagged, sidebar_ highlight, sidebar_indicator, sidebar_new, sidebar_ordinary, sidebar_spool_file.

The body and header objects allow you to restrict the colorization to a regular expression. The index-object permits you to select colored messages by pattern.

The header and body match regex in the header/body of a message, index-object can match pattern in the message index. Note that IMAP server-side searches (=b, =B, =h) are not supported for color index patterns.

The status object optionally takes an regex and a match number. If the regex is given, only the matching parts are colored. If additionally the match number is given, only that sub-match of the regex is colored.

Valid composeobjects include header, security_encrypt, security_sign, security_both, security_none.

Valid colors include: default, black, red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan, white, #RRGGBB, colorN.

Valid attributes include: none, bold, underline, reverse, and standout.

The uncolor command can be applied to the index, header and body objects only. It removes entries from the list. You must specify the same pattern specified in the color command for it to be removed. The pattern “*” is a special token which means to clear the color list of all entries.

For further information on colorization, please consult the NeoMutt manual.

crypt-hook regex keyid

The crypt-hook command provides a method by which you can specify the ID of the public key to be used when encrypting messages to a certain recipient. The meaning of keyid is to be taken broadly: This can be a different email address, a numerical keyid, or even just an arbitrary search string. You may use multiple crypt-hooks with the same regex; multiple matching crypt-hooks result in the use of multiple keyids for a recipient.

index-format-hook name [!]pattern format-string

This command is used to inject format strings dynamically into $index_format based on pattern matching against the current message.

The $index_format expando %@name@ specifies a placeholder for the injection. Index-format-hooks with the same name are matched using pattern against the current message. Matching is done in the order specified in the .neomuttrc, with the first match being used. The hook’s format-string is then substituted and evaluated.

exec function [ function ... ]

This command can be used to execute any function. Functions are listed in the function reference. “exec function” is equivalent to “push <function>”.

fcc-save-hook pattern mailbox
fcc-hook pattern mailbox
save-hook pattern mailbox

fcc-save-hook is a shortcut, equivalent to doing both a fcc-hook and a save-hook with its arguments, including %-expansion on mailbox according to $index_format.

fcc-hook is used to save outgoing mail in a mailbox other than $record. NeoMutt searches the initial list of message recipients for the first matching pattern and uses mailbox as the default “Fcc:” mailbox. If no match is found the message will be saved to $record mailbox.

save-hook is used to override the default mailbox used when saving messages. mailbox will be used as the default if the message matches pattern.

To provide more flexibility and good defaults, NeoMutt applies the expandos of $index_format to mailbox after it was expanded. See PATTERNS section below or consult section “Message Matching in Hooks” in NeoMutt manual for information on the exact format of pattern.

folder-hook [-noregex] regex command

When NeoMutt enters a folder which matches regex (or, when regex is preceded by an exclamation mark, does not match regex), the given command is executed. The -noregex switch controls whether regex is matches as simple string equality or full regex match.

When several folder-hooks match a given mail folder, they are executed in the order given in the configuration file.

group [ -group name ... ] { -rx regex ... | -addr address ... }
ungroup [ -group name ... ] { * | -rx regex ... | -addr address ... }

group is used to directly add either addresses or regular expressions to the specified group or groups. The different categories of arguments to the group command can be in any order. The flags -rx and -addr specify what the following strings (that cannot begin with a hyphen) should be interpreted as: either a regular expression or an email address, respectively.

ungroup is used to remove addresses or regular expressions from the specified group or groups. The syntax is similar to the group command, however the special character “*” can be used to empty a group of all of its contents.

These address groups can also be created implicitly by the alias, lists, subscribe and alternates commands by specifying the optional -group option.

Once defined, these address groups can be used in patterns to search for and limit the display to messages matching a group.

hdr_order header [ header ... ]
unhdr_order { * | header ... }

With the hdr_order command you can specify an order in which NeoMutt will attempt to present these headers to you when viewing messages.

“unhdr_order *” will clear all previous headers from the order list, thus removing the header order effects set by the system-wide startup file.

ifdef symbol "config-command [ args ... ]"
ifndef symbol "config-command [ args ... ]"
finish

The ifdef feature introduces three new commands to NeoMutt and allow you to share one config file between versions of NeoMutt that may have different features compiled in.

A list of compile-time symbols can be seen in the output of the command “neomutt -v” (in the “Compile options” section).

finish is particularly useful when combined with ifndef.

ignore string [ string ... ]
unignore { * | string ... }

The ignore command allows you to specify header fields which you don’t normally want to see in the pager. You do not need to specify the full header field name. For example, “ignore content-” will ignore all header fields that begin with the string “content-”, “ignore *” will ignore all headers.

To remove a previously added token from the list, use the unignore command. For example, “unignore *” will remove all tokens from the ignore list.

lists [ -group name ... ] regex [ regex ... ]
unlists [ -group name ... ] { * | regex ... }
subscribe [ -group name ... ] regex [ regex ... ]
unsubscribe [ -group name ... ] { * | regex ... }

NeoMutt maintains two lists of mailing list address regular expressions, a list of subscribed mailing lists, and a list of known mailing lists. All subscribed mailing lists are known.

The lists command adds a mailing list address to the list of known mailing lists. The unlists command removes a mailing list from the lists of known and subscribed mailing lists.

The subscribe command adds a mailing list to the lists of known and subscribed mailing lists. The unsubscribe command removes it from the list of subscribed mailing lists.

The -group flag adds all of the subsequent regular expressions to the named group.

macro menu[,menu ... ] key sequence [ description ]
unmacro { * | menu | [,menu...]} [ key ]

This command binds the given sequence of keys to the given key in the given menu or menus. For currently defined menus, see bind command above. To specify multiple menus, put only a comma between the menus.

Optionally you can specify a descriptive text after sequence, which is shown in the help screens if they contain a description.

Missing key sequence in unmacro command means unmacro all macros in menus given in menu.

mailboxes [[-label label] | -nolabel]
[[-notify | -nonotify]
[-poll | -nopoll]
mailbox] [ ... ]
named-mailboxes label mailbox [label mailbox ... ]
unmailboxes { * | mailbox ... }

The mailboxes specifies folders which can receive mail and which will be checked for new messages. When changing folders, pressing space will cycle through folders with new mail.

The named-mailboxes is an alternative to mailboxes -label label. NeoMutt can be configured to display the label instead of the mailbox path.

The unmailboxes command is used to remove a file name from the list of folders which can receive mail. If “*” is specified as the file name, the list is emptied.

mailto_allow { * | header-field ... }
unmailto_allow { * | header-field ... }

As a security measure, NeoMutt will only add user-approved header-fields from a mailto: URL. This is necessary since NeoMutt will handle certain header-fields, such as Attach, in a special way. The mailto_allow and unmailto_allow commands allow the user to modify the list of approved headers.

NeoMutt initializes the default list to contain only the Subject and Body header-fields, which are the only requirement specified by the mailto: specification in RFC2368, and the Cc, In-Reply-To, References headers to aid with replies to mailing lists.

echo message

Prints message to the message window. After printing the message, echo will pause for the number of seconds specified by $sleep_time.

cd directory

Changes the current working directory.

mbox-hook [-noregex] regex mailbox

When NeoMutt changes to a mail folder which matches regex, mailbox will be used as the “mbox” folder, i.e. read messages will be moved to that folder when the mail folder is left. The -noregex switch controls whether regex is matches as simple string equality or full regex match.

Note that execution of mbox-hooks is dependent on the $move configuration variable. If set to “no” (the default), mbox-hooks will not be executed.

The first matching mbox-hook applies.

message-hook pattern command

Before NeoMutt displays (or formats for replying or forwarding) a message which matches the given pattern (or, when it is preceded by an exclamation mark, does not match the pattern), the given command is executed. When multiple message-hooks match, they are executed in the order in which they occur in the configuration file.

mime_lookup mime-type[/mime-subtype] [ mime-type[/mime-subtype] ... ]
unmime_lookup { * | mime-type[/mime-subtype] ... }

This command permits you to define a list of “data” MIME content types for which NeoMutt will try to determine the actual file type from the file name, and not use a mailcap(5) entry given for the original MIME type. For instance, you may add the application/octet-stream MIME type to this list.

In addition, the unmime_lookup command may be used to disable this feature for any particular MIME type if it had been set, for example in a global neomuttrc.

mono object attribute
mono { header | body } attribute regex
mono index-object attribute pattern
unmono { index-object | header | body } { * | pattern ... }

For terminals which don’t support color, you can still assign attributes to objects.

my_hdr string
unmy_hdr { * | field ... }

Using my_hdr, you can define headers which will be added to the messages you compose. unmy_hdr will remove the given user-defined headers.

open-hook regex "shell-command"
close-hook regex "shell-command"
append-hook regex "shell-command"

These commands provide a way to handle compressed folders. The given regex specifies which folders are taken as compressed (e.g. "\.gz$"). The commands tell NeoMutt how to uncompress a folder (open-hook), compress a folder (close-hook) or append a compressed mail to a compressed folder (append-hook). The shell-command is a printf(3) like format string and must contain two placeholders for from (%f) and to (%t) filenames which should be placed inside single-quotes to prevent unintended shell expansions. Examples:

append-hook '\.gz$' "gzip --stdout '%t' >> '%f'"
close-hook '\.gz$' "gzip --stdout '%t' > '%f'"
open-hook '\.gz$' "gzip --stdout --decompress '%f' > '%t'"

push string

This command adds the named string to the beginning of the keyboard buffer. The string may contain control characters, key names and function names like the sequence string in the macro command. You may use it to automatically run a sequence of commands at startup, or when entering certain folders.

For using functions, it’s important to use angle brackets (“<” and “>”) to make NeoMutt recognize the input as a function name. Otherwise it will simulate individual just keystrokes.

reply-hook pattern command
send-hook pattern command
send2-hook pattern command

These commands can be used to execute arbitrary configuration commands based upon recipients of the message. pattern is used to match the message, see section “Message Matching in Hooks” in manual for details. command is executed when pattern matches.

reply-hook is matched against the message you are replying to, instead of the message you are sending. send-hook is matched against all messages, both new and replies. Note, reply-hooks are matched before the send-hook, regardless of the order specified in the user’s configuration file.

send2-hook is matched every time a message is changed, either by editing it, or by using the compose menu to change its recipients or subject. send2-hook is executed after send-hook, and can, e.g., be used to set parameters such as the $sendmail variable depending on the message’s sender address. Note, send-hooks are only executed once after getting the initial list of recipients.

score pattern value
unscore { * | pattern ... }

The score command adds value to a message’s score if pattern matches it. pattern is a string in the format described in the PATTERNS section below. value is a positive or negative integer. A message’s final score is the sum total of all matching score entries.

The unscore command removes score entries from the list. You must specify the same pattern specified in the score command for it to be removed. The pattern “*” is a special token which means to clear the list of all score entries.

set { [ no | inv | & | ? ]variable } [ ... ]
set { variable=value | variable+=increment | variable-=decrement } [ ... ]
unset variable [ variable ... ]
reset variable [ variable ... ]
toggle variable [ variable ... ]
set variable ?

These commands are used to set and manipulate configuration variables.

NeoMutt knows four basic types of variables: boolean, number, string, string list and quadoption. Boolean variables can be set (true), unset (false), or toggled. Number variables can be assigned a positive integer value. Value of number variables can be incremented "+=" and decremented "-=". String list variables use "+=" for appending increment to the string list and "-=" for removal decrement from the string list.

String variables consist of any number of printable characters and must be enclosed in quotes if they contain spaces or tabs. You may also use the escape sequences “\n” and “\t” for newline and tab, respectively. Content of a string variables can be extended using "+="

Quadoption variables are used to control whether or not to be prompted for certain actions, or to specify a default action. A value of yes will cause the action to be carried out automatically as if you had answered “yes” to the question. Similarly, a value of no will cause the action to be carried out as if you had answered “no”. A value of ask-yes will cause a prompt with a default answer of “yes” and ask-no will provide a default answer of “no”.

The toggle command automatically prepends the “inv” prefix to all specified variables. The unset command automatically prepends the “no” prefix to all specified variables. If you use the command set and prefix the variable with “&” this has the same behavior as the reset command.

The reset command resets all given variables to the compile time defaults. With the reset command there exists the special variable all, which allows you to reset all variables to their system defaults.

Using the <enter-command> function, you can query the value of a variable by suffixing the name of the variable with a question mark: ":set allow_8bit?". The old prefix query syntax (":set ?allow_8bit") is also still supported.

setenv { ?variable | variable value }
unsetenv variable

You can alter the environment that NeoMutt passes on to its child processes using the setenv and unsetenv operators.

You can also query current environment values by prefixing a “?” character.

sidebar_pin mailbox [ mailbox ...]
sidebar_unpin { * | mailbox ... }

The sidebar_pin 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.

source filename

This command allows the inclusion of initialization commands from other files. If the filename begins with a tilde (“~”), it will be expanded to the path of your home directory.

If the filename ends with a vertical bar (“|”), then filename is considered to be an executable program from which to read input, (e.g. “source ~/bin/myscript|”).

If the filename is relative and the command source is executed from the context of a configuration file, then the filename is interpreted relative to the directory of that configuration file. If the command is executed outside of a configuration file, e.g. from the prompt, then the filename is interpreted relative to the current working directory (see cd on how to change the current working directory at runtime).

Note: A hook remembers the configuration file it was defined in and sets the context to that file when executing its commands. As a result a source command inside a hook is executed in the context of the configuration file the hook was defined in. Thus relative filenames are interpreted relative to the configuration file the hook is defined in.

spam regex format
nospam { * | regex }

NeoMutt has generalized support for external spam-scoring filters. By defining your spam regexs with the spam and nospam commands, you can limit, search, and sort your mail based on its spam attributes, as determined by the external filter. You also can display the spam attributes in your index display using the %H selector in the $index_format variable. (Tip: try "%<H?[%H] >" to display spam tags only when they are defined for a given message).

For further information on spam-scoring filters, please consult the section “Spam Detection” in the NeoMutt manual.

subjectrx regex replacement
unsubjectrx { * | regex }

The subjectrx command specifies a regular expression which, if detected in a message subject, causes the subject to be replaced with the replacement value. The replacement is subject to substitutions in the same way as for the spam command: %L for the text to the left of the match, %R for text to the right of the match, and %1 for the first subgroup in the match (etc). If you simply want to erase the match, set it to “%L%R”. Any number of subjectrx commands may coexist.

Note this well: the replacement value replaces the entire subject, not just the match!

unsubjectrx removes a given subjectrx from the substitution list. If “*” is used as the argument, all substitutions will be removed.

subscribe-to imap-folder-uri
unsubscribe-from imap-folder-uri

Tell the IMAP server to subscribe to or unsubscribe from the folder imap-folder-uri. The argument must be an IMAP URI, e.g. “subscribe-to imaps://mail.example.org/inbox&rdquo;.

Subscription is an IMAP protocol feature where the server manages a list of subscribed folders. This list can be queried by clients like NeoMutt.

NeoMutt uses that list in various situations, see $imap_list_subscribed and $imap_check_subscribed.

timeout-hook command
startup-hook command
shutdown-hook command

The Global Hooks feature introduces these hooks to NeoMutt. They are called when global events take place in NeoMutt. startup-hook and shutdown-hook are most likely to be useful to users of notmuch(1).

timeout-hook runs a command periodically when NeoMutt checks for new mail. This hook is called every $timeout seconds.

Before NeoMutt opens the first mailbox when first starting, NeoMutt will run the startup-hook for the given command.

Before NeoMutt is about to exit, and before the mailbox is closed, NeoMutt will run the shutdown-hook for the given command.

unhook { * | hook-type }

This command permits you to flush hooks you have previously defined. You can either remove all hooks by giving the “*” character as an argument, or you can remove all hooks of a specific hook-type by saying something like “unhook send-hook”.

PATTERNS

Pattern Modifier
Many of NeoMutt’s commands allow you to specify a pattern to match messages (limit, tag-pattern, delete-pattern, the above mentioned hook commands etc.). The table “Pattern modifiers” shows several ways to select messages.

Special attention has to be paid when using regular expressions inside of patterns. Specifically, NeoMutt’s parser for these patterns will strip one level of backslash (“\”), which is normally used for quoting. If it is your intention to use a backslash in the regular expression, you will need to use two backslashes (“\\”) instead.

You can force NeoMutt to treat EXPR as a simple STRING instead of a regular expression by using “=” instead of “~” in the pattern name. For example, “=b *.*” will find all messages that contain the literal STRING “*.*”. Simple substring matches are less powerful than regular expressions but can be considerably faster. This is especially true for IMAP folders, because substring matches can be performed on the server instead of by fetching every message. IMAP treats “=h” specially: it must be of the form “Header: substring” and will not partially match header names. The substring part may be omitted if you simply wish to find messages containing a particular header without regard to its value.

Patterns matching lists of addresses (notably c, C, p, P and t) match if there is at least one match in the whole list. If you want to make sure that all elements of that list match, you need to prefix your pattern with “^”.

This example matches all mails which only has recipients from Germany.

Matching all addresses in address lists: ^~C \.de$

You can restrict address pattern matching to aliases that you have defined with the “@” modifier. This example matches messages whose recipients are all from Germany and who are known to your alias list.

Matching restricted to aliases: ^@~C \.de$

To match any defined alias, use a regular expression that matches any string. This example matches messages whose senders are known aliases.

Matching any defined alias: @~f .

Nesting and Boolean Operators
Logical AND is performed by specifying more than one criterion.

For example: ~t work ~f smith

would select messages which contain the word “work” in the list of recipients and that have the word “smith” in the “From:” header field.

NeoMutt also recognizes the following operators to create more complex search patterns:

• “!” — logical NOT operator
• “|” — logical OR operator
• “()” — logical grouping operator

Here is an example illustrating a complex search pattern. This pattern will select all messages which do not contain “work” in the “To:” or “Cc:” field and which are from “smith”.

Using boolean operators in patterns: !(~t work|~c work) ~f smith

Here is an example using white space in the regular expression (note the “'” and “"” delimiters). For this to match, the mail’s subject must match the “^Junk +From +Me$” and it must be from either “Jim +Somebody” or “Ed +SomeoneElse”:

Quoting regex: '~s "^Junk +From +Me$" ~f ("Jim +Somebody"|"Ed +SomeoneElse")'

Note: If a regular expression contains parenthesis, or a vertical bar (“|”), you must enclose the expression in double or single quotes since those characters are also used to separate different parts of NeoMutt’s pattern language.

For example: ~f "user@(home\.org|work\.com)"

Without the quotes, the parenthesis wouldn’t end. This would be separated to two OR’d patterns: ~f user@(home\.org and work\.com). They are never what you want.

Searching by Date
NeoMutt supports two types of dates, absolute and relative for the “~d” and “~r” pattern.

Absolute Dates
Dates must be in dd[/mm[/[CC]YY]] format (day, month, century and year — all parts, with the exception of day, are optional, defaulting to the current month and year). An example of a valid range of dates is:

Limit to messages matching: ~d 20/1/95-31/10

Alternatively, you may use YYYYMMDD to specify a date.

When given a two-digit year, NeoMutt will interpret values less than “70” as lying in the 21st century (i.e., “38” means 2038 and not 1938, and “00” is interpreted as 2000), and values greater than or equal to “70” as lying in the 20th century.

If you omit the MINimum (first) date, and just specify -dd/mm/YY, all messages before the given date will be selected. If you omit the MAXimum (second) date, and specify dd/mm/YY-, all messages after the given date will be selected. If you specify a single date with no dash (“-”), only messages sent/received on the given date will be selected.

You can add error margins to absolute dates. An error margin is a sign (“+” or “-”), followed by a digit, followed by one of the units in table “Date units” below. As a special case, you can replace the sign by a “*” character, which is equivalent to giving identical plus and minus error margins.

Example: To select any messages two weeks around January 15, 2001, you’d use the following pattern:

Limit to messages matching: ~d 15/1/2001*2w

It is possible to give multiple error margins:

which cumulate: ~d 1/1/2001-1w+2w*3d

Relative Dates
This type of date is relative to the current date, and may be specified as:

• “<offset” for messages newer than offset units
• “=offset” for messages exactly offset units old
• “>offset” for messages older than offset units

offset is specified as a positive number with one of the units from table “Date units”.

Example: To select messages less than 1 month old, you would use:

Limit to messages matching: ~d <1m

Note: All dates used when searching are relative to the local time zone, so unless you change the setting of your $index_format to include a “%[...]” format, these are not the dates shown in the main index.

CONFIGURATION VARIABLES

abort_backspace

Type: boolean
Default: yes

If set, hitting backspace against an empty prompt aborts the prompt.

abort_key

Type: string
Default: "007"

Specifies the key that can be used to abort prompts. The format is the same as used in "bind" commands. The default is equivalent to "Ctrl-G". Note that the specified key should not be used in other bindings, as the abort operation has higher precedence and the binding will not have the desired effect.

Example:

set abort_key = "<Esc>"

Please note that when using <Esc> as the abort key, you may also want to set the environment variable ESCDELAY to a low value or even 0 which will reduce the time that ncurses waits to distinguish singular <Esc> key presses from the start of a terminal escape sequence. The default time is 1000 milliseconds and thus quite noticeable.

abort_noattach

Type: quadoption
Default: no

If set to yes, when composing messages containing the regular expression specified by $abort_noattach_regex and no attachments are given, composition will be aborted. If set to no, composing messages as such will never be aborted.

Example:

set abort_noattach_regex = "\\<attach(|ed|ments?)\\>"

abort_noattach_regex

Type: regular expression
Default: "\<(attach|attached|attachments?)\>"

Specifies a regular expression to match against the body of the message, to determine if an attachment was mentioned but mistakenly forgotten. If it matches, $abort_noattach will be consulted to determine if message sending will be aborted.

Like other regular expressions in NeoMutt, the search is case sensitive if the pattern contains at least one upper case letter, and case insensitive otherwise.

abort_nosubject

Type: quadoption
Default: ask-yes

If set to yes, when composing messages and no subject is given at the subject prompt, composition will be aborted. If set to no, composing messages with no subject given at the subject prompt will never be aborted.

abort_unmodified

Type: quadoption
Default: yes

If set to yes, composition will automatically abort after editing the message body if no changes are made to the file (this check only happens after the first edit of the file). When set to no, composition will never be aborted.

account_command

Type: command
Default: ""

If set, this command is used to retrieve account credentials. The command is invoked passing a number of --key value arguments with the specifics of the account to lookup. The command writes to standard output a number of key: value lines. Currently supported arguments are --hostname, --username, and --type, where type can be any of imap, imaps, pop, pops, smtp, smtps, nntp, and nntps. Currently supported output lines are login, username, and password.

alias_file

Type: path
Default: "~/.neomuttrc"

The default file in which to save aliases created by the <create-alias> function. Entries added to this file are encoded in the character set specified by $config_charset if it is set or the current character set otherwise.

Note: NeoMutt will not automatically source this file; you must explicitly use the "source" command for it to be executed in case this option points to a dedicated alias file.

The default for this option is the currently used neomuttrc file, or "~/.neomuttrc" if no user neomuttrc was found.

alias_format

Type: string
Default: "%3n %f%t %-15a %-56r | %c"

Specifies the format of the data displayed for the "alias" menu. The following printf(3)-style sequences are available:

allow_8bit

Type: boolean
Default: yes

Controls whether 8-bit data is converted to 7-bit using either Quoted- Printable or Base64 encoding when sending mail.

allow_ansi

Type: boolean
Default: no

Controls whether ANSI color codes in messages (and color tags in rich text messages) are to be interpreted. Messages containing these codes are rare, but if this option is set, their text will be colored accordingly. Note that this may override your color choices, and even present a security problem, since a message could include a line like

[-- PGP output follows ...

and give it the same color as your attachment color (see also $crypt_timestamp).

arrow_cursor

Type: boolean
Default: no

When set, an arrow ("->") will be used to indicate the current entry in menus instead of highlighting the whole line. On slow network or modem links this will make response faster because there is less that has to be redrawn on the screen when moving to the next or previous entries in the menu.

arrow_string

Type: string
Default: "->"

Specifies the string of arrow_cursor when arrow_cursor enabled.

ascii_chars

Type: boolean
Default: no

If set, NeoMutt will use plain ASCII characters when displaying thread and attachment trees, instead of the default ACS characters.

ask_bcc

Type: boolean
Default: no

If set, NeoMutt will prompt you for blind-carbon-copy (Bcc) recipients before editing an outgoing message.

Default: no

If set, NeoMutt will prompt you for carbon-copy (Cc) recipients before editing the body of an outgoing message.

ask_followup_to

Type: boolean
Default: no

If set, NeoMutt will prompt you for follow-up groups before editing the body of an outgoing message.

ask_x_comment_to

Type: boolean
Default: no

If set, NeoMutt will prompt you for x-comment-to field before editing the body of an outgoing message.

assumed_charset

Type: string list
Default: ""

This variable is a colon-separated list of character encoding schemes for messages without character encoding indication. Header field values and message body content without character encoding indication would be assumed that they are written in one of this list. By default, all the header fields and message body without any charset indication are assumed to be in "us-ascii".

For example, Japanese users might prefer this:

set assumed_charset="iso-2022-jp:euc-jp:shift_jis:utf-8"

However, only the first content is valid for the message body.

attach_charset

Type: string list
Default: ""

This variable is a colon-separated list of character encoding schemes for text file attachments. NeoMutt uses this setting to guess which encoding files being attached are encoded in to convert them to a proper character set given in $send_charset.

If unset, the value of $charset will be used instead. For example, the following configuration would work for Japanese text handling:

set attach_charset="iso-2022-jp:euc-jp:shift_jis:utf-8"

Note: for Japanese users, "iso-2022-*" must be put at the head of the value as shown above if included.

attach_format

Type: string
Default: "%u%D%I %t%4n %T%d %> [%.7m/%.10M, %.6e%<C?, %C>, %s] "

This variable describes the format of the "attachment" menu. The following printf(3)-style sequences are understood:

For an explanation of "soft-fill", see the $index_format documentation.

attach_save_dir

Type: path
Default: "./"

The directory where attachments are saved.

attach_save_without_prompting

Type: boolean
Default: no

This variable, when set to true, will cause attachments to be saved to the ’attach_save_dir’ location without prompting the user for the filename.

attach_sep

Type: string
Default: "\n"

The separator to add between attachments when operating (saving, printing, piping, etc) on a list of tagged attachments.

attach_split

Type: boolean
Default: yes

If this variable is unset, when operating (saving, printing, piping, etc) on a list of tagged attachments, NeoMutt will concatenate the attachments and will operate on them as a single attachment. The $attach_sep separator is added after each attachment. When set, NeoMutt will operate on the attachments one by one.

attribution_intro

Type: string
Default: "On %d, %n wrote:"

This is the string that will precede a replied-to message which is quoted in the main body of the reply (this is the case when $include is set).

For a full listing of defined printf(3)-like sequences see the section on $index_format. See also $attribution_locale.

attribution_locale

Type: string
Default: ""

The locale used by strftime(3) to format dates in the attribution strings. Legal values are the strings your system accepts for the locale environment variable $LC_TIME.

This variable is to allow the attribution date format to be customized by recipient or folder using hooks. By default, NeoMutt will use your locale environment, so there is no need to set this except to override that default.

Affected variables are: $attribution_intro, $attribution_trailer, $forward_attribution_intro, $forward_attribution_trailer, $indent_string.

attribution_trailer

Type: string
Default: ""

Similar to the $attribution_intro variable, this is the string that will come after a replied-to message which is quoted in the main body of the reply (this is the case when $include is set).

For a full listing of defined printf(3)-like sequences see the section on $index_format. See also $attribution_locale.

auto_edit

Type: boolean
Default: no

When set along with $edit_headers, NeoMutt will skip the initial send-menu (prompting for subject and recipients) and allow you to immediately begin editing the body of your message. The send-menu may still be accessed once you have finished editing the body of your message.

Note: when this option is set, you can’t use send-hooks that depend on the recipients when composing a new (non-reply) message, as the initial list of recipients is empty.

Also see $fast_reply.

auto_subscribe

Type: boolean
Default: no

When set, NeoMutt assumes the presence of a List-Post header means the recipient is subscribed to the list. Unless the mailing list is in the "unsubscribe" or "unlist" lists, it will be added to the "subscribe" list. Parsing and checking these things slows header reading down, so this option is disabled by default.

auto_tag

Type: boolean
Default: no

When set, functions in the index menu which affect a message will be applied to all tagged messages (if there are any). When unset, you must first use the <tag-prefix> function (bound to ";" by default) to make the next function apply to all tagged messages.

autocrypt

Type: boolean
Default: no

When set, enables autocrypt, which provides passive encryption protection with keys exchanged via headers. See "autocryptdoc" for more details. (Autocrypt only)

autocrypt_acct_format

Type: string
Default: "%4n %-30a %20p %10s"

This variable describes the format of the "autocrypt account" menu. The following printf(3)-style sequences are understood

(Autocrypt only)

autocrypt_dir

Type: path
Default: "~/.mutt/autocrypt"

This variable sets where autocrypt files are stored, including the GPG keyring and SQLite database. See "autocryptdoc" for more details. (Autocrypt only)

autocrypt_reply

Type: boolean
Default: yes

When set, replying to an autocrypt email automatically enables autocrypt in the reply. You may want to unset this if you’re using the same key for autocrypt as normal web-of-trust, so that autocrypt isn’t forced on for all encrypted replies. (Autocrypt only)

Default: yes

When this variable is set, NeoMutt will beep when an error occurs.

beep_new

Type: boolean
Default: no

When this variable is set, NeoMutt will beep whenever it prints a message notifying you of new mail. This is independent of the setting of the $beep variable.

Default: ask-yes

Controls whether you will be asked to confirm bouncing messages. If set to yes you don’t get asked if you want to bounce a message. Setting this variable to no is not generally useful, and thus not recommended, because you are unable to bounce messages.

bounce_delivered

Type: boolean
Default: yes

When this variable is set, NeoMutt will include Delivered-To headers when bouncing messages. Postfix users may wish to unset this variable.

Note: On Debian systems, this option is unset by default in /etc/neomuttrc.

braille_friendly

Type: boolean
Default: no

When this variable is set, NeoMutt will place the cursor at the beginning of the current line in menus, even when the $arrow_cursor variable is unset, making it easier for blind persons using Braille displays to follow these menus. The option is unset by default because many visual terminals don’t permit making the cursor invisible.

browser_abbreviate_mailboxes

Type: boolean
Default: yes

When this variable is set, NeoMutt will abbreviate mailbox names in the browser mailbox list, using ’~’ and ’=’ shortcuts.

The default "alpha" setting of $sort_browser uses locale-based sorting (using strcoll(3)), which ignores some punctuation. This can lead to some situations where the order doesn’t make intuitive sense. In those cases, it may be desirable to unset this variable.

browser_sort_dirs_first

Type: boolean
Default: no

If this variable is set, the browser will group directories before files.

catchup_newsgroup

Type: quadoption
Default: ask-yes

If this variable is set, NeoMutt will mark all articles in newsgroup as read when you quit the newsgroup (catchup newsgroup).

certificate_file

Type: path
Default: "~/.mutt_certificates"

This variable specifies the file where the certificates you trust are saved. When an unknown certificate is encountered, you are asked if you accept it or not. If you accept it, the certificate can also be saved in this file and further connections are automatically accepted.

You can also manually add CA certificates in this file. Any server certificate that is signed with one of these CA certificates is also automatically accepted.

Example:

set certificate_file=~/.neomutt/certificates

(OpenSSL and GnuTLS only)

change_folder_next

Type: boolean
Default: no

When this variable is set, the <change-folder> function mailbox suggestion will start at the next folder in your "mailboxes" list, instead of starting at the first folder in the list.

charset

Type: string
Default: ""

Character set your terminal uses to display and enter textual data. It is also the fallback for $send_charset.

Upon startup NeoMutt tries to derive this value from environment variables such as $LC_CTYPE or $LANG.

Note: It should only be set in case NeoMutt isn’t able to determine the character set used correctly.

check_mbox_size

Type: boolean
Default: no

When this variable is set, NeoMutt will use file size attribute instead of access time when checking for new mail in mbox and mmdf folders.

This variable is unset by default and should only be enabled when new mail detection for these folder types is unreliable or doesn’t work.

Note that enabling this variable should happen before any "mailboxes" directives occur in configuration files regarding mbox or mmdf folders because NeoMutt needs to determine the initial new mail status of such a mailbox by performing a fast mailbox scan when it is defined. Afterwards the new mail status is tracked by file size changes.

check_new

Type: boolean
Default: yes

Note: this option only affects maildir and MH style mailboxes.

When set, NeoMutt will check for new mail delivered while the mailbox is open. Especially with MH mailboxes, this operation can take quite some time since it involves scanning the directory and checking each file to see if it has already been looked at. If this variable is unset, no check for new mail is performed while the mailbox is open.

collapse_all

Type: boolean
Default: no

When set, NeoMutt will collapse all threads when entering a folder.

collapse_flagged

Type: boolean
Default: yes

When unset, NeoMutt will not collapse a thread if it contains any flagged messages.

collapse_unread

Type: boolean
Default: yes

When unset, NeoMutt will not collapse a thread if it contains any unread messages.

color_directcolor

Type: boolean
Default: no

When set, NeoMutt will use and allow 24bit colours (aka truecolor aka directcolor). For colours to work properly support from the terminal is required as well as a properly set TERM environment variable advertising the terminals directcolor capability, e.g. "TERM=xterm-direct".

NeoMutt tries to detect whether the terminal supports 24bit colours and enables this variable if it does. If this fails for some reason, you can force 24bit colours by setting this variable manually. You may also try to force a certain TERM environment variable by starting NeoMutt from a terminal as follows (this results in wrong colours if the terminal does not implement directcolors):

TERM=xterm-direct neomutt

Note: This variable must be set before using any ’color’ commands.

compose_confirm_detach_first

Type: boolean
Default: yes

When set, NeoMutt will prompt for confirmation when trying to use <detach-file> on the first entry in the compose menu. This is to help prevent irreversible loss of the typed message by accidentally hitting ’D’ in the menu.

Note: NeoMutt only prompts for the first entry. It doesn’t keep track of which message is the typed message if the entries are reordered, or if the first entry was already deleted.

compose_format

Type: string
Default: "-- NeoMutt: Compose [Approx. msg size: %l Atts: %a]%>-"

Controls the format of the status line displayed in the "compose" menu. This string is similar to $status_format, but has its own set of printf(3)-like sequences:

See the text describing the $status_format option for more information on how to set $compose_format.

compose_show_user_headers

Type: boolean
Default: yes

When set, Neomutt will display user-defined headers (set via my_hdr or from editing with edit-headers).

config_charset

Type: string
Default: ""

When defined, NeoMutt will recode commands in rc files from this encoding to the current character set as specified by $charset and aliases written to $alias_file from the current character set.

Please note that if setting $charset it must be done before setting $config_charset.

Recoding should be avoided as it may render unconvertible characters as question marks which can lead to undesired side effects (for example in regular expressions).

confirm_append

Type: boolean
Default: yes

When set, NeoMutt will prompt for confirmation when appending messages to an existing mailbox.

confirm_create

Type: boolean
Default: yes

When set, NeoMutt will prompt for confirmation when saving messages to a mailbox which does not yet exist before creating it.

content_type

Type: string
Default: "text/plain"

Sets the default Content-Type for the body of newly composed messages.

Default: yes

This variable controls whether or not copies of your outgoing messages will be saved for later references. Also see $record, $save_name, $force_name and "fcc-hook".

copy_decode_weed

Type: boolean
Default: no

Controls whether NeoMutt will weed headers when invoking the <decode-copy> or <decode-save> functions.

count_alternatives

Type: boolean
Default: no

When set, NeoMutt will recurse inside multipart/alternatives while performing attachment searching and counting(see attachments).

Traditionally, multipart/alternative parts have simply represented different encodings of the main content of the email. Unfortunately, some mail clients have started to place email attachments inside one of alternatives. Setting this will allow NeoMutt to find and count matching attachments hidden there, and include them in the index via %X or through ~X pattern matching.

crypt_auto_encrypt

Type: boolean
Default: no

Setting this variable will cause NeoMutt to always attempt to PGP encrypt outgoing messages. This is probably only useful in connection to the "send-hook" command. It can be overridden by use of the pgp menu, when encryption is not required or signing is requested as well. If $smime_is_default is set, then OpenSSL is used instead to create S/MIME messages and settings can be overridden by use of the smime menu instead. (Crypto only)

crypt_auto_pgp

Type: boolean
Default: yes

This variable controls whether or not NeoMutt may automatically enable PGP encryption/signing for messages. See also $crypt_auto_encrypt, $crypt_reply_encrypt, $crypt_auto_sign, $crypt_reply_sign and $smime_is_default.

crypt_auto_sign

Type: boolean
Default: no

Setting this variable will cause NeoMutt to always attempt to cryptographically sign outgoing messages. This can be overridden by use of the pgp menu, when signing is not required or encryption is requested as well. If $smime_is_default is set, then OpenSSL is used instead to create S/MIME messages and settings can be overridden by use of the smime menu instead of the pgp menu. (Crypto only)

crypt_auto_smime

Type: boolean
Default: yes

This variable controls whether or not NeoMutt may automatically enable S/MIME encryption/signing for messages. See also $crypt_auto_encrypt, $crypt_reply_encrypt, $crypt_auto_sign, $crypt_reply_sign and $smime_is_default.

crypt_chars

Type: character string
Default: "SPsK "

Controls the characters used in cryptography flags.
Character

Default Description

crypt_confirm_hook

Type: boolean
Default: yes

If set, then you will be prompted for confirmation of keys when using the crypt-hook command. If unset, no such confirmation prompt will be presented. This is generally considered unsafe, especially where typos are concerned.

crypt_opportunistic_encrypt

Type: boolean
Default: no

Setting this variable will cause NeoMutt to automatically enable and disable encryption, based on whether all message recipient keys can be located by NeoMutt.

When this option is enabled, NeoMutt will enable/disable encryption each time the TO, CC, and BCC lists are edited. If $edit_headers is set, NeoMutt will also do so each time the message is edited.

While this is set, encryption can’t be manually enabled/disabled. The pgp or smime menus provide a selection to temporarily disable this option for the current message.

If $crypt_auto_encrypt or $crypt_reply_encrypt enable encryption for a message, this option will be disabled for that message. It can be manually re-enabled in the pgp or smime menus. (Crypto only)

crypt_opportunistic_encrypt_strong_keys

Type: boolean
Default: no

When set, this modifies the behavior of $crypt_opportunistic_encrypt to only search for "strong keys", that is, keys with full validity according to the web-of-trust algorithm. A key with marginal or no validity will not enable opportunistic encryption.

For S/MIME, the behavior depends on the backend. Classic S/MIME will filter for certificates with the ’t’(trusted) flag in the .index file. The GPGME backend will use the same filters as with OpenPGP, and depends on GPGME’s logic for assigning the GPGME_VALIDITY_FULL and GPGME_VALIDITY_ULTIMATE validity flag.

crypt_protected_headers_read

Type: boolean
Default: yes

When set, NeoMutt will display protected headers ("Memory Hole") in the pager, When set, NeoMutt will display protected headers in the pager, and will update the index and header cache with revised headers.

Protected headers are stored inside the encrypted or signed part of an an email, to prevent disclosure or tampering. For more information see https://github.com/autocrypt/protected-headers Currently NeoMutt only supports the Subject header.

Encrypted messages using protected headers often substitute the exposed Subject header with a dummy value (see $crypt_protected_headers_subject). NeoMutt will update its concept of the correct subject after the message is opened, i.e. via the <display-message> function. If you reply to a message before opening it, NeoMutt will end up using the dummy Subject header, so be sure to open such a message first. (Crypto only)

crypt_protected_headers_save

Type: boolean
Default: no

When $crypt_protected_headers_read is set, and a message with a protected Subject is opened, NeoMutt will save the updated Subject into the header cache by default. This allows searching/limiting based on the protected Subject header if the mailbox is re-opened, without having to re-open the message each time. However, for mbox/mh mailbox types, or if header caching is not set up, you would need to re-open the message each time the mailbox was reopened before you could see or search/limit on the protected subject again.

When this variable is set, NeoMutt additionally saves the protected Subject back in the clear-text message headers. This provides better usability, but with the tradeoff of reduced security. The protected Subject header, which may have previously been encrypted, is now stored in clear-text in the message headers. Copying the message elsewhere, via NeoMutt or external tools, could expose this previously encrypted data. Please make sure you understand the consequences of this before you enable this variable. (Crypto only)

crypt_protected_headers_subject

Type: string
Default: "..."

When $crypt_protected_headers_write is set, and the message is marked for encryption, this will be substituted into the Subject field in the message headers.

To prevent a subject from being substituted, unset this variable, or set it to the empty string. (Crypto only)

crypt_protected_headers_write

Type: boolean
Default: no

When set, NeoMutt will generate protected headers for signed and encrypted emails.

Protected headers are stored inside the encrypted or signed part of an an email, to prevent disclosure or tampering. For more information see https://github.com/autocrypt/protected-headers

Currently NeoMutt only supports the Subject header. (Crypto only)

crypt_reply_encrypt

Type: boolean
Default: yes

If set, automatically PGP or OpenSSL encrypt replies to messages which are encrypted. (Crypto only)

crypt_reply_sign

Type: boolean
Default: no

If set, automatically PGP or OpenSSL sign replies to messages which are signed.

Note: this does not work on messages that are encrypted and signed! (Crypto only)

crypt_reply_sign_encrypted

Type: boolean
Default: no

If set, automatically PGP or OpenSSL sign replies to messages which are encrypted. This makes sense in combination with $crypt_reply_encrypt, because it allows you to sign all messages which are automatically encrypted. This works around the problem noted in $crypt_reply_sign, that NeoMutt is not able to find out whether an encrypted message is also signed. (Crypto only)

crypt_timestamp

Type: boolean
Default: yes

If set, NeoMutt will include a time stamp in the lines surrounding PGP or S/MIME output, so spoofing such lines is more difficult. If you are using colors to mark these lines, and rely on these, you may unset this setting. (Crypto only)

crypt_use_gpgme

Type: boolean
Default: yes

This variable controls the use of the GPGME-enabled crypto backends. If it is set and NeoMutt was built with GPGME support, the gpgme code for S/MIME and PGP will be used instead of the classic code. Note that you need to set this option in .neomuttrc; it won’t have any effect when used interactively.

Note that the GPGME backend does not support creating old-style inline (traditional) PGP encrypted or signed messages (see $pgp_auto_inline).

crypt_use_pka

Type: boolean
Default: no

Controls whether NeoMutt uses PKA (see http://www.g10code.de/docs/pka-intro.de.pdf) during signature verification (only supported by the GPGME backend).

crypt_verify_sig

Type: quadoption
Default: yes

If "yes", always attempt to verify PGP or S/MIME signatures. If "ask-*", ask whether or not to verify the signature. If "no", never attempt to verify cryptographic signatures. (Crypto only)

date_format

Type: string
Default: "!%a, %b %d, %Y at %I:%M:%S%p %Z"

Instead of using $date_format it is encouraged to use "%[fmt]" directly in the corresponding format strings, where "fmt" is the value of $date_format. This allows for a more fine grained control of the different menu needs.

This variable controls the format of the date printed by the "%d" sequence in $index_format. This is passed to the strftime(3) function to process the date, see the man page for the proper syntax.

Unless the first character in the string is a bang ("!"), the month and week day names are expanded according to the locale. If the first character in the string is a bang, the bang is discarded, and the month and week day names in the rest of the string are expanded in the C locale (that is in US English).

Format strings using this variable are:

UI: $folder_format, $index_format, $mailbox_folder_format, $message_format.IP Composing: $attribution_intro, $forward_attribution_intro, $forward_attribution_trailer, $forward_format, $indent_string.

debug_file

Type: path
Default: "~/.neomuttdebug"

Debug logging is controlled by the variables $debug_file and $debug_level. $debug_file specifies the root of the filename. NeoMutt will add "0" to the end. Each time NeoMutt is run with logging enabled, the log files are rotated. A maximum of five log files are kept, numbered 0 (most recent) to 4 (oldest).

This option can be enabled on the command line, "neomutt -l mylog"

See also: $debug_level

debug_level

Type: number
Default: 0

Debug logging is controlled by the variables $debug_file and $debug_level.

The debug level controls how much information is saved to the log file. If you have a problem with NeoMutt, then enabling logging may help find the cause. Levels 1-3 will usually provide enough information for writing a bug report. Levels 4,5 will be extremely verbose.

Warning: Logging at high levels may save private information to the file.

This option can be enabled on the command line, "neomutt -d 2"

See also: $debug_file

default_hook

Type: string
Default: "~f %s !~P | (~P ~C %s)"

This variable controls how some hooks are interpreted if their pattern is a plain string or a regex. i.e. they don’t contain a pattern, like ~f

The hooks are: fcc-hook, fcc-save-hook, index-format-hook, message-hook, reply-hook, save-hook, send-hook and send2-hook.

The hooks are expanded when they are declared, so a hook will be interpreted according to the value of this variable at the time the hook is declared.

The default value matches if the message is either from a user matching the regular expression given, or if it is from you (if the from address matches "alternates") and is to or cc’ed to a user matching the given regular expression.

Default: ask-yes

Controls whether or not messages are really deleted when closing or synchronizing a mailbox. If set to yes, messages marked for deleting will automatically be purged without prompting. If set to no, messages marked for deletion will be kept in the mailbox.

delete_untag

Type: boolean
Default: yes

If this option is set, NeoMutt will untag messages when marking them for deletion. This applies when you either explicitly delete a message, or when you save it to another folder.

digest_collapse

Type: boolean
Default: yes

If this option is set, NeoMutt’s received-attachments menu will not show the subparts of individual messages in a multipart/digest. To see these subparts, press "v" on that menu.

display_filter

Type: command
Default: ""

When set, specifies a command used to filter messages. When a message is viewed it is passed as standard input to $display_filter, and the filtered message is read from the standard output.

When preparing the message, NeoMutt inserts some escape sequences into the text. They are of the form: <esc>]9;XXX<bel> where "XXX" is a random 64-bit number.

If these escape sequences interfere with your filter, they can be removed using a tool like ansifilter or sed ’s/^\x1b]9;[0-9]\+\x7//’

If they are removed, then PGP and MIME headers will no longer be coloured. This can be fixed by adding this to your config: color body magenta default ’^\[-- .* --\]$’.

dsn_notify

Type: string
Default: ""

This variable sets the request for when notification is returned. The string consists of a comma separated list (no spaces!) of one or more of the following: never, to never request notification, failure, to request notification on transmission failure, delay, to be notified of message delays, success, to be notified of successful transmission.

Example:

set dsn_notify="failure,delay"

Note: when using $sendmail for delivery, you should not enable this unless you are either using Sendmail 8.8.x or greater or a MTA providing a sendmail(1)-compatible interface supporting the -N option for DSN. For SMTP delivery, DSN support is auto-detected so that it depends on the server whether DSN will be used or not.

dsn_return

Type: string
Default: ""

This variable controls how much of your message is returned in DSN messages. It may be set to either hdrs to return just the message header, or full to return the full message.

Example:

set dsn_return=hdrs

Note: when using $sendmail for delivery, you should not enable this unless you are either using Sendmail 8.8.x or greater or a MTA providing a sendmail(1)-compatible interface supporting the -R option for DSN. For SMTP delivery, DSN support is auto-detected so that it depends on the server whether DSN will be used or not.

duplicate_threads

Type: boolean
Default: yes

This variable controls whether NeoMutt, when $sort is set to threads, threads messages with the same Message-Id together. If it is set, it will indicate that it thinks they are duplicates of each other with an equals sign in the thread tree.

edit_headers

Type: boolean
Default: no

This option allows you to edit the header of your outgoing messages along with the body of your message.

Although the compose menu may have localized header labels, the labels passed to your editor will be standard RFC2822 headers, (e.g. To:, Cc:, Subject:). Headers added in your editor must also be RFC2822 headers, or one of the pseudo headers listed in "edit-header". NeoMutt will not understand localized header labels, just as it would not when parsing an actual email.

Note that changes made to the References: and Date: headers are ignored for interoperability reasons.

Default: ""

This variable specifies which editor is used by NeoMutt. It defaults to the value of the $VISUAL, or $EDITOR, environment variable, or to the string "/usr/bin/editor" if neither of those are set.

The $editor string may contain a %s escape, which will be replaced by the name of the file to be edited. If the %s escape does not appear in $editor, a space and the name to be edited are appended.

The resulting string is then executed by running

sh -c ’string’

where string is the expansion of $editor described above.

empty_subject

Type: string
Default: "Re: your mail"

This variable specifies the subject to be used when replying to an email with an empty subject. It defaults to "Re: your mail".

encode_from

Type: boolean
Default: no

When set, NeoMutt will quoted-printable encode messages when they contain the string "From " (note the trailing space) in the beginning of a line. This is useful to avoid the tampering certain mail delivery and transport agents tend to do with messages (in order to prevent tools from misinterpreting the line as a mbox message separator).

entropy_file

Type: path
Default: ""

The file which includes random data that is used to initialize SSL library functions. (OpenSSL only)

envelope_from_address

Type: e-mail address
Default: ""

Manually sets the envelope sender for outgoing messages. This value is ignored if $use_envelope_from is unset.

external_search_command

Type: command
Default: ""

If set, contains the name of the external program used by "~I" patterns. This will usually be a wrapper script around mairix, mu, or similar indexers other than notmuch (for which there is optional special support).

Here is an example how it works. Let’s assume $external_search_command is set to "mairix_filter", and mairix_filter is a script which runs the old but well loved mairix indexer with the arguments given to mairix_filter, in the "raw" mode of mairix, producing on the standard output a list of Message-IDs, one per line.

If possible, it also filters down the results coming from mairix such that only messages in the current folder remain. It can do this because it gets a hidden first argument which is the path to the folder. (This can be the type of clean and simple script called a one-liner.)

Now if NeoMutt gets a limit or tag command followed by the pattern "~I ’-t s:bleeping=’", mairix_filter runs mairix with the arguments from inside the quotes (the quotes are needed because of the space after "-t"), mairix finds all messages with "bleeping" in the Subject plus all messages sharing threads with these and outputs their file names, and mairix_filter translates the file names into Message-IDs. Finally, NeoMutt reads the Message-IDs and targets the matching messages with the command given to it.

You, the user, still have to rewrite the mairix_filter script to match the behavior of your indexer, but this should help users of indexers other than notmuch to integrate them cleanly with NeoMutt.

fast_reply

Type: boolean
Default: no

When set, the initial prompt for recipients (to, cc, bcc) and subject are skipped when the relevant information is already provided. These cases include replying to messages and passing the relevant command line arguments. The initial prompt for recipients is also skipped when composing a new message to the current message sender, while the initial prompt for subject is also skipped when forwarding messages.

Note: this variable has no effect when the $auto_edit variable is set.

See also: $auto_edit, $edit_headers, $ask_cc, $ask_bcc

fcc_attach

Type: quadoption
Default: yes

This variable controls whether or not attachments on outgoing messages are saved along with the main body of your message.

Note: $fcc_before_send forces the default (set) behavior of this option.

fcc_before_send

Type: boolean
Default: no

When this variable is set, FCCs will occur before sending the message. Before sending, the message cannot be manipulated, so it will be stored the exact same as sent: $fcc_attach and $fcc_clear will be ignored (using their default values).

When unset, the default, FCCs will occur after sending. Variables $fcc_attach and $fcc_clear will be respected, allowing it to be stored without attachments or encryption/signing if desired.

fcc_clear

Type: boolean
Default: no

When this variable is set, FCCs will be stored unencrypted and unsigned, even when the actual message is encrypted and/or signed.

Note: $fcc_before_send forces the default (unset) behavior of this option. (PGP only)

See also $pgp_self_encrypt, $smime_self_encrypt

flag_chars

Type: character string
Default: "*!DdrONon- "

Controls the characters used in several flags.
Character

Default Description

flag_safe

Type: boolean
Default: no

If set, flagged messages can’t be deleted.

Default: "~/Mail"

Specifies the default location of your mailboxes. A "+" or "=" at the beginning of a pathname will be expanded to the value of this variable. Note that if you change this variable (from the default) value you need to make sure that the assignment occurs before you use "+" or "=" for any other variables since expansion takes place when handling the "mailboxes" command.

folder_format

Type: string
Default: "%2C %t %N %F %2l %-8.8u %-8.8g %8s %d %i"

This variable allows you to customize the file browser display to your personal taste. This string is similar to $index_format, but has its own set of printf(3)-like sequences:

For an explanation of "soft-fill", see the $index_format documentation.

* = can be optionally printed if nonzero

%m, %n, and %N only work for monitored mailboxes. %m requires $mail_check_stats to be set. %n requires $mail_check_stats to be set (except for IMAP mailboxes).

followup_to

Type: boolean
Default: yes

Controls whether or not the "Mail-Followup-To:" header field is generated when sending mail. When set, NeoMutt will generate this field when you are replying to a known mailing list, specified with the "subscribe" or "lists" commands.

This field has two purposes. First, preventing you from receiving duplicate copies of replies to messages which you send to mailing lists, and second, ensuring that you do get a reply separately for any messages sent to known lists to which you are not subscribed.

The header will contain only the list’s address for subscribed lists, and both the list address and your own email address for unsubscribed lists. Without this header, a group reply to your message sent to a subscribed list will be sent to both the list and your address, resulting in two copies of the same email for you.

followup_to_poster

Type: quadoption
Default: ask-yes

If this variable is set and the keyword "poster" is present in Followup-To header, follow-up to newsgroup function is not permitted. The message will be mailed to the submitter of the message via mail.

force_name

Type: boolean
Default: no

This variable is similar to $save_name, except that NeoMutt will store a copy of your outgoing message by the username of the address you are sending to even if that mailbox does not exist.

Also see the $record variable.

forward_attachments

Type: quadoption
Default: ask-yes

When forwarding inline (i.e. $mime_forward unset or answered with "no" and $forward_decode set), attachments which cannot be decoded in a reasonable manner will be attached to the newly composed message if this quadoption is set or answered with "yes".

forward_attribution_intro

Type: string
Default: "----- Forwarded message from %f -----"

This is the string that will precede a message which has been forwarded in the main body of a message (when $mime_forward is unset). For a full listing of defined printf(3)-like sequences see the section on $index_format. See also $attribution_locale.

forward_attribution_trailer

Type: string
Default: "----- End forwarded message -----"

This is the string that will follow a message which has been forwarded in the main body of a message (when $mime_forward is unset). For a full listing of defined printf(3)-like sequences see the section on $index_format. See also $attribution_locale.

forward_decode

Type: boolean
Default: yes

Controls the decoding of complex MIME messages into text/plain when forwarding a message. The message header is also RFC2047 decoded. This variable is only used, if $mime_forward is unset, otherwise $mime_forward_decode is used instead.

forward_decrypt

Type: boolean
Default: yes

Controls the handling of encrypted messages when forwarding a message. When set, the outer layer of encryption is stripped off. This variable is only used if $mime_forward is set and $mime_forward_decode is unset.

forward_edit

Type: quadoption
Default: yes

This quadoption controls whether or not the user is automatically placed in the editor when forwarding messages. For those who always want to forward with no modification, use a setting of "no".

forward_format

Type: string
Default: "[%a: %s]"

This variable controls the default subject when forwarding a message. It uses the same format sequences as the $index_format variable.

forward_quote

Type: boolean
Default: no

When set, forwarded messages included in the main body of the message (when $mime_forward is unset) will be quoted using $indent_string.

forward_references

Type: boolean
Default: no

When set, forwarded messages set the "In-Reply-To:" and "References:" headers in the same way as normal replies would. Hence the forwarded message becomes part of the original thread instead of starting a new one.

Default: ""

When set, this variable contains a default "from" address. It can be overridden using "my_hdr" (including from a "send-hook") and $reverse_name. This variable is ignored if $use_from is unset.

If not specified, then it may be read from the environment variable $EMAIL.

from_chars

Type: character string
Default: ""

Controls the character used to prefix the %F and %L fields in the index.
Character

Description

If this is empty or unset (default), the traditional long "To ", "Cc " and "Bcc " prefixes are used. If set but too short to include a character for a particular case, a single space will be prepended to the field. To prevent any prefix at all from being added in a particular case, use the special value CR (aka ^M) for the corresponding character.

This slightly odd interface is necessitated by NeoMutt’s handling of string variables; one can’t tell a variable that is unset from one that is set to the empty string.

gecos_mask

Type: regular expression
Default: "^[^,]*"

A regular expression used by NeoMutt to parse the GECOS field of a password entry when expanding the alias. The default value will return the string up to the first "," encountered. If the GECOS field contains a string like "lastname, firstname" then you should set it to ".*".

This can be useful if you see the following behavior: you address an e-mail to user ID "stevef" whose full name is "Steve Franklin". If NeoMutt expands "stevef" to ’"Franklin" stevef [AT] foo.bar’ then you should set the $gecos_mask to a regular expression that will match the whole name so NeoMutt will expand "Franklin" to "Franklin, Steve".

greeting

Type: string
Default: ""

When set, this is the string that will precede every message as a greeting phrase to the recipients.

"Format strings" are similar to the strings used in the "C" function printf to format output (see the man page for more detail). The following sequences are defined in NeoMutt:

group_index_format

Type: string
Default: "%4C %M%N %5s %-45.45f %d"

This variable allows you to customize the newsgroup browser display to your personal taste. This string is similar to "index_format", but has its own set of printf()-like sequences:

Type: boolean
Default: yes

When unset, the header fields normally added by the "my_hdr" command are not created. This variable must be unset before composing a new message or replying in order to take effect. If set, the user defined header fields are added to every new message.

Default: no

When set, this variable causes NeoMutt to include the header of the message you are replying to into the edit buffer. The $weed setting applies.

header_cache

Type: path
Default: ""

This variable points to the header cache database. If the path points to an existing directory, NeoMutt will create a dedicated header cache database per folder. Otherwise, the path points to a regular file, which will be created as needed and used as a shared global header cache for all folders. By default it is unset so no header caching will be used.

Header caching can greatly improve speed when opening POP, IMAP MH or Maildir folders, see "caching" in the NeoMutt Guide for details.

header_cache_backend

Type: string
Default: ""

This variable specifies the header cache backend. If no backend is specified, the first available backend will be used in the following order: tokyocabinet, kyotocabinet, qdbm, rocksdb, gdbm, bdb, tdb, lmdb.

header_cache_compress_level

Type: number
Default: 1

When NeoMutt is compiled with lz4, zstd or zlib, this option can be used to setup the compression level.

header_cache_compress_method

Type: string
Default: ""

When NeoMutt is compiled with lz4, zstd or zlib, the header cache backend can use these compression methods for compressing the cache files. This results in much smaller cache file sizes and may even improve speed.

header_color_partial

Type: boolean
Default: no

When set, color header regexes behave like color body regexes: color is applied to the exact text matched by the regex. When unset, color is applied to the entire header.

One use of this option might be to apply color to just the header labels.

See "color" for more details.

Default: yes

When set, help lines describing the bindings for the major functions provided by each menu are displayed on the first line of the screen.

Note: The binding will not be displayed correctly if the function is bound to a sequence rather than a single keystroke. Also, the help line may not be updated if a binding is changed while NeoMutt is running. Since this variable is primarily aimed at new users, neither of these should present a major problem.

hidden_host

Type: boolean
Default: no

When set, NeoMutt will skip the host name part of $hostname variable when adding the domain part to addresses.

hidden_tags

Type: string list
Default: "unread,draft,flagged,passed,replied,attachment,signed,encrypted"

This variable specifies a list of comma-separated private notmuch/imap tags which should not be printed on screen.

hide_limited

Type: boolean
Default: no

When set, NeoMutt will not show the presence of messages that are hidden by limiting, in the thread tree.

hide_missing

Type: boolean
Default: yes

When set, NeoMutt will not show the presence of missing messages in the thread tree.

hide_thread_subject

Type: boolean
Default: yes

When set, NeoMutt will not show the subject of messages in the thread tree that have the same subject as their parent or closest previously displayed sibling.

hide_top_limited

Type: boolean
Default: no

When set, NeoMutt will not show the presence of messages that are hidden by limiting, at the top of threads in the thread tree. Note that when $hide_limited is set, this option will have no effect.

hide_top_missing

Type: boolean
Default: yes

When set, NeoMutt will not show the presence of missing messages at the top of threads in the thread tree. Note that when $hide_missing is set, this option will have no effect.

history

Type: number
Default: 10

This variable controls the size (in number of strings remembered) of the string history buffer per category. The buffer is cleared each time the variable is set.

Note that strings (e.g. commands) starting with a space are never recorded in the history. This is for example useful to prevent leaking sensitive information into the history file or for one off tests.

Also note that a string is not added to the history if it exactly matches its immediate predecessor, e.g. executing the same command twice in a row results in only one copy being added to the history. To prevent duplicates over all entries use $history_remove_dups.

history_file

Type: path
Default: "~/.mutthistory"

The file in which NeoMutt will save its history.

Also see $save_history.

history_format

Type: string
Default: "%s"

Controls the format of the entries of the history list. This string is similar to $index_format, but has its own set of printf(3)-like sequences:

history_remove_dups

Type: boolean
Default: no

When set, all of the string history will be scanned for duplicates when a new entry is added. Duplicate entries in the $history_file will also be removed when it is periodically compacted.

honor_disposition

Type: boolean
Default: no

When set, NeoMutt will not display attachments with a disposition of "attachment" inline even if it could render the part to plain text. These MIME parts can only be viewed from the attachment menu.

If unset, NeoMutt will render all MIME parts it can properly transform to plain text.

honor_followup_to

Type: quadoption
Default: yes

This variable controls whether or not a Mail-Followup-To header is honored when group-replying to a message.

hostname

Type: string
Default: ""

Specifies the fully-qualified hostname of the system NeoMutt is running on containing the host’s name and the DNS domain it belongs to. It is used as the domain part (after "@") for local email addresses.

If not specified in a config file, then NeoMutt will try to determine the hostname itself.

Optionally, NeoMutt can be compiled with a fixed domain name.

Also see $use_domain and $hidden_host.

Note: On Debian systems, the default for this variable is obtained from /etc/mailname when NeoMutt starts.

idn_decode

Type: boolean
Default: yes

When set, NeoMutt will show you international domain names decoded. Note: You can use IDNs for addresses even if this is unset. This variable only affects decoding. (IDN only)

idn_encode

Type: boolean
Default: yes

When set, NeoMutt will encode international domain names using IDN. Unset this if your SMTP server can handle newer (RFC6531) UTF-8 encoded domains. (IDN only)

ignore_list_reply_to

Type: boolean
Default: no

Affects the behavior of the <reply> function when replying to messages from mailing lists (as defined by the "subscribe" or "lists" commands). When set, if the "Reply-To:" field is set to the same value as the "To:" field, NeoMutt assumes that the "Reply-To:" field was set by the mailing list to automate responses to the list, and will ignore this field. To direct a response to the mailing list when this option is set, use the <list-reply> function; <group-reply> will reply to both the sender and the list.

imap_authenticators

Type: string list
Default: ""

This is a colon-separated list of authentication methods NeoMutt may attempt to use to log in to an IMAP server, in the order NeoMutt should try them. Authentication methods are either "login" or the right side of an IMAP "AUTH=xxx" capability string, e.g. "digest-md5", "gssapi" or "cram-md5". This option is case-insensitive. If it’s unset (the default) NeoMutt will try all available methods, in order from most-secure to least-secure.

Example:

set imap_authenticators="gssapi:cram-md5:login"

Note: NeoMutt will only fall back to other authentication methods if the previous methods are unavailable. If a method is available but authentication fails, NeoMutt will not connect to the IMAP server.

imap_check_subscribed

Type: boolean
Default: no

When set, NeoMutt will fetch the set of subscribed folders from your server whenever a mailbox is selected, and add them to the set of mailboxes it polls for new mail just as if you had issued individual "mailboxes" commands.

imap_condstore

Type: boolean
Default: no

When set, NeoMutt will use the CONDSTORE extension (RFC7162) if advertised by the server. NeoMutt’s current implementation is basic, used only for initial message fetching and flag updates.

For some IMAP servers, enabling this will slightly speed up downloading initial messages. Unfortunately, Gmail is not one those, and displays worse performance when enabled. Your mileage may vary.

imap_deflate

Type: boolean
Default: yes

When set, NeoMutt will use the COMPRESS=DEFLATE extension (RFC4978) if advertised by the server.

In general a good compression efficiency can be achieved, which speeds up reading large mailboxes also on fairly good connections.

imap_delim_chars

Type: string
Default: "/."

This contains the list of characters that NeoMutt will use as folder separators for IMAP paths, when no separator is provided on the IMAP connection.

imap_fetch_chunk_size

Type: number (long)
Default: 0

When set to a value greater than 0, new headers will be downloaded in groups of this many headers per request. If you have a very large mailbox, this might prevent a timeout and disconnect when opening the mailbox, by sending a FETCH per set of this many headers, instead of a single FETCH for all new headers.

imap_headers

Type: string
Default: ""

NeoMutt requests these header fields in addition to the default headers ("Date:", "From:", "Sender:", "Subject:", "To:", "Cc:", "Message-Id:", "References:", "Content-Type:", "Content-Description:", "In-Reply-To:", "Reply-To:", "Lines:", "List-Post:", "X-Label:") from IMAP servers before displaying the index menu. You may want to add more headers for spam detection.

Note: This is a space separated list, items should be uppercase and not contain the colon, e.g. "X-BOGOSITY X-SPAM-STATUS" for the "X-Bogosity:" and "X-Spam-Status:" header fields.

imap_idle

Type: boolean
Default: no

When set, NeoMutt will attempt to use the IMAP IDLE extension to check for new mail in the current mailbox. Some servers (dovecot was the inspiration for this option) react badly to NeoMutt’s implementation. If your connection seems to freeze up periodically, try unsetting this.

imap_keep_alive

Type: number
Default: 300

This variable specifies the maximum amount of time in seconds that NeoMutt will wait before polling open IMAP connections, to prevent the server from closing them before NeoMutt has finished with them. The default is well within the RFC-specified minimum amount of time (30 minutes) before a server is allowed to do this, but in practice the RFC does get violated every now and then. Reduce this number if you find yourself getting disconnected from your IMAP server due to inactivity.

imap_list_subscribed

Type: boolean
Default: no

This variable configures whether IMAP folder browsing will look for only subscribed folders or all folders. This can be toggled in the IMAP browser with the <toggle-subscribed> function.

imap_login

Type: string
Default: ""

Your login name on the IMAP server.

This variable defaults to the value of $imap_user.

imap_oauth_refresh_command

Type: command
Default: ""

The command to run to generate an OAUTH refresh token for authorizing your connection to your IMAP server. This command will be run on every connection attempt that uses the OAUTHBEARER or XOAUTH2 authentication mechanisms. See "oauth" for details.

imap_pass

Type: string
Default: ""

Specifies the password for your IMAP account. If unset, NeoMutt will prompt you for your password when you invoke the <imap-fetch-mail> function or try to open an IMAP folder.

Warning: you should only use this option when you are on a fairly secure machine, because the superuser can read your neomuttrc even if you are the only one who can read the file.

imap_passive

Type: boolean
Default: yes

When set, NeoMutt will not open new IMAP connections to check for new mail. NeoMutt will only check for new mail over existing IMAP connections. This is useful if you don’t want to be prompted for user/password pairs on NeoMutt invocation, or if opening the connection is slow.

imap_peek

Type: boolean
Default: yes

When set, NeoMutt will avoid implicitly marking your mail as read whenever you fetch a message from the server. This is generally a good thing, but can make closing an IMAP folder somewhat slower. This option exists to appease speed freaks.

imap_pipeline_depth

Type: number
Default: 15

Controls the number of IMAP commands that may be queued up before they are sent to the server. A deeper pipeline reduces the amount of time NeoMutt must wait for the server, and can make IMAP servers feel much more responsive. But not all servers correctly handle pipelined commands, so if you have problems you might want to try setting this variable to 0.

Note: Changes to this variable have no effect on open connections.

imap_poll_timeout

Type: number
Default: 15

This variable specifies the maximum amount of time in seconds that NeoMutt will wait for a response when polling IMAP connections for new mail, before timing out and closing the connection. Set to 0 to disable timing out.

imap_qresync

Type: boolean
Default: no

When set, NeoMutt will use the QRESYNC extension (RFC7162) if advertised by the server. NeoMutt’s current implementation is basic, used only for initial message fetching and flag updates.

Note: this feature is currently experimental. If you experience strange behavior, such as duplicate or missing messages please file a bug report to let us know.

imap_rfc5161

Type: boolean
Default: yes

When set, NeoMutt will use the IMAP ENABLE extension (RFC5161) to select CAPABILITIES. Some servers (notably Coremail System IMap Server) do not properly respond to ENABLE commands, which might cause NeoMutt to hang. If your connection seems to freeze at login, try unsetting this. See also https://github.com/neomutt/neomutt/issues/1689

imap_send_id

Type: boolean
Default: no

When set, NeoMutt will send an IMAP ID command (RFC2971) to the server when logging in if advertised by the server. This command provides information about the IMAP client, such as "NeoMutt" and the current version.

imap_server_noise

Type: boolean
Default: yes

When set, NeoMutt will display warning messages from the IMAP server as error messages. Since these messages are often harmless, or generated due to configuration problems on the server which are out of the users’ hands, you may wish to suppress them at some point.

imap_user

Type: string
Default: ""

The name of the user whose mail you intend to access on the IMAP server.

This variable defaults to your user name on the local machine.

implicit_auto_view

Type: boolean
Default: no

If set to "yes", NeoMutt will look for a mailcap entry with the "copiousoutput" flag set for every MIME attachment it doesn’t have an internal viewer defined for. If such an entry is found, NeoMutt will use the viewer defined in that entry to convert the body part to text form.

include

Type: quadoption
Default: ask-yes

Controls whether or not a copy of the message(s) you are replying to is included in your reply.

include_encrypted

Type: boolean
Default: no

Controls whether or not NeoMutt includes separately encrypted attachment contents when replying.

This variable was added to prevent accidental exposure of encrypted contents when replying to an attacker. If a previously encrypted message were attached by the attacker, they could trick an unwary recipient into decrypting and including the message in their reply.

include_only_first

Type: boolean
Default: no

Controls whether or not NeoMutt includes only the first attachment of the message you are replying.

indent_string

Type: string
Default: "> "

Specifies the string to prepend to each line of text quoted in a message to which you are replying. You are strongly encouraged not to change this value, as it tends to agitate the more fanatical netizens.

The value of this option is ignored if $text_flowed is set, because the quoting mechanism is strictly defined for format=flowed.

This option is a format string, please see the description of $index_format for supported printf(3)-style sequences.

index_format

Type: string
Default: "%4C %Z %{%b %d} %-15.15L (%<l?%4l&%4c>) %s"

This variable allows you to customize the message index display to your personal taste.

"Format strings" are similar to the strings used in the C function printf(3) to format output (see the man page for more details). For an explanation of the %<...> construct, see the status_format description. The following sequences are defined in NeoMutt:

%@name@

insert and evaluate format-string from the matching "index-format-hook" command

Date format expressions can be constructed based on relative dates. Using the date formatting operators along with nested conditionals, the date format can be modified based on how old a message is. See the section on "Conditional Dates" for an explanation and examples

Note that for mbox/mmdf, "%l" applies to the unprocessed message, and for maildir/mh, the value comes from the "Lines:" header field when present (the meaning is normally the same). Thus the value depends on the encodings used in the different parts of the message and has little meaning in practice.

"Soft-fill" deserves some explanation: Normal right-justification will print everything to the left of the "%>", displaying padding and whatever lies to the right only if there’s room. By contrast, soft-fill gives priority to the right-hand side, guaranteeing space to display it and showing padding only if there’s still room. If necessary, soft-fill will eat text leftwards to make room for rightward text.

Note that these expandos are supported in "save-hook", "fcc-hook" and "fcc-save-hook", too.

Default: ""

If set, specifies the program and arguments used to deliver news posted by NeoMutt. Otherwise, NeoMutt posts article using current connection to news server. The following printf-style sequence is understood:

Example:

set inews="/usr/local/bin/inews -hS"

Default: "ispell"

How to invoke ispell (GNU’s spell-checking software).

keep_flagged

Type: boolean
Default: no

If set, read messages marked as flagged will not be moved from your spool mailbox to your $mbox mailbox or to the "mbox" specified by a mbox-hook command.

Note that $keep_flagged only has an effect if $move is set.

local_date_header

Type: boolean
Default: yes

If set, the date in the Date header of emails that you send will be in your local timezone. If unset a UTC date will be used instead to avoid leaking information about your current location.

mail_check

Type: number
Default: 5

This variable configures how often (in seconds) NeoMutt should look for new mail. Also see the $timeout variable.

mail_check_recent

Type: boolean
Default: yes

When set, NeoMutt will only notify you about new mail that has been received since the last time you opened the mailbox. When unset, NeoMutt will notify you if any new mail exists in the mailbox, regardless of whether you have visited it recently.

mail_check_stats

Type: boolean
Default: no

When set, NeoMutt will periodically calculate message statistics of a mailbox while polling for new mail. It will check for unread, flagged, and total message counts. (Note: IMAP mailboxes only support unread and total counts).

Because this operation is more performance intensive, it defaults to unset, and has a separate option, $mail_check_stats_interval, to control how often to update these counts.

Message statistics can also be explicitly calculated by invoking the <check-stats> function.

mail_check_stats_interval

Type: number
Default: 60

When $mail_check_stats is set, this variable configures how often (in seconds) NeoMutt will update message counts.

mailbox_folder_format

Type: string
Default: "%2C %<n?%6n& > %6m %i"

This variable allows you to customize the file browser display to your personal taste. It’s only used to customize network mailboxes (e.g. imap). This string is identical in formatting to the one used by "$folder_format".

mailcap_path

Type: string list
Default: "~/.mailcap:/usr/share/neomutt/mailcap:/etc/mailcap:/etc/mailcap:/usr/etc/mailcap:/usr/local/etc/mailcap"

This variable specifies a list of colon-separated files to consult when attempting to display MIME bodies not directly supported by NeoMutt. The default value is generated during startup: see the "mailcap" section of the manual.

$mailcap_path is overridden by the environment variable $MAILCAPS.

The default search path is from RFC1524.

mailcap_sanitize

Type: boolean
Default: yes

If set, NeoMutt will restrict possible characters in mailcap % expandos to a well-defined set of safe characters. This is the safe setting, but we are not sure it doesn’t break some more advanced MIME stuff.

DON’T CHANGE THIS SETTING UNLESS YOU ARE REALLY SURE WHAT YOU ARE DOING!

maildir_check_cur

Type: boolean
Default: no

If set, NeoMutt will poll both the new and cur directories of a maildir folder for new messages. This might be useful if other programs interacting with the folder (e.g. dovecot) are moving new messages to the cur directory. Note that setting this option may slow down polling for new messages in large folders, since NeoMutt has to scan all cur messages.

maildir_field_delimiter

Type: string
Default: ":"

Use the value as maildir field delimiter. This is a single-character used to accommodate maildir mailboxes on platforms where ’:’ is not allowed in a filename. The recommended alternative on such platforms is ’;’. Neomutt supports all non-alphanumeric values except for ’-’, ’.’, ’\’, ’/’. Note: this only applies to maildir-style mailboxes. Setting it will have no effect on other mailbox types.

maildir_header_cache_verify

Type: boolean
Default: yes

Check for Maildir unaware programs other than NeoMutt having modified maildir files when the header cache is in use. This incurs one stat(2) per message every time the folder is opened (which can be very slow for NFS folders).

maildir_trash

Type: boolean
Default: no

If set, messages marked as deleted will be saved with the maildir trashed flag instead of unlinked. Note: this only applies to maildir-style mailboxes. Setting it will have no effect on other mailbox types.

mark_macro_prefix

Type: string
Default: "’"

Prefix for macros created using mark-message. A new macro automatically generated with <mark-message>a will be composed from this prefix and the letter a.

mark_old

Type: boolean
Default: yes

Controls whether or not NeoMutt marks new unread messages as old if you exit a mailbox without reading them. With this option set, the next time you start NeoMutt, the messages will show up with an "O" next to them in the index menu, indicating that they are old.

markers

Type: boolean
Default: yes

Controls the display of wrapped lines in the internal pager. If set, a "+" marker is displayed at the beginning of wrapped lines.

Also see the $smart_wrap variable.

Default: "!^\.[^.]"

A regular expression used in the file browser, optionally preceded by the not operator "!". Only files whose names match this mask will be shown. The match is always case-sensitive.

Default: "~/mbox"

This specifies the folder into which read mail in your $spool_file folder will be appended.

Also see the $move variable.

mbox_type

Type: enumeration
Default: mbox

The default mailbox type used when creating new folders. May be any of "mbox", "MMDF", "MH" or "Maildir".

This can also be set using the -m command-line option.

Default: no

If unset, NeoMutt will remove your address (see the "alternates" command) from the list of recipients when replying to a message.

menu_context

Type: number
Default: 0

This variable controls the number of lines of context that are given when scrolling through menus. (Similar to $pager_context.)

menu_move_off

Type: boolean
Default: yes

When unset, the bottom entry of menus will never scroll up past the bottom of the screen, unless there are less entries than lines. When set, the bottom entry may move off the bottom.

menu_scroll

Type: boolean
Default: no

When set, menus will be scrolled up or down one line when you attempt to move across a screen boundary. If unset, the screen is cleared and the next or previous page of the menu is displayed (useful for slow links to avoid many redraws).

message_cache_clean

Type: boolean
Default: no

If set, NeoMutt will clean out obsolete entries from the message cache when the mailbox is synchronized. You probably only want to set it every once in a while, since it can be a little slow (especially for large folders).

message_cache_dir

Type: path
Default: ""

Set this to a directory and NeoMutt will cache copies of messages from your IMAP and POP servers here. You are free to remove entries at any time.

When setting this variable to a directory, NeoMutt needs to fetch every remote message only once and can perform regular expression searches as fast as for local folders.

Also see the $message_cache_clean variable.

message_format

Type: string
Default: "%s"

This is the string displayed in the "attachment" menu for attachments of type message/rfc822. For a full listing of defined printf(3)-like sequences see the section on $index_format.

meta_key

Type: boolean
Default: no

If set, forces NeoMutt to interpret keystrokes with the high bit (bit 8) set as if the user had pressed the Esc key and whatever key remains after having the high bit removed. For example, if the key pressed has an ASCII value of 0xf8, then this is treated as if the user had pressed Esc then "x". This is because the result of removing the high bit from 0xf8 is 0x78, which is the ASCII character "x".

mh_purge

Type: boolean
Default: no

When unset, NeoMutt will mimic mh’s behavior and rename deleted messages to ,<old file name> in mh folders instead of really deleting them. This leaves the message on disk but makes programs reading the folder ignore it. If the variable is set, the message files will simply be deleted.

This option is similar to $maildir_trash for Maildir folders.

mh_seq_flagged

Type: string
Default: "flagged"

The name of the MH sequence used for flagged messages.

mh_seq_replied

Type: string
Default: "replied"

The name of the MH sequence used to tag replied messages.

mh_seq_unseen

Type: string
Default: "unseen"

The name of the MH sequence used for unseen messages.

mime_forward

Type: quadoption
Default: no

When set, the message you are forwarding will be attached as a separate message/rfc822 MIME part instead of included in the main body of the message. This is useful for forwarding MIME messages so the receiver can properly view the message as it was delivered to you. If you like to switch between MIME and not MIME from mail to mail, set this variable to "ask-no" or "ask-yes".

Also see $forward_decode and $mime_forward_decode.

mime_forward_decode

Type: boolean
Default: no

Controls the decoding of complex MIME messages into text/plain when forwarding a message while $mime_forward is set. Otherwise $forward_decode is used instead.

mime_forward_rest

Type: quadoption
Default: yes

When forwarding multiple attachments of a MIME message from the attachment menu, attachments which can’t be decoded in a reasonable manner will be attached to the newly composed message if this option is set.

mime_type_query_command

Type: command
Default: ""

This specifies a command to run, to determine the mime type of a new attachment when composing a message. Unless $mime_type_query_first is set, this will only be run if the attachment’s extension is not found in the mime.types file.

The string may contain a "%s", which will be substituted with the attachment filename. NeoMutt will add quotes around the string substituted for "%s" automatically according to shell quoting rules, so you should avoid adding your own. If no "%s" is found in the string, NeoMutt will append the attachment filename to the end of the string.

The command should output a single line containing the attachment’s mime type.

Suggested values are "xdg-mime query filetype" or "file -bi".

mime_type_query_first

Type: boolean
Default: no

When set, the $mime_type_query_command will be run before the mime.types lookup.

mix_entry_format

Type: string
Default: "%4n %c %-16s %a"

This variable describes the format of a remailer line on the mixmaster chain selection screen. The following printf(3)-like sequences are supported:

(Mixmaster only)

mixmaster

Type: command
Default: "mixmaster"

This variable contains the path to the Mixmaster binary on your system. It is used with various sets of parameters to gather the list of known remailers, and to finally send a message through the mixmaster chain. (Mixmaster only)

Note: On Debian systems, this option is set by default to “mixmaster-filter” in /etc/neomuttrc.

Default: no

If this variable is set, then NeoMutt will move read messages from your spool mailbox to your $mbox mailbox or to the "mbox" specified by a mbox-hook command.

See also $keep_flagged.

narrow_tree

Type: boolean
Default: no

This variable, when set, makes the thread tree narrower, allowing deeper threads to fit on the screen.

net_inc

Type: number
Default: 10

Operations that expect to transfer a large amount of data over the network will update their progress every $net_inc kilobytes. If set to 0, no progress messages will be displayed.

See also $read_inc, $write_inc and $net_inc.

new_mail_command

Type: command
Default: ""

If set, NeoMutt will call this command after a new message is received. See the $status_format documentation for the values that can be formatted into this command.

news_cache_dir

Type: path
Default: "~/.neomutt"

This variable pointing to directory where NeoMutt will save cached news articles and headers in. If unset, articles and headers will not be saved at all and will be reloaded from the server each time.

news_server

Type: string
Default: ""

This variable specifies domain name or address of NNTP server.

You can also specify username and an alternative port for each news server, e.g. [[s]news://][username[:password]@]server[:port]

This option can also be set using the command line option "-g", the environment variable $NNTPSERVER, or putting the server name in the file "/etc/nntpserver".

newsgroups_charset

Type: string
Default: "utf-8"

Character set of newsgroups descriptions.

Default: "~/.newsrc"

The file, containing info about subscribed newsgroups - names and indexes of read articles. The following printf-style sequence is understood:
Expando

Description Example

nm_config_file

Type: path
Default: "auto"

Configuration file for notmuch. Use ’auto’ to detect configuration.

nm_config_profile

Type: string
Default: ""

Configuration profile for notmuch.

nm_db_limit

Type: number
Default: 0

This variable specifies the default limit used in notmuch queries.

nm_default_url

Type: string
Default: ""

This variable specifies the default Notmuch database in format notmuch://<absolute path>.

nm_exclude_tags

Type: string
Default: ""

The messages tagged with these tags are excluded and not loaded from notmuch DB to NeoMutt unless specified explicitly.

nm_flagged_tag

Type: string
Default: "flagged"

This variable specifies notmuch tag which is used for flagged messages. The variable is used to count flagged messages in DB and set the flagged flag when modifying tags. All other NeoMutt commands use standard (e.g. maildir) flags.

nm_open_timeout

Type: number
Default: 5

This variable specifies the timeout for database open in seconds.

nm_query_type

Type: string
Default: "messages"

This variable specifies the default query type (threads or messages) used in notmuch queries.

nm_query_window_current_position

Type: number
Default: 0

This variable contains the position of the current search for window based vfolder.

nm_query_window_current_search

Type: string
Default: ""

This variable contains the currently setup notmuch search for window based vfolder.

nm_query_window_duration

Type: number
Default: 0

This variable sets the time duration of a windowed notmuch query. Accepted values all non negative integers. A value of 0 disables the feature.

nm_query_window_enable

Type: boolean
Default: no

This variable enables windowed notmuch queries even if window duration is 0.

nm_query_window_or_terms

Type: string
Default: ""

This variable contains additional notmuch search terms for messages to be shown regardless of date.

Example:

Using "notmuch://?query=tag:inbox" as the mailbox and "tag:flagged and tag:unread" as the or terms, NeoMutt will produce a query window such as:

notmuch://?query=tag:inbox and (date:... or (tag:flagged and tag:unread))

nm_query_window_timebase

Type: string
Default: "week"

This variable sets the time base of a windowed notmuch query. Accepted values are ’minute’, ’hour’, ’day’, ’week’, ’month’, ’year’

nm_record

Type: boolean
Default: no

This variable specifies whether, when writing a just-sent message to the $record, the message should also be added to the notmuch DB. Replies inherit the notmuch tags from the original message. See $nm_record_tags for how to modify the set of notmuch tags assigned to sent messages written to the record.

nm_record_tags

Type: string
Default: ""

This variable specifies the notmuch tag modifications (addition, removal, toggling) applied to messages added to the Neomutt record when $nm_record is true. See the description of the <modify-labels> function for the syntax.

nm_replied_tag

Type: string
Default: "replied"

This variable specifies notmuch tag which is used for replied messages. The variable is used to set the replied flag when modifying tags. All other NeoMutt commands use standard (e.g. maildir) flags.

nm_unread_tag

Type: string
Default: "unread"

This variable specifies notmuch tag which is used for unread messages. The variable is used to count unread messages in DB and set the unread flag when modifying tags. All other NeoMutt commands use standard (e.g. maildir) flags.

nntp_authenticators

Type: string
Default: ""

This is a colon-delimited list of authentication methods NeoMutt may attempt to use to log in to a news server, in the order NeoMutt should try them. Authentication methods are either "user" or any SASL mechanism, e.g. "digest-md5", "gssapi" or "cram-md5". This option is case-insensitive. If it’s unset (the default) NeoMutt will try all available methods, in order from most-secure to least-secure.

Example:

set nntp_authenticators="digest-md5:user"

Note: NeoMutt will only fall back to other authentication methods if the previous methods are unavailable. If a method is available but authentication fails, NeoMutt will not connect to the IMAP server.

nntp_context

Type: number (long)
Default: 1000

This variable defines number of articles which will be in index when newsgroup entered. If active newsgroup have more articles than this number, oldest articles will be ignored. Also controls how many articles headers will be saved in cache when you quit newsgroup.

nntp_listgroup

Type: boolean
Default: yes

This variable controls whether or not existence of each article is checked when newsgroup is entered.

nntp_load_description

Type: boolean
Default: yes

This variable controls whether or not descriptions for each newsgroup must be loaded when newsgroup is added to list (first time list loading or new newsgroup adding).

nntp_pass

Type: string
Default: ""

Your password for NNTP account.

nntp_poll

Type: number
Default: 60

The time in seconds until any operations on newsgroup except post new article will cause recheck for new news. If set to 0, NeoMutt will recheck newsgroup on each operation in index (stepping, read article, etc.).

nntp_user

Type: string
Default: ""

Your login name on the NNTP server. If unset and NNTP server requires authentication, NeoMutt will prompt you for your account name when you connect to news server.

Default: ""

This variable specifies which pager you would like to use to view messages. When empty, NeoMutt will use the built-in pager, otherwise this variable should specify the pathname of the external pager you would like to use.

Using an external pager may have some disadvantages: Additional keystrokes are necessary because you can’t call NeoMutt functions directly from the pager, and screen resizes cause lines longer than the screen width to be badly formatted in the help menu.

pager_context

Type: number
Default: 0

This variable controls the number of lines of context that are given when displaying the next or previous page in the internal pager. By default, NeoMutt will display the line after the last one on the screen at the top of the next page (0 lines of context).

This variable also specifies the amount of context given for search results. If positive, this many lines will be given before a match, if 0, the match will be top-aligned.

pager_format

Type: string
Default: "-%Z- %C/%m: %-20.20n %s%* -- (%P)"

This variable controls the format of the one-line message "status" displayed before each message in either the internal or an external pager. The valid sequences are listed in the $index_format section.

pager_index_lines

Type: number
Default: 0

Determines the number of lines of a mini-index which is shown when in the pager. The current message, unless near the top or bottom of the folder, will be roughly one third of the way down this mini-index, giving the reader the context of a few messages before and after the message. This is useful, for example, to determine how many messages remain to be read in the current thread. A value of 0 results in no index being shown.

pager_read_delay

Type: number
Default: 0

Determines the number of seconds that must elapse after first opening a new message in the pager before that message will be marked as read. A value of 0 results in the message being marked read unconditionally; for other values, navigating to another message or exiting the pager before the timeout will leave the message marked unread. This setting is ignored if $pager is set.

pager_skip_quoted_context

Type: number
Default: 0

Determines the number of lines of context to show before the unquoted text when using the <skip-quoted> function. When set to a positive number at most that many lines of the previous quote are displayed. If the previous quote is shorter the whole quote is displayed.

The (now deprecated) skip_quoted_offset is an alias for this variable, and should no longer be used.

pager_stop

Type: boolean
Default: no

When set, the internal-pager will not move to the next message when you are at the end of a message and invoke the <next-page> function.

pattern_format

Type: string
Default: "%2n %-15e %d"

This variable describes the format of the "pattern completion" menu. The following printf(3)-style sequences are understood:

pgp_auto_decode

Type: boolean
Default: no

If set, NeoMutt will automatically attempt to decrypt traditional PGP messages whenever the user performs an operation which ordinarily would result in the contents of the message being operated on. For example, if the user displays a pgp-traditional message which has not been manually checked with the <check-traditional-pgp> function, NeoMutt will automatically check the message for traditional pgp.

pgp_auto_inline

Type: boolean
Default: no

This option controls whether NeoMutt generates old-style inline (traditional) PGP encrypted or signed messages under certain circumstances. This can be overridden by use of the pgp menu, when inline is not required. The GPGME backend does not support this option.

Note that NeoMutt might automatically use PGP/MIME for messages which consist of more than a single MIME part. NeoMutt can be configured to ask before sending PGP/MIME messages when inline (traditional) would not work.

Also see the $pgp_mime_auto variable.

Also note that using the old-style PGP message format is strongly deprecated. (PGP only)

pgp_check_exit

Type: boolean
Default: yes

If set, NeoMutt will check the exit code of the PGP subprocess when signing or encrypting. A non-zero exit code means that the subprocess failed. (PGP only)

pgp_check_gpg_decrypt_status_fd

Type: boolean
Default: yes

If set, NeoMutt will check the status file descriptor output of $pgp_decrypt_command and $pgp_decode_command for GnuPG status codes indicating successful decryption. This will check for the presence of DECRYPTION_OKAY, absence of DECRYPTION_FAILED, and that all PLAINTEXT occurs between the BEGIN_DECRYPTION and END_DECRYPTION status codes.

If unset, NeoMutt will instead match the status fd output against $pgp_decryption_okay. (PGP only)

pgp_clear_sign_command

Type: command
Default: ""

This format is used to create an old-style "clearsigned" PGP message. Note that the use of this format is strongly deprecated.

This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for possible printf(3)-like sequences. Note that in this case, %r expands to the search string, which is a list of one or more quoted values such as email address, name, or keyid. (PGP only)

pgp_decode_command

Type: command
Default: ""

This format strings specifies a command which is used to decode application/pgp attachments.

The PGP command formats have their own set of printf(3)-like sequences:

(PGP only)

pgp_decrypt_command

Type: command
Default: ""

This command is used to decrypt a PGP encrypted message.

This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for possible printf(3)-like sequences. (PGP only)

Note: When decrypting messages using gpg, a pinentry program needs to be invoked unless the password is cached within gpg-agent. Currently, the pinentry-tty program (usually distributed with gpg) isn’t suitable for being invoked by NeoMutt. You are encouraged to use a different pinentry-program when running NeoMutt in order to avoid problems.

See also: https://github.com/neomutt/neomutt/issues/1014

pgp_decryption_okay

Type: regular expression
Default: ""

If you assign text to this variable, then an encrypted PGP message is only considered successfully decrypted if the output from $pgp_decrypt_command contains the text. This is used to protect against a spoofed encrypted message, with multipart/encrypted headers but containing a block that is not actually encrypted. (e.g. simply signed and ascii armored text).

Note that if $pgp_check_gpg_decrypt_status_fd is set, this variable is ignored. (PGP only)

pgp_default_key

Type: string
Default: ""

This is the default key-pair to use for PGP operations. It will be used for encryption (see $postpone_encrypt and $pgp_self_encrypt).

It will also be used for signing unless $pgp_sign_as is set.

The (now deprecated) pgp_self_encrypt_as is an alias for this variable, and should no longer be used. (PGP only)

pgp_encrypt_only_command

Type: command
Default: ""

This command is used to encrypt a body part without signing it.

This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for possible printf(3)-like sequences. Note that in this case, %r expands to the search string, which is a list of one or more quoted values such as email address, name, or keyid. (PGP only)

pgp_encrypt_sign_command

Type: command
Default: ""

This command is used to both sign and encrypt a body part.

This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for possible printf(3)-like sequences. (PGP only)

pgp_entry_format

Type: string
Default: "%4n %t%f %4l/0x%k %-4a %2c %u"

This variable allows you to customize the PGP key selection menu to your personal taste. If $crypt_use_gpgme is set, then it applies to S/MIME key selection menu also. This string is similar to $index_format, but has its own set of printf(3)-like sequences:

See the section "Sending Cryptographically Signed/Encrypted Messages" of the user manual for the meaning of the letters some of these sequences expand to.

(Crypto only) or (PGP only when GPGME disabled)

pgp_export_command

Type: command
Default: ""

This command is used to export a public key from the user’s key ring.

This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for possible printf(3)-like sequences. (PGP only)

pgp_get_keys_command

Type: command
Default: ""

This command is invoked whenever NeoMutt needs to fetch the public key associated with an email address. Of the sequences supported by $pgp_decode_command, %r is the only printf(3)-like sequence used with this format. Note that in this case, %r expands to the email address, not the public key ID (the key ID is unknown, which is why NeoMutt is invoking this command). (PGP only)

pgp_good_sign

Type: regular expression
Default: ""

If you assign a text to this variable, then a PGP signature is only considered verified if the output from $pgp_verify_command contains the text. Use this variable if the exit code from the command is 0 even for bad signatures. (PGP only)

pgp_ignore_subkeys

Type: boolean
Default: yes

Setting this variable will cause NeoMutt to ignore OpenPGP subkeys. Instead, the principal key will inherit the subkeys’ capabilities. Unset this if you want to play interesting key selection games. (PGP only)

pgp_import_command

Type: command
Default: ""

This command is used to import a key from a message into the user’s public key ring.

This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for possible printf(3)-like sequences. (PGP only)

pgp_list_pubring_command

Type: command
Default: ""

This command is used to list the public key ring’s contents. The output format must be analogous to the one used by

gpg --list-keys --with-colons --with-fingerprint

Note: gpg’s fixed-list-mode option should not be used. It produces a different date format which may result in NeoMutt showing incorrect key generation dates.

This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for possible printf(3)-like sequences. (PGP only)

pgp_list_secring_command

Type: command
Default: ""

This command is used to list the secret key ring’s contents. The output format must be analogous to the one used by:

gpg --list-keys --with-colons --with-fingerprint

Note: gpg’s fixed-list-mode option should not be used. It produces a different date format which may result in NeoMutt showing incorrect key generation dates.

This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for possible printf(3)-like sequences. (PGP only)

pgp_long_ids

Type: boolean
Default: yes

If set, use 64 bit PGP key IDs, if unset use the normal 32 bit key IDs. NOTE: Internally, NeoMutt has transitioned to using fingerprints (or long key IDs as a fallback). This option now only controls the display of key IDs in the key selection menu and a few other places. (PGP only)

pgp_mime_auto

Type: quadoption
Default: ask-yes

This option controls whether NeoMutt will prompt you for automatically sending a (signed/encrypted) message using PGP/MIME when inline (traditional) fails (for any reason).

Also note that using the old-style PGP message format is strongly deprecated. (PGP only)

pgp_reply_inline

Type: boolean
Default: no

Setting this variable will cause NeoMutt to always attempt to create an inline (traditional) message when replying to a message which is PGP encrypted/signed inline. This can be overridden by use of the pgp menu, when inline is not required. This option does not automatically detect if the (replied-to) message is inline; instead it relies on NeoMutt internals for previously checked/flagged messages.

Note that NeoMutt might automatically use PGP/MIME for messages which consist of more than a single MIME part. NeoMutt can be configured to ask before sending PGP/MIME messages when inline (traditional) would not work.

Also see the $pgp_mime_auto variable.

Also note that using the old-style PGP message format is strongly deprecated. (PGP only)

pgp_retainable_sigs

Type: boolean
Default: no

If set, signed and encrypted messages will consist of nested multipart/signed and multipart/encrypted body parts.

This is useful for applications like encrypted and signed mailing lists, where the outer layer (multipart/encrypted) can be easily removed, while the inner multipart/signed part is retained. (PGP only)

pgp_self_encrypt

Type: boolean
Default: yes

When set, PGP encrypted messages will also be encrypted using the key in $pgp_default_key. (PGP only)

pgp_show_unusable

Type: boolean
Default: yes

If set, NeoMutt will display non-usable keys on the PGP key selection menu. This includes keys which have been revoked, have expired, or have been marked as "disabled" by the user. (PGP only)

pgp_sign_as

Type: string
Default: ""

If you have a different key pair to use for signing, you should set this to the signing key. Most people will only need to set $pgp_default_key. It is recommended that you use the keyid form to specify your key (e.g. 0x00112233). (PGP only)

pgp_sign_command

Type: command
Default: ""

This command is used to create the detached PGP signature for a multipart/signed PGP/MIME body part.

This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for possible printf(3)-like sequences. (PGP only)

pgp_sort_keys

Type: sort order
Default: address

Specifies how the entries in the pgp menu are sorted. The following are legal values:
address

sort alphabetically by user id

If you prefer reverse order of the above values, prefix it with "reverse-". (PGP only)

pgp_strict_enc

Type: boolean
Default: yes

If set, NeoMutt will automatically encode PGP/MIME signed messages as quoted-printable. Please note that unsetting this variable may lead to problems with non-verifyable PGP signatures, so only change this if you know what you are doing. (PGP only)

pgp_timeout

Type: number (long)
Default: 300

The number of seconds after which a cached passphrase will expire if not used. (PGP only)

pgp_use_gpg_agent

Type: boolean
Default: yes

If set, NeoMutt expects a gpg-agent(1) process will handle private key passphrase prompts. If unset, NeoMutt will prompt for the passphrase and pass it via stdin to the pgp command.

Note that as of version 2.1, GnuPG automatically spawns an agent and requires the agent be used for passphrase management. Since that version is increasingly prevalent, this variable now defaults set.

NeoMutt works with a GUI or curses pinentry program. A TTY pinentry should not be used.

If you are using an older version of GnuPG without an agent running, or another encryption program without an agent, you will need to unset this variable. (PGP only)

pgp_verify_command

Type: command
Default: ""

This command is used to verify PGP signatures.

This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for possible printf(3)-like sequences. (PGP only)

pgp_verify_key_command

Type: command
Default: ""

This command is used to verify key information from the key selection menu.

This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for possible printf(3)-like sequences. (PGP only)

pipe_decode

Type: boolean
Default: no

Used in connection with the <pipe-message> function. When unset, NeoMutt will pipe the messages without any preprocessing. When set, NeoMutt will attempt to decode the messages first.

Also see $pipe_decode_weed, which controls whether headers will be weeded when this is set.

pipe_decode_weed

Type: boolean
Default: yes

For <pipe-message>, when $pipe_decode is set, this further controls whether NeoMutt will weed headers.

pipe_sep

Type: string
Default: "\n"

The separator to add between messages when piping a list of tagged messages to an external Unix command.

pipe_split

Type: boolean
Default: no

Used in connection with the <pipe-message> function following <tag-prefix>. If this variable is unset, when piping a list of tagged messages NeoMutt will concatenate the messages and will pipe them all concatenated. When set, NeoMutt will pipe the messages one by one. In both cases the messages are piped in the current sorted order, and the $pipe_sep separator is added after each message.

pop_auth_try_all

Type: boolean
Default: yes

If set, NeoMutt will try all available authentication methods. When unset, NeoMutt will only fall back to other authentication methods if the previous methods are unavailable. If a method is available but authentication fails, NeoMutt will not connect to the POP server.

pop_authenticators

Type: string list
Default: ""

This is a colon-separated list of authentication methods NeoMutt may attempt to use to log in to an POP server, in the order NeoMutt should try them. Authentication methods are either "user", "apop" or any SASL mechanism, e.g. "digest-md5", "gssapi" or "cram-md5". This option is case-insensitive. If this option is unset (the default) NeoMutt will try all available methods, in order from most-secure to least-secure.

Example:

set pop_authenticators="digest-md5:apop:user"

pop_check_interval

Type: number
Default: 60

This variable configures how often (in seconds) NeoMutt should look for new mail in the currently selected mailbox if it is a POP mailbox.

pop_delete

Type: quadoption
Default: ask-no

If set, NeoMutt will delete successfully downloaded messages from the POP server when using the <fetch-mail> function. When unset, NeoMutt will download messages but also leave them on the POP server.

pop_host

Type: string
Default: ""

The name of your POP server for the <fetch-mail> function. You can also specify an alternative port, username and password, i.e.:

[pop[s]://][username[:password]@]popserver[:port]

where "[...]" denotes an optional part.

pop_last

Type: boolean
Default: no

If this variable is set, NeoMutt will try to use the "LAST" POP command for retrieving only unread messages from the POP server when using the <fetch-mail> function.

pop_oauth_refresh_command

Type: command
Default: ""

The command to run to generate an OAUTH refresh token for authorizing your connection to your POP server. This command will be run on every connection attempt that uses the OAUTHBEARER authentication mechanism. See "oauth" for details.

pop_pass

Type: string
Default: ""

Specifies the password for your POP account. If unset, NeoMutt will prompt you for your password when you open a POP mailbox.

Warning: you should only use this option when you are on a fairly secure machine, because the superuser can read your neomuttrc even if you are the only one who can read the file.

pop_reconnect

Type: quadoption
Default: ask-yes

Controls whether or not NeoMutt will try to reconnect to the POP server if the connection is lost.

pop_user

Type: string
Default: ""

Your login name on the POP server.

This variable defaults to your user name on the local machine.

post_moderated

Type: quadoption
Default: ask-yes

If set to yes, NeoMutt will post article to newsgroup that have not permissions to posting (e.g. moderated). Note: if news server does not support posting to that newsgroup or totally read-only, that posting will not have an effect.

postpone

Type: quadoption
Default: ask-yes

Controls whether or not messages are saved in the $postponed mailbox when you elect not to send immediately. If set to ask-yes or ask-no, you will be prompted with "Save (postpone) draft message?" when quitting from the "compose" screen.

Also see the $recall variable.

postpone_encrypt

Type: boolean
Default: no

When set, postponed messages that are marked for encryption will be self-encrypted. NeoMutt will first try to encrypt using the value specified in $pgp_default_key or $smime_default_key. If those are not set, it will try the deprecated $postpone_encrypt_as. (Crypto only)

postpone_encrypt_as

Type: string
Default: ""

This is a deprecated fall-back variable for $postpone_encrypt. Please use $pgp_default_key or $smime_default_key. (Crypto only)

postponed

Type: mailbox
Default: "~/postponed"

NeoMutt allows you to indefinitely "postpone sending a message" which you are editing. When you choose to postpone a message, NeoMutt saves it in the mailbox specified by this variable.

Also see the $postpone variable.

preconnect

Type: string
Default: ""

If set, a shell command to be executed if NeoMutt fails to establish a connection to the server. This is useful for setting up secure connections, e.g. with ssh(1). If the command returns a nonzero status, NeoMutt gives up opening the server. Example:

set preconnect="ssh -f -q -L 1234:mailhost.net:143 mailhost.net \
sleep 20 < /dev/null > /dev/null"

Mailbox "foo" on "mailhost.net" can now be reached as "{localhost:1234}foo".

Note: For this example to work, you must be able to log in to the remote machine without having to enter a password.

preferred_languages

Type: string list
Default: ""

This variable specifies a list of comma-separated languages. RFC8255 : user preferred languages to be searched in parts and display. Example:

set preferred_languages="en,fr,de"

Default: ask-no

Controls whether or not NeoMutt really prints messages. This is set to "ask-no" by default, because some people accidentally hit "p" often.

print_command

Type: command
Default: "lpr"

This specifies the command pipe that should be used to print messages.

print_decode

Type: boolean
Default: yes

Used in connection with the <print-message> function. If this option is set, the message is decoded before it is passed to the external command specified by $print_command. If this option is unset, no processing will be applied to the message when printing it. The latter setting may be useful if you are using some advanced printer filter which is able to properly format e-mail messages for printing.

Also see $print_decode_weed, which controls whether headers will be weeded when this is set.

print_decode_weed

Type: boolean
Default: yes

For <print-message>, when $print_decode is set, this further controls whether NeoMutt will weed headers.

print_split

Type: boolean
Default: no

Used in connection with the <print-message> function. If this option is set, the command specified by $print_command is executed once for each message which is to be printed. If this option is unset, the command specified by $print_command is executed only once, and all the messages are concatenated, with a form feed as the message separator.

Those who use the enscript(1) program’s mail-printing mode will most likely want to set this option.

prompt_after

Type: boolean
Default: yes

If you use an external $pager, setting this variable will cause NeoMutt to prompt you for a command when the pager exits rather than returning to the index menu. If unset, NeoMutt will return to the index menu when the external pager exits.

query_command

Type: command
Default: ""

This specifies the command NeoMutt will use to make external address queries. The string may contain a "%s", which will be substituted with the query string the user types. NeoMutt will add quotes around the string substituted for "%s" automatically according to shell quoting rules, so you should avoid adding your own. If no "%s" is found in the string, NeoMutt will append the user’s query to the end of the string. See "query" (https://neomutt.org/guide/advancedusage.html#query) for more information.

query_format

Type: string
Default: "%3c %t %-25.25n %-25.25a | %e"

This variable describes the format of the "query" menu. The following printf(3)-style sequences are understood:

For an explanation of "soft-fill", see the $index_format documentation.

* = can be optionally printed if nonzero, see the $status_format documentation.

Default: yes

This variable controls whether "quit" and "exit" actually quit from NeoMutt. If this option is set, they do quit, if it is unset, they have no effect, and if it is set to ask-yes or ask-no, you are prompted for confirmation when you try to quit.

In order to quit from NeoMutt if this variable is unset, you must send the signal SIGINT to NeoMutt. This can usually be achieved by pressing CTRL-C in the terminal.

quote_regex

Type: regular expression
Default: "^([ \t]*[|>:}#])+"

A regular expression used in the internal pager to determine quoted sections of text in the body of a message. Quoted text may be filtered out using the <toggle-quoted> command, or colored according to the "color quoted" family of directives.

Higher levels of quoting may be colored differently ("color quoted1", "color quoted2", etc.). The quoting level is determined by removing the last character from the matched text and recursively reapplying the regular expression until it fails to produce a match.

Match detection may be overridden by the $smileys regular expression.

read_inc

Type: number
Default: 10

If set to a value greater than 0, NeoMutt will display which message it is currently on when reading a mailbox or when performing search actions such as search and limit. The message is printed after this many messages have been read or searched (e.g., if set to 25, NeoMutt will print a message when it is at message 25, and then again when it gets to message 50). This variable is meant to indicate progress when reading or searching large mailboxes which may take some time. When set to 0, only a single message will appear before the reading the mailbox.

Also see the $write_inc, $net_inc and $time_inc variables and the "tuning" section of the manual for performance considerations.

read_only

Type: boolean
Default: no

If set, all folders are opened in read-only mode.

real_name

Type: string
Default: ""

This variable specifies what "real" or "personal" name should be used when sending messages.

If not specified, then the user’s "real name" will be read from /etc/passwd. This option will not be used, if "$from" is set.

Default: ask-yes

Controls whether or not NeoMutt recalls postponed messages when composing a new message.

Setting this variable to yes is not generally useful, and thus not recommended. Note that the <recall-message> function can be used to manually recall postponed messages.

Also see $postponed variable.

Default: "~/sent"

This specifies the file into which your outgoing messages should be appended. (This is meant as the primary method for saving a copy of your messages, but another way to do this is using the "my_hdr" command to create a "Bcc:" field with your email address in it.)

The value of $record is overridden by the $force_name and $save_name variables, and the "fcc-hook" command. Also see $copy and $write_bcc.

reflow_space_quotes

Type: boolean
Default: yes

This option controls how quotes from format=flowed messages are displayed in the pager and when replying (with $text_flowed unset). When set, this option adds spaces after each level of quote marks, turning ">>>foo" into "> > > foo".

Note: If $reflow_text is unset, this option has no effect. Also, this option does not affect replies when $text_flowed is set.

reflow_text

Type: boolean
Default: yes

When set, NeoMutt will reformat paragraphs in text/plain parts marked format=flowed. If unset, NeoMutt will display paragraphs unaltered from how they appear in the message body. See RFC3676 for details on the format=flowed format.

Also see $reflow_wrap, and $wrap.

reflow_wrap

Type: number
Default: 78

This variable controls the maximum paragraph width when reformatting text/plain parts when $reflow_text is set. When the value is 0, paragraphs will be wrapped at the terminal’s right margin. A positive value sets the paragraph width relative to the left margin. A negative value set the paragraph width relative to the right margin.

Be aware that the reformatted lines of a paragraph are still subject to $wrap. This means if $reflow_wrap is 40 and $wrap is 30, then the paragraph gets reformatted to 40 characters a line (due to $reflow_wrap) and afterwards each 40-character-line is split at 30 characters (due to $wrap), resulting in alternating line lengths of 30 and 10 characters.

Also see $wrap.

reply_regex

Type: regular expression
Default: "^((re|aw|sv)(\[[0-9]+\])*:[ \t]*)*"

A regular expression used to recognize reply messages when threading and replying. The default value corresponds to the standard Latin "Re:" prefix.

This value may have been localized by the translator for your locale, adding other prefixes that are common in the locale. You can add your own prefixes by appending inside "^(re)". For example: "^(re|sv)" or "^(re|aw|sv)".

The second parenthesized expression matches zero or more bracketed numbers following the prefix, such as "Re[1]: ". The initial "\\[" means a literal left-bracket character. Note the backslash must be doubled when used inside a double quoted string in the neomuttrc. "[0-9]+" means one or more numbers. "\\]" means a literal right-bracket. Finally the whole parenthesized expression has a "*" suffix, meaning it can occur zero or more times.

The last part matches a colon followed by an optional space or tab. Note "\t" is converted to a literal tab inside a double quoted string. If you use a single quoted string, you would have to type an actual tab character, and would need to convert the double-backslashes to single backslashes.

Note: the result of this regex match against the subject is stored in the header cache. Mutt isn’t smart enough to invalidate a header cache entry based on changing $reply_regex, so if you aren’t seeing correct values in the index, try temporarily turning off the header cache. If that fixes the problem, then once the variable is set to your liking, remove your stale header cache files and turn the header cache back on.

reply_self

Type: boolean
Default: no

If unset and you are replying to a message sent by you, NeoMutt will assume that you want to reply to the recipients of that message rather than to yourself.

Also see the "alternates" command.

reply_to

Type: quadoption
Default: ask-yes

If set, when replying to a message, NeoMutt will use the address listed in the Reply-to: header as the recipient of the reply. If unset, it will use the address in the From: header field instead. This option is useful for reading a mailing list that sets the Reply-To: header field to the list address and you want to send a private message to the author of a message.

reply_with_xorig

Type: boolean
Default: no

This variable provides a toggle. When active, the From: header will be extracted from the current mail’s ’X-Original-To:’ header. This setting does not have precedence over "reverse_real_name".

Assuming ’fast_reply’ is disabled, this option will prompt the user with a prefilled From: header.

resolve

Type: boolean
Default: yes

When set, the cursor in a list will be automatically advanced to the next (possibly undeleted) message/attachment/entry whenever a command that modifies the current message/attachment/entry is executed.

Examples of such commands are tagging a message, deleting an entry, or saving an attachment.

resume_draft_files

Type: boolean
Default: no

If set, draft files (specified by -H on the command line) are processed similarly to when resuming a postponed message. Recipients are not prompted for; send-hooks are not evaluated; no alias expansion takes place; user-defined headers and signatures are not added to the message.

resume_edited_draft_files

Type: boolean
Default: yes

If set, draft files previously edited (via -E -H on the command line) will have $resume_draft_files automatically set when they are used as a draft file again.

The first time a draft file is saved, NeoMutt will add a header, X-Mutt-Resume-Draft to the saved file. The next time the draft file is read in, if NeoMutt sees the header, it will set $resume_draft_files.

This option is designed to prevent multiple signatures, user-defined headers, and other processing effects from being made multiple times to the draft file.

reverse_alias

Type: boolean
Default: no

This variable controls whether or not NeoMutt will display the "personal" name from your aliases in the index menu if it finds an alias that matches the message’s sender. For example, if you have the following alias:

alias juser abd30425 [AT] somewhere.net (Joe User)

and then you receive mail which contains the following header:

From: abd30425 [AT] somewhere.net

It would be displayed in the index menu as "Joe User" instead of "abd30425 [AT] somewhere.net." This is useful when the person’s e-mail address is not human friendly.

reverse_name

Type: boolean
Default: no

It may sometimes arrive that you receive mail to a certain machine, move the messages to another machine, and reply to some the messages from there. If this variable is set, the default From: line of the reply messages is built using the address where you received the messages you are replying to if that address matches your "alternates". If the variable is unset, or the address that would be used doesn’t match your "alternates", the From: line will use your address on the current machine.

Also see the "alternates" command and $reverse_real_name.

reverse_real_name

Type: boolean
Default: yes

This variable fine-tunes the behavior of the $reverse_name feature.

When it is unset, NeoMutt will remove the real name part of a matching address. This allows the use of the email address without having to also use what the sender put in the real name field.

When it is set, NeoMutt will use the matching address as-is.

In either case, a missing real name will be filled in afterwards using the value of $real_name.

rfc2047_parameters

Type: boolean
Default: yes

When this variable is set, NeoMutt will decode RFC2047-encoded MIME parameters. You want to set this variable when NeoMutt suggests you to save attachments to files named like:

=?iso-8859-1?Q?file=5F=E4=5F991116=2Ezip?=
=?utf-8?Q?z=C4=99ta.png?=

When this variable is set interactively, the change won’t be active until you change folders.

Note that this use of RFC2047’s encoding is explicitly prohibited by the standard, but nevertheless encountered in the wild and produced by, e.g., Outlook.

Also note that setting this parameter will not have the effect that NeoMutt generates this kind of encoding. Instead, NeoMutt will unconditionally use the encoding specified in RFC2231.

save_address

Type: boolean
Default: no

If set, NeoMutt will take the sender’s full address when choosing a default folder for saving a mail. If $save_name or $force_name is set too, the selection of the Fcc folder will be changed as well.

save_empty

Type: boolean
Default: yes

When unset, mailboxes which contain no saved messages will be removed when closed (the exception is $spool_file which is never removed). If set, mailboxes are never removed.

Note: This only applies to mbox and MMDF folders, NeoMutt does not delete MH and Maildir directories.

save_history

Type: number
Default: 0

This variable controls the size of the history (per category) saved in the $history_file file.

Setting this to a value greater than $history is possible. However, there will never be more than $history entries to select from even if more are recorded in the history file.

save_name

Type: boolean
Default: no

This variable controls how copies of outgoing messages are saved. When set, a check is made to see if a mailbox specified by the recipient address exists (this is done by searching for a mailbox in the $folder directory with the username part of the recipient address). If the mailbox exists, the outgoing message will be saved to that mailbox, otherwise the message is saved to the $record mailbox.

Also see the $force_name variable.

save_unsubscribed

Type: boolean
Default: no

When set, info about unsubscribed newsgroups will be saved into "newsrc" file and into cache.

Default: yes

When this variable is unset, scoring is turned off. This can be useful to selectively disable scoring for certain folders when the $score_threshold_delete variable and related are used.

score_threshold_delete

Type: number
Default: -1

Messages which have been assigned a score equal to or lower than the value of this variable are automatically marked for deletion by NeoMutt. Since NeoMutt scores are always greater than or equal to zero, the default setting of this variable will never mark a message for deletion.

score_threshold_flag

Type: number
Default: 9999

Messages which have been assigned a score greater than or equal to this variable’s value are automatically marked "flagged".

score_threshold_read

Type: number
Default: -1

Messages which have been assigned a score equal to or lower than the value of this variable are automatically marked as read by NeoMutt. Since NeoMutt scores are always greater than or equal to zero, the default setting of this variable will never mark a message read.

search_context

Type: number
Default: 0

For the pager, this variable specifies the number of lines shown before search results. By default, search results will be top-aligned.

send_charset

Type: string list
Default: "us-ascii:iso-8859-1:utf-8"

A colon-delimited list of character sets for outgoing messages. NeoMutt will use the first character set into which the text can be converted exactly. If your $charset is not "iso-8859-1" and recipients may not understand "UTF-8", it is advisable to include in the list an appropriate widely used standard character set (such as "iso-8859-2", "koi8-r" or "iso-2022-jp") either instead of or after "iso-8859-1".

In case the text can’t be converted into one of these exactly, NeoMutt uses $charset as a fallback.

sendmail

Type: command
Default: "/usr/sbin/sendmail -oem -oi"

Specifies the program and arguments used to deliver mail sent by NeoMutt. NeoMutt expects that the specified program interprets additional arguments as recipient addresses. NeoMutt appends all recipients after adding a -- delimiter (if not already present). Additional flags, such as for $use_8bit_mime, $use_envelope_from, $dsn_notify, or $dsn_return will be added before the delimiter.

Note: This command is invoked differently from most other commands in NeoMutt. It is tokenized by space, and invoked directly via execvp(3) with an array of arguments - so commands or arguments with spaces in them are not supported. The shell is not used to run the command, so shell quoting is also not supported.

See also: $write_bcc.

sendmail_wait

Type: number
Default: 0

Specifies the number of seconds to wait for the $sendmail process to finish before giving up and putting delivery in the background.

NeoMutt interprets the value of this variable as follows:

Note that if you specify a value other than 0, the output of the child process will be put in a temporary file. If there is some error, you will be informed as to where to find the output.

Default: "/bin/sh"

Command to use when spawning a subshell. If not specified, then the user’s login shell from /etc/passwd is used.

show_multipart_alternative

Type: string
Default: ""

When set to info, the multipart/alternative information is shown. When set to inline, all of the alternatives are displayed. When not set, the default behavior is to show only the chosen alternative.

show_new_news

Type: boolean
Default: yes

If set, news server will be asked for new newsgroups on entering the browser. Otherwise, it will be done only once for a news server. Also controls whether or not number of new articles of subscribed newsgroups will be then checked.

show_only_unread

Type: boolean
Default: no

If set, only subscribed newsgroups that contain unread articles will be displayed in browser.

sidebar_component_depth

Type: number
Default: 0

By default the sidebar will show the mailbox’s path, relative to the $folder variable. This specifies the number of parent directories to hide from display in the sidebar. For example: If a maildir is normally displayed in the sidebar as dir1/dir2/dir3/maildir, setting sidebar_component_depth=2 will display it as dir3/maildir, having truncated the 2 highest directories.

See also: $sidebar_short_path

sidebar_delim_chars

Type: string
Default: "/."

This contains the list of characters which you would like to treat as folder separators for displaying paths in the sidebar.

Local mail is often arranged in directories: ’dir1/dir2/mailbox’.

set sidebar_delim_chars=’/’

IMAP mailboxes are often named: ’folder1.folder2.mailbox’.

set sidebar_delim_chars=’.’

See also: $sidebar_short_path, $sidebar_folder_indent, $sidebar_indent_string.

sidebar_divider_char

Type: string
Default: "|"

The default is a Unicode vertical line.

This specifies the characters to be drawn between the sidebar (when visible) and the other NeoMutt panels. ASCII and Unicode line-drawing characters are supported.

The divider char can be set to an empty string for some extra space. If empty, setting the sidebar_background color may help distinguish the sidebar from other panels.

sidebar_folder_indent

Type: boolean
Default: no

Set this to indent mailboxes in the sidebar.

See also: $sidebar_short_path, $sidebar_indent_string, $sidebar_delim_chars.

sidebar_format

Type: string
Default: "%D%* %n"

This variable allows you to customize the sidebar display. This string is similar to $index_format, but has its own set of printf(3)-like sequences:

* = Can be optionally printed if nonzero

@ = Only applicable to the current folder

In order to use %S, %N, %F, and %!, $mail_check_stats must be set. When thus set, a suggested value for this option is "%B%<F? [%F]>%* %<N?%N/>%S".

sidebar_indent_string

Type: string
Default: " "

This specifies the string that is used to indent mailboxes in the sidebar. It defaults to two spaces.

See also: $sidebar_short_path, $sidebar_folder_indent, $sidebar_delim_chars.

sidebar_new_mail_only

Type: boolean
Default: no

When set, the sidebar will only display mailboxes containing new, or flagged, mail.

See also: sidebar_pin, $sidebar_non_empty_mailbox_only.

sidebar_next_new_wrap

Type: boolean
Default: no

When set, the <sidebar-next-new> command will not stop at the end of the list of mailboxes, but wrap around to the beginning. The <sidebar-prev-new> command is similarly affected, wrapping around to the end of the list.

sidebar_non_empty_mailbox_only

Type: boolean
Default: no

When set, the sidebar will only display mailboxes that contain one or more mails.

See also: $sidebar_new_mail_only, sidebar_pin.

sidebar_on_right

Type: boolean
Default: no

When set, the sidebar will appear on the right-hand side of the screen.

sidebar_short_path

Type: boolean
Default: no

By default the sidebar will show the mailbox’s path, relative to the $folder variable. Setting sidebar_shortpath=yes will shorten the names relative to the previous name. Here’s an example:
shortpath=no

shortpath=yes shortpath=yes, folderindent=yes, indentstr=".."

fruit.apple

apple ..apple

fruit.banana

banana ..banana

fruit.cherry

cherry ..cherry

See also: $sidebar_delim_chars, $sidebar_folder_indent, $sidebar_indent_string, $sidebar_component_depth.

sidebar_sort_method

Type: sort order
Default: order

Specifies how to sort mailbox entries in the sidebar. By default, the entries are unsorted. Valid values:
- path (alphabetically)
- count (all message count)
- flagged (flagged message count)
- unread (unread message count)
- unsorted

You may optionally use the "reverse-" prefix to specify reverse sorting order (example: "set sidebar_sort_method=reverse-path").

The alpha and name values are synonyms for path. The new value is a synonym for unread.

sidebar_visible

Type: boolean
Default: no

This specifies whether or not to show sidebar. The sidebar shows a list of all your mailboxes.

See also: $sidebar_format, $sidebar_width

sidebar_width

Type: number
Default: 30

This controls the width of the sidebar. It is measured in screen columns. For example: sidebar_width=20 could display 20 ASCII characters, or 10 Chinese characters.

sig_dashes

Type: boolean
Default: yes

If set, a line containing "-- " (note the trailing space) will be inserted before your $signature. It is strongly recommended that you not unset this variable unless your signature contains just your name. The reason for this is because many software packages use "-- \n" to detect your signature. For example, NeoMutt has the ability to highlight the signature in a different color in the built-in pager.

sig_on_top

Type: boolean
Default: no

If set, the signature will be included before any quoted or forwarded text. It is strongly recommended that you do not set this variable unless you really know what you are doing, and are prepared to take some heat from netiquette guardians.

signature

Type: path
Default: "~/.signature"

Specifies the filename of your signature, which is appended to all outgoing messages. If the filename ends with a pipe ("|"), it is assumed that filename is a shell command and input should be read from its standard output.

simple_search

Type: string
Default: "~f %s | ~s %s"

Specifies how NeoMutt should expand a simple search into a real search pattern. A simple search is one that does not contain any of the "~" pattern operators. See "patterns" for more information on search patterns.

simple_search applies to several functions, e.g. <delete-pattern>, <limit>, searching in the index, and all of the index colors.

For example, if you simply type "joe" at a search or limit prompt, NeoMutt will automatically expand it to the value specified by this variable by replacing "%s" with the supplied string. For the default value, "joe" would be expanded to: "~f joe | ~s joe".

size_show_bytes

Type: boolean
Default: no

If set, message sizes will display bytes for values less than 1 kilobyte. See formatstrings-size.

size_show_fractions

Type: boolean
Default: yes

If set, message sizes will be displayed with a single decimal value for sizes from 0 to 10 kilobytes and 1 to 10 megabytes. See formatstrings-size.

size_show_mb

Type: boolean
Default: yes

If set, message sizes will display megabytes for values greater than or equal to 1 megabyte. See formatstrings-size.

size_units_on_left

Type: boolean
Default: no

If set, message sizes units will be displayed to the left of the number. See formatstrings-size.

sleep_time

Type: number
Default: 1

Specifies time, in seconds, to pause while displaying certain informational messages, while moving from folder to folder and after expunging messages from the current folder. The default is to pause one second, so a value of zero for this option suppresses the pause.

smart_wrap

Type: boolean
Default: yes

Controls the display of lines longer than the screen width in the internal pager. If set, long lines are wrapped at a word boundary. If unset, lines are simply wrapped at the screen edge. Also see the $markers variable.

smileys

Type: regular expression
Default: "(>From )|(:[-^]?[][)(><}{|/DP])"

The pager uses this variable to catch some common false positives of $quote_regex, most notably smileys and not consider a line quoted text if it also matches $smileys. This mostly happens at the beginning of a line.

smime_ask_cert_label

Type: boolean
Default: yes

This flag controls whether you want to be asked to enter a label for a certificate about to be added to the database or not. It is set by default. (S/MIME only)

smime_ca_location

Type: path
Default: ""

This variable contains the name of either a directory, or a file which contains trusted certificates for use with OpenSSL. (S/MIME only)

smime_certificates

Type: path
Default: ""

Since for S/MIME there is no pubring/secring as with PGP, NeoMutt has to handle storage and retrieval of keys by itself. This is very basic right now, and keys and certificates are stored in two different directories, both named as the hash-value retrieved from OpenSSL. There is an index file which contains mailbox-address keyid pairs, and which can be manually edited. This option points to the location of the certificates. (S/MIME only)

smime_decrypt_command

Type: command
Default: ""

This format string specifies a command which is used to decrypt application/pkcs7-mime attachments.

The OpenSSL command formats have their own set of printf(3)-like sequences similar to PGP’s:

For examples on how to configure these formats, see the smime.rc in the samples/ subdirectory which has been installed on your system alongside the documentation. (S/MIME only)

smime_decrypt_use_default_key

Type: boolean
Default: yes

If set (default) this tells NeoMutt to use the default key for decryption. Otherwise, if managing multiple certificate-key-pairs, NeoMutt will try to use the mailbox-address to determine the key to use. It will ask you to supply a key, if it can’t find one. (S/MIME only)

smime_default_key

Type: string
Default: ""

This is the default key-pair to use for S/MIME operations, and must be set to the keyid (the hash-value that OpenSSL generates) to work properly.

It will be used for encryption (see $postpone_encrypt and $smime_self_encrypt). If GPGME is enabled, this is the key id displayed by gpgsm.

It will be used for decryption unless $smime_decrypt_use_default_key is unset.

It will also be used for signing unless $smime_sign_as is set.

The (now deprecated) smime_self_encrypt_as is an alias for this variable, and should no longer be used. (S/MIME only)

smime_encrypt_command

Type: command
Default: ""

This command is used to create encrypted S/MIME messages.

This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command for possible printf(3)-like sequences. (S/MIME only)

Encrypt the message to $smime_default_key too. (S/MIME only)

Note: On Debian systems, this defaults to the first existing file in the following list: ~/.smime/ca-certificates.crt ~/.smime/ca-bundle.crt /etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt.

smime_encrypt_with

Type: string
Default: "aes256"

This sets the algorithm that should be used for encryption. Valid choices are "aes128", "aes192", "aes256", "des", "des3", "rc2-40", "rc2-64", "rc2-128". (S/MIME only)

smime_get_cert_command

Type: command
Default: ""

This command is used to extract X509 certificates from a PKCS7 structure.

This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command for possible printf(3)-like sequences. (S/MIME only)

smime_get_cert_email_command

Type: command
Default: ""

This command is used to extract the mail address(es) used for storing X509 certificates, and for verification purposes (to check whether the certificate was issued for the sender’s mailbox).

This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command for possible printf(3)-like sequences. (S/MIME only)

smime_get_signer_cert_command

Type: command
Default: ""

This command is used to extract only the signers X509 certificate from a S/MIME signature, so that the certificate’s owner may get compared to the email’s "From:" field.

This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command for possible printf(3)-like sequences. (S/MIME only)

smime_import_cert_command

Type: command
Default: ""

This command is used to import a certificate via smime_keys.

This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command for possible printf(3)-like sequences. NOTE: %c and %k will default to $smime_sign_as if set, otherwise $smime_default_key. (S/MIME only)

smime_is_default

Type: boolean
Default: no

The default behavior of NeoMutt is to use PGP on all auto-sign/encryption operations. To override and to use OpenSSL instead this must be set. However, this has no effect while replying, since NeoMutt will automatically select the same application that was used to sign/encrypt the original message. (Note that this variable can be overridden by unsetting $crypt_auto_smime.) (S/MIME only)

smime_keys

Type: path
Default: ""

Since for S/MIME there is no pubring/secring as with PGP, NeoMutt has to handle storage and retrieval of keys/certs by itself. This is very basic right now, and stores keys and certificates in two different directories, both named as the hash-value retrieved from OpenSSL. There is an index file which contains mailbox-address keyid pair, and which can be manually edited. This option points to the location of the private keys. (S/MIME only)

smime_pk7out_command

Type: command
Default: ""

This command is used to extract PKCS7 structures of S/MIME signatures, in order to extract the public X509 certificate(s).

This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command for possible printf(3)-like sequences. (S/MIME only)

smime_self_encrypt

Type: boolean
Default: yes

When set, S/MIME encrypted messages will also be encrypted using the certificate in $smime_default_key. (S/MIME only)

smime_sign_as

Type: string
Default: ""

If you have a separate key to use for signing, you should set this to the signing key. Most people will only need to set $smime_default_key. (S/MIME only)

smime_sign_command

Type: command
Default: ""

This command is used to created S/MIME signatures of type multipart/signed, which can be read by all mail clients.

This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command for possible printf(3)-like sequences. (S/MIME only)

smime_sign_digest_alg

Type: string
Default: "sha256"

This sets the algorithm that should be used for the signature message digest. Valid choices are "md5", "sha1", "sha224", "sha256", "sha384", "sha512". (S/MIME only)

smime_timeout

Type: number
Default: 300

The number of seconds after which a cached passphrase will expire if not used. (S/MIME only)

smime_verify_command

Type: command
Default: ""

This command is used to verify S/MIME signatures of type multipart/signed.

This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command for possible printf(3)-like sequences. (S/MIME only)

smime_verify_opaque_command

Type: command
Default: ""

This command is used to verify S/MIME signatures of type application/pkcs7-mime.

This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command for possible printf(3)-like sequences. (S/MIME only)

smtp_authenticators

Type: string list
Default: ""

This is a colon-separated list of authentication methods NeoMutt may attempt to use to log in to an SMTP server, in the order NeoMutt should try them. Authentication methods are any SASL mechanism, e.g. "plain", "digest-md5", "gssapi" or "cram-md5". This option is case-insensitive. If it is "unset" (the default) NeoMutt will try all available methods, in order from most-secure to least-secure. Support for the "plain" mechanism is bundled; other mechanisms are provided by an external SASL library (look for ’+sasl’ in the output of neomutt -v).

Example:

set smtp_authenticators="digest-md5:cram-md5"

smtp_oauth_refresh_command

Type: command
Default: ""

The command to run to generate an OAUTH refresh token for authorizing your connection to your SMTP server. This command will be run on every connection attempt that uses the OAUTHBEARER or XOAUTH2 authentication mechanisms. See "oauth" for details.

smtp_pass

Type: string
Default: ""

Specifies the password for your SMTP account. If unset, NeoMutt will prompt you for your password when you first send mail via SMTP. See $smtp_url to configure NeoMutt to send mail via SMTP.

Warning: you should only use this option when you are on a fairly secure machine, because the superuser can read your neomuttrc even if you are the only one who can read the file.

smtp_url

Type: string
Default: ""

Defines the SMTP smarthost where sent messages should relayed for delivery. This should take the form of an SMTP URL, e.g.:

smtp[s]://[user[:pass]@]host[:port]

where "[...]" denotes an optional part. Setting this variable overrides the value of the $sendmail variable.

Also see $write_bcc.

smtp_user

Type: string
Default: ""

The username for the SMTP server.

This variable defaults to your user name on the local machine.

socket_timeout

Type: number
Default: 30

Causes NeoMutt to timeout any socket connect/read/write operation (for IMAP, POP or SMTP) after this many seconds. A negative value causes NeoMutt to wait indefinitely.

Default: date

Specifies how to sort messages in the "index" menu. Valid values are:

- date-received

- score

- subject
- threads

- unsorted

You may optionally use the "reverse-" prefix to specify reverse sorting order, or the "last-" prefix to sort threads based on the corresponding attribute of the last descendant rather than the thread root. If both prefixes are in use, "reverse-" must come before "last-". The "last-" prefix has no effect on a flat view.

Any ties in the primary sort are broken by $sort_aux. When $use_threads is "threads" or "reverse", $sort controls the sorting between threads, and $sort_aux controls the sorting within a thread.

The "date-sent" value is a synonym for "date". The "mailbox-order" value is a synonym for "unsorted".

The values of "threads" and "reverse-threads" are legacy options, which cause the value of $sort_aux to also control sorting between threads, and they may not be used with the "last-" prefix. The preferred way to enable a threaded view is via $use_threads. This variable can also be set via the <sort-mailbox> and <sort-reverse> functions.

Note: When $use_threads is "threads", the last thread sorts to the bottom; when it is "reversed", the last thread sorts to the top. The use of "reverse-" in $sort swaps which end the last thread will sort to.

See the "Use Threads Feature" section for further explanation and examples, https://neomutt.org/feature/use-threads

sort_alias

Type: sort order
Default: alias

Specifies how the entries in the "alias" menu are sorted. The following are legal values:
- address (sort alphabetically by email address)
- alias (sort alphabetically by alias name)
- unsorted (leave in order specified in .neomuttrc)

Note: This also affects the entries of the address query menu, thus potentially overruling the order of entries as generated by $query_command.

sort_aux

Type: sort order
Default: date

This provides a secondary sort for messages in the "index" menu, used when the $sort value is equal for two messages.

When sorting by threads, this variable controls how subthreads are sorted within a single thread (for the order between threads, see $sort). This can be set to any value that $sort can, including with the use of "reverse-" and "last-" prefixes, except for variations using "threads" (in that case, NeoMutt will just use "date"). For instance,

set sort_aux=last-date-received

would mean that if a new message is received in a thread, that subthread becomes the last one displayed (or the first, if you have "set use_threads=reverse".) When using $use_threads, it is more common to use "last-" with $sort and not with $sort_aux.

See the "Use Threads Feature" section for further explanation and examples, https://neomutt.org/feature/use-threads

sort_browser

Type: sort order
Default: alpha

Specifies how to sort entries in the file browser. By default, the entries are sorted alphabetically. Valid values:
- alpha (alphabetically)
- count (all message count)

- desc (description)
- new (new message count)

- unsorted

You may optionally use the "reverse-" prefix to specify reverse sorting order (example: "set sort_browser=reverse-date").

The "unread" value is a synonym for "new".

sort_re

Type: boolean
Default: yes

This variable is only useful when sorting by threads with $strict_threads unset. In that case, it changes the heuristic neomutt uses to thread messages by subject. With $sort_re set, neomutt will only attach a message as the child of another message by subject if the subject of the child message starts with a substring matching the setting of $reply_regex. With $sort_re unset, neomutt will attach the message whether or not this is the case, as long as the non-$reply_regex parts of both messages are identical.

spam_separator

Type: string
Default: ","

This variable controls what happens when multiple spam headers are matched: if unset, each successive header will overwrite any previous matches value for the spam label. If set, each successive match will append to the previous, using this variable’s value as a separator.

spool_file

Type: mailbox
Default: ""

If your spool mailbox is in a non-default place where NeoMutt can’t find it, you can specify its location with this variable. The description from "named-mailboxes" or "virtual-mailboxes" may be used for the spool_file.

If not specified, then the environment variables $MAIL and $MAILDIR will be checked.

ssl_ca_certificates_file

Type: path
Default: ""

This variable specifies a file containing trusted CA certificates. Any server certificate that is signed with one of these CA certificates is also automatically accepted. (GnuTLS only)

Example:

set ssl_ca_certificates_file=/etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt

ssl_ciphers

Type: string
Default: ""

Contains a colon-separated list of ciphers to use when using SSL. For OpenSSL, see ciphers(1) for the syntax of the string.

For GnuTLS, this option will be used in place of "NORMAL" at the start of the priority string. See gnutls_priority_init(3) for the syntax and more details. (Note: GnuTLS version 2.1.7 or higher is required.)

ssl_client_cert

Type: path
Default: ""

The file containing a client certificate and its associated private key.

ssl_force_tls

Type: boolean
Default: yes

If this variable is set, NeoMutt will require that all connections to remote servers be encrypted. Furthermore it will attempt to negotiate TLS even if the server does not advertise the capability, since it would otherwise have to abort the connection anyway. This option supersedes $ssl_starttls.

ssl_min_dh_prime_bits

Type: number
Default: 0

This variable specifies the minimum acceptable prime size (in bits) for use in any Diffie-Hellman key exchange. A value of 0 will use the default from the GNUTLS library. (GnuTLS only)

ssl_starttls

Type: quadoption
Default: yes

If set (the default), NeoMutt will attempt to use STARTTLS on servers advertising the capability. When unset, NeoMutt will not attempt to use STARTTLS regardless of the server’s capabilities.

Note that STARTTLS is subject to many kinds of attacks, including the ability of a machine-in-the-middle to suppress the advertising of support. Setting $ssl_force_tls is recommended if you rely on STARTTLS.

ssl_use_sslv2

Type: boolean
Default: no

If set , NeoMutt will use SSLv2 when communicating with servers that request it. N.B. As of 2011, SSLv2 is considered insecure, and using is inadvisable. See https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6176 (OpenSSL only)

ssl_use_sslv3

Type: boolean
Default: no

If set , NeoMutt will use SSLv3 when communicating with servers that request it. N.B. As of 2015, SSLv3 is considered insecure, and using it is inadvisable. See https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7525

ssl_use_system_certs

Type: boolean
Default: yes

If set to yes, NeoMutt will use CA certificates in the system-wide certificate store when checking if a server certificate is signed by a trusted CA. (OpenSSL only)

ssl_use_tlsv1

Type: boolean
Default: no

If set , NeoMutt will use TLSv1.0 when communicating with servers that request it. N.B. As of 2015, TLSv1.0 is considered insecure, and using it is inadvisable. See https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7525

ssl_use_tlsv1_1

Type: boolean
Default: no

If set , NeoMutt will use TLSv1.1 when communicating with servers that request it. N.B. As of 2015, TLSv1.1 is considered insecure, and using it is inadvisable. See https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7525

ssl_use_tlsv1_2

Type: boolean
Default: yes

If set , NeoMutt will use TLSv1.2 when communicating with servers that request it.

ssl_use_tlsv1_3

Type: boolean
Default: yes

If set , NeoMutt will use TLSv1.3 when communicating with servers that request it.

ssl_verify_dates

Type: boolean
Default: yes

If set (the default), NeoMutt will not automatically accept a server certificate that is either not yet valid or already expired. You should only unset this for particular known hosts, using the <account-hook> function.

ssl_verify_host

Type: boolean
Default: yes

If set (the default), NeoMutt will not automatically accept a server certificate whose host name does not match the host used in your folder URL. You should only unset this for particular known hosts, using the <account-hook> function.

ssl_verify_partial_chains

Type: boolean
Default: no

This option should not be changed from the default unless you understand what you are doing.

Setting this variable to yes will permit verifying partial certification chains, i. e. a certificate chain where not the root, but an intermediate certificate CA, or the host certificate, are marked trusted (in $certificate_file), without marking the root signing CA as trusted.

(OpenSSL 1.0.2b and newer only).

status_chars

Type: character string
Default: "-*%A"

Controls the characters used by the "%r" indicator in $status_format.
Character

Default Description

status_format

Type: string
Default: "-%r-NeoMutt: %D [Msgs:%<M?%M/>%m%<n? New:%n>%<o? Old:%o>%<d? Del:%d>%<F? Flag:%F>%<t? Tag:%t>%<p? Post:%p>%<b? Inc:%b>%<l? %l>]---(%<T?%T/>%s/%S)-%>-(%P)---"

Controls the format of the status line displayed in the "index" menu. This string is similar to $index_format, but has its own set of printf(3)-like sequences:

For an explanation of "soft-fill", see the $index_format documentation.

* = can be optionally printed if nonzero

Some of the above sequences can be used to optionally print a string if their value is nonzero. For example, you may only want to see the number of flagged messages if such messages exist, since zero is not particularly meaningful. To optionally print a string based upon one of the above sequences, the following construct is used:

%<sequence_char?optional_string>

where sequence_char is a character from the table above, and optional_string is the string you would like printed if sequence_char is nonzero. optional_string may contain other sequences as well as normal text.

Here is an example illustrating how to optionally print the number of new messages in a mailbox:

%<n?%n new messages>

You can also switch between two strings using the following construct:

%<sequence_char?if_string&else_string>

If the value of sequence_char is non-zero, if_string will be expanded, otherwise else_string will be expanded.

As another example, here is how to show either $sort and $sort_aux or $use_threads and $sort, based on whether threads are enabled with $use_threads:

%<T?%s/%S&%T/%s>

You can force the result of any printf(3)-like sequence to be lowercase by prefixing the sequence character with an underscore ("_") sign. For example, if you want to display the local hostname in lowercase, you would use: "%_h".

If you prefix the sequence character with a colon (":") character, NeoMutt will replace any dots in the expansion by underscores. This might be helpful with IMAP folders that don’t like dots in folder names.

status_on_top

Type: boolean
Default: no

Setting this variable causes the "status bar" to be displayed on the first line of the screen rather than near the bottom. If $help is set too, it’ll be placed at the bottom.

strict_threads

Type: boolean
Default: no

If set, threading will only make use of the "In-Reply-To" and "References:" fields when you $sort by message threads. By default, messages with the same subject are grouped together in "pseudo threads.". This may not always be desirable, such as in a personal mailbox where you might have several unrelated messages with the subjects like "hi" which will get grouped together. See also $sort_re for a less drastic way of controlling this behavior.

suspend

Type: boolean
Default: yes

When unset, NeoMutt won’t stop when the user presses the terminal’s susp key, usually "^Z". This is useful if you run NeoMutt inside an xterm using a command like "xterm -e neomutt".

On startup NeoMutt tries to detect if it is the process session leader. If so, the default of suspend is "no" otherwise "yes". This default covers the above mentioned use case of "xterm -e neomutt".

text_flowed

Type: boolean
Default: no

When set, NeoMutt will generate "format=flowed" bodies with a content type of "text/plain; format=flowed". This format is easier to handle for some mailing software, and generally just looks like ordinary text. To actually make use of this format’s features, you’ll need support in your editor.

The option only controls newly composed messages. Postponed messages, resent messages, and draft messages (via -H on the command line) will use the content-type of the source message.

Note that $indent_string is ignored when this option is set.

thorough_search

Type: boolean
Default: yes

Affects the ~b, ~B, and ~h search operations described in section "patterns". If set, the headers and body/attachments of messages to be searched are decoded before searching. If unset, messages are searched as they appear in the folder.

Users searching attachments or for non-ASCII characters should set this value because decoding also includes MIME parsing/decoding and possible character set conversions. Otherwise NeoMutt will attempt to match against the raw message received (for example quoted-printable encoded or with encoded headers) which may lead to incorrect search results.

thread_received

Type: boolean
Default: no

If $strict_threads is unset, then messages may also be grouped by subject. Unlike threading by "In-Reply-To:" and "References:" header, grouping by subject does not imply a parent-child relation between two messages.

To determine the ancestry between messages grouped by subject, Neomutt uses their date: only newer messages can be descendants of older ones.

When $thread_received is set, NeoMutt uses the date received rather than the date sent when comparing messages for the date.

See also $strict_threads, and $sort_re.

Default: no

When set, the internal-pager will pad blank lines to the bottom of the screen with a tilde ("~").

time_inc

Type: number
Default: 0

Along with $read_inc, $write_inc, and $net_inc, this variable controls the frequency with which progress updates are displayed. It suppresses updates less than $time_inc milliseconds apart. This can improve throughput on systems with slow terminals, or when running NeoMutt on a remote system.

Also see the "tuning" section of the manual for performance considerations.

timeout

Type: number
Default: 600

When NeoMutt is waiting for user input either idling in menus or in an interactive prompt, NeoMutt would block until input is present. Depending on the context, this would prevent certain operations from working, like checking for new mail or keeping an IMAP connection alive.

This variable controls how many seconds NeoMutt will at most wait until it aborts waiting for input, performs these operations and continues to wait for input.

A value of zero or less will cause NeoMutt to never time out.

tmp_dir

Type: path
Default: "/tmp"

This variable allows you to specify where NeoMutt will place its temporary files needed for displaying and composing messages.

If this variable is not set, the environment variable $TMPDIR is used. Failing that, then "/tmp" is used.

to_chars

Type: character string
Default: " +TCFLR"

Controls the character used to indicate mail addressed to you.
Character

Default Description

toggle_quoted_show_levels

Type: number
Default: 0

Quoted text may be filtered out using the <toggle-quoted> command. If set to a number greater than 0, then the <toggle-quoted> command will only filter out quote levels above this number.

Default: ""

If set, this variable specifies the path of the trash folder where the mails marked for deletion will be moved, instead of being irremediably purged.

NOTE: When you delete a message in the trash folder, it is really deleted, so that you have a way to clean the trash.

ts_enabled

Type: boolean
Default: no

Controls whether NeoMutt tries to set the terminal status line and icon name. Most terminal emulators emulate the status line in the window title.

ts_icon_format

Type: string
Default: "M%<n?AIL&ail>"

Controls the format of the icon title, as long as "$ts_enabled" is set. This string is identical in formatting to the one used by "$status_format".

ts_status_format

Type: string
Default: "NeoMutt with %<m?%m messages&no messages>%<n? [%n NEW]>"

Controls the format of the terminal status line (or window title), provided that "$ts_enabled" has been set. This string is identical in formatting to the one used by "$status_format".

Default: ""

Setting this variable will cause NeoMutt to open a pipe to a command instead of a raw socket. You may be able to use this to set up preauthenticated connections to your IMAP/POP3/SMTP server. Example:

set tunnel="ssh -q mailhost.net /usr/local/libexec/imapd"

Note: For this example to work you must be able to log in to the remote machine without having to enter a password.

When set, NeoMutt uses the tunnel for all remote connections. Please see "account-hook" in the manual for how to use different tunnel commands per connection.

tunnel_is_secure

Type: boolean
Default: yes

When set, NeoMutt will assume the $tunnel connection does not need STARTTLS to be enabled. It will also allow IMAP PREAUTH server responses inside a tunnel to proceed. This is appropriate if $tunnel uses ssh or directly invokes the server locally.

When unset, NeoMutt will negotiate STARTTLS according to the ssl_starttls and ssl_force_tls variables. If ssl_force_tls is set, NeoMutt will abort connecting if an IMAP server responds with PREAUTH. This setting is appropriate if $tunnel does not provide security and could be tampered with by attackers.

uncollapse_jump

Type: boolean
Default: no

When set, NeoMutt will jump to the next unread message, if any, when the current thread is uncollapsed.

uncollapse_new

Type: boolean
Default: yes

When set, NeoMutt will automatically uncollapse any collapsed thread that receives a newly delivered message. When unset, collapsed threads will remain collapsed. The presence of the newly delivered message will still affect index sorting, though.

use_8bit_mime

Type: boolean
Default: no

Warning: do not set this variable unless you are using a version of sendmail which supports the -B8BITMIME flag (such as sendmail 8.8.x) or you may not be able to send mail.

When set, NeoMutt will invoke $sendmail with the -B8BITMIME flag when sending 8-bit messages to enable ESMTP negotiation.

use_domain

Type: boolean
Default: yes

When set, NeoMutt will qualify all local addresses (ones without the "@host" portion) with the value of $hostname. If unset, no addresses will be qualified.

use_envelope_from

Type: boolean
Default: no

When set, NeoMutt will set the envelope sender of the message. If $envelope_from_address is set, it will be used as the sender address. If unset, NeoMutt will attempt to derive the sender from the "From:" header.

Note that this information is passed to sendmail command using the -f command line switch. Therefore setting this option is not useful if the $sendmail variable already contains -f or if the executable pointed to by $sendmail doesn’t support the -f switch.

use_from

Type: boolean
Default: yes

When set, NeoMutt will generate the "From:" header field when sending messages. If unset, no "From:" header field will be generated unless the user explicitly sets one using the "my_hdr" command.

use_ipv6

Type: boolean
Default: yes

When set, NeoMutt will look for IPv6 addresses of hosts it tries to contact. If this option is unset, NeoMutt will restrict itself to IPv4 addresses. Normally, the default should work.

use_threads

Type: enumeration
Default: unset

The style of threading used in the index. May be one of "flat" (no threading), "threads" (threaded, with subthreads below root message) or "reverse" (threaded, with subthreads above root message). For convenience, the value "yes" is a synonym for "threads", and "no" is a synonym for "flat".

If this variable is never set, then $sort controls whether threading is used, $sort_aux controls both the sorting of threads and subthreads, and using <sort-mailbox> to select threads affects only $sort. Once this variable is set, attempting to set $sort to a value using "threads" will warn, the value of $sort controls the sorting between threads while $sort_aux controls sorting within a thread, and <sort-mailbox> toggles $use_threads.

Example:

set use_threads=yes

See the "Use Threads Feature" section for further explanation and examples.

Note: On Debian systems, this option is set by default to “threads” in /etc/neomuttrc.

user_agent

Type: boolean
Default: no

When set, NeoMutt will add a "User-Agent:" header to outgoing messages, indicating which version of NeoMutt was used for composing them.

virtual_spool_file

Type: boolean
Default: no

This command is now unnecessary. $spool_file has been extended to support mailbox descriptions as a value.

When set, NeoMutt will use the first defined virtual mailbox (see virtual-mailboxes) as a spool file.

wait_key

Type: boolean
Default: yes

Controls whether NeoMutt will ask you to press a key after an external command has been invoked by these functions: <shell-escape>, <pipe-message>, <pipe-entry>, <print-message>, and <print-entry> commands.

It is also used when viewing attachments with "auto_view", provided that the corresponding mailcap entry has a needsterminal flag, and the external program is interactive.

When set, NeoMutt will always ask for a key. When unset, NeoMutt will wait for a key only if the external command returned a non-zero status.

Default: yes

When set, NeoMutt will weed headers when displaying, forwarding, or replying to messages.

Also see $copy_decode_weed, $pipe_decode_weed, $print_decode_weed.

Default: 0

When set to a positive value, NeoMutt will wrap text at $wrap characters. When set to a negative value, NeoMutt will wrap text so that there are $wrap characters of empty space on the right side of the terminal. Setting it to zero makes NeoMutt wrap at the terminal width.

Also see $reflow_wrap.

wrap_headers

Type: number
Default: 78

This option specifies the number of characters to use for wrapping an outgoing message’s headers. Allowed values are between 78 and 998 inclusive.

Note: This option usually shouldn’t be changed. RFC5233 recommends a line length of 78 (the default), so please only change this setting when you know what you’re doing.

wrap_search

Type: boolean
Default: yes

Controls whether searches wrap around the end.

When set, searches will wrap around the first (or last) item. When unset, incremental searches will not wrap.

write_bcc

Type: boolean
Default: no

Controls whether NeoMutt writes out the "Bcc:" header when preparing messages to be sent. Some MTAs, such as Exim and Courier, do not strip the "Bcc:" header; so it is advisable to leave this unset unless you have a particular need for the header to be in the sent message.

If NeoMutt is set to deliver directly via SMTP(see $smtp_url), this option does nothing: NeoMutt will never write out the "Bcc:" header in this case.

Note this option only affects the sending of messages. Fcc’ed copies of a message will always contain the "Bcc:" header if one exists.

Note: On Debian systems, exim4 and postfix strip BCC headers by default. The above warning applies to exim3 users, see /etc/neomuttrc.

write_inc

Type: number
Default: 10

When writing a mailbox, a message will be printed every $write_inc messages to indicate progress. If set to 0, only a single message will be displayed before writing a mailbox.

Also see the $read_inc, $net_inc and $time_inc variables and the "tuning" section of the manual for performance considerations.

x_comment_to

Type: boolean
Default: no

If set, NeoMutt will add "X-Comment-To:" field (that contains full name of original article author) to article that followuped to newsgroup.

SEE ALSO

iconv(1), neomutt(1), notmuch(1), iconv(3), printf(3), strftime(3), mailcap(5), maildir(5), mbox(5), regex(7).

For further NeoMutt information:

• the full manual, /usr/share/doc/neomutt/manual.{html,pdf,txt}
• the home page, <https://neomutt.org>;

AUTHOR

Richard Russon and friends. Use <neomutt-devel [AT] neomutt.org> to contact the developers.