Welcome to the list of FAQs about Mutt!
Use your browser's "Search"-function to search this index page,
or the wiki-search of each wiki page for pages containing your desired keywords.
Consult the manual.txt for references!
You better RTFM relevant parts at least after finding answers (if not even before ;-).
If you don't find an answer, analyze your problem yourself per DebugConfig and share your solution(s) here.
- Most Frequently Asked Questions & Answers
- Where is the Mutt manual? - look for "manual.txt" on MuttUser
- I upgraded mutt, why does my old muttrc give errors? - read the ChangeLog in source package for changed features and new manual.txt passages for problem items.
- I'm using only IMAP folders, yet mutt still queries about local folders, why? - see MuttFaq/RemoteFolder
- I can't see character X in latin1/windows-1256/whatever-encoded messages - see MuttFaq/Charset
- How do I configure Mutt to use a remote SMTP server to send mail? - see MuttFaq/Sendmail
- Can Mutt show the (new) message count in the folder browser? - see MuttFaq/Display
- Where can I find good config files (muttrc)? - see ConfigList + ConfigTricks
- Mutt config is static, how to make it dynamic (with "if"-conditions) even without ScriptSupport? - see MuttFaq/Misc
- How to find the reason for muttrc errors?
- Why fails my identical config on 2 different machines? - see DebugConfig
- MuttFaq/Action (interactive)
- What's the key (-binding) for function XYZ?
- How to "move", "save"?
- How do I save/delete/copy/print/pipe multiple / several messages?
- How to search/ tag/ match/ view only specific msgs?
- How to mark a message as "read"?
- How to actually delete msgs marked for deletion or save read msgs to "mbox"es without having to quit?
- I want to use buttons with my mouse as seen on some pics!
- How to see the "mailboxes" folders with new mail as with "-y" option without restarting mutt?
- How to create a new folder?
- When paging down in a message, how to stop at the end and not jump to next one?
- Why don't shift or control cursor keys work?
- MuttFaq/Header
- How do I set my From: address?
- How do I set the address used in the SMTP negotiation (envelope address)?
- I've set my From: header field in Mutt, but the SMTP server still sees my local hostname?
- Remote SMTP server refuses to accept my eMail because of wrong domainname, but I gave correct From:?
- I have several different roles (From:-addresses), how to manage them?
- How to let mutt use the To: addr of a msg as From: addr in a reply?
- I set $reverse_name, but it's not working!
- How can I change "Message Priority" for outgoing mails?
- MuttFaq/Folder
- "XYZ is not a mailbox" or "has no messages", what does this mean?
- Why are "new" flags of mbox folders wrong (folder-list view, not single msgs in index view)?
- How to make mutt open a specific folder on startup?
- How to save copies of outgoing/sent eMails? To the current folder?
- I can't modify my inbox folder, it's read-only but permissions are ok?
- How to make mutt check for new mail more often? What's the difference between $timeout and $mail_check?
- Stop asking to "move read messages to mbox"!
- How to use the "trash" folder?
- How to import messages from pine, thunderbird, kmail, evilution, ...?
- I left off a trailing '/' in my .procmailrc, and procmail delivered many emails to a Maildir folder in MH format. How do I fix this?
- What's the difference between '+' and '='?
- MuttFaq/RemoteFolder
- How can I access my POP/IMAP account(s)?
- When using a ssh-tunnel-to-IMAP I get error messages, but the tunnel cmds work well in a shell, why?!
- How can I save typing long IMAP-pathnames?
- How can I list/ browse remote IMAP-folders?
- I'm using only IMAP folders, yet mutt still queries about local folders, why?
- I keep getting disconnected when I leave mutt alone for a few minutes
- Why do I have to review my server's SSL certificate every single time I connect to it? Stop it!
- MuttFaq/Sendmail
- "Error sending message, child exited", what's the deal?
- Mail doesn't arrive/ bounces, how can I figure out why?
- Why is it so slow when I send an email?
- How do I configure Mutt to use a remote SMTP server to send mail?
- I need to use different SMTP servers for several accounts, how to manage that?
- SMTP authentication (APOP, ...) times out on me, how to save retyping password?
- MuttFaq/Appearance
- How to split the screen to see index and pager/ body/ content at once?
- Can I use the "default" color of my terminal or the "transparent" color?
- Why is "default" not recognized when mutt with ncurses [5.2] starts up?
- Using a "default" background does not work.
- Why doesn't the background highlight colour show behind white space?
- When running in screen, transparency does not work, and there are trailing spaces filling every line when cut-and-pasting
- What is the mutt colour equivalent of 'grey'?
- Can I have an arrow ('>') as an indicator?
- Can I highlight certain email addresses in my tree?
- MuttFaq/Display
- How do I change the format/ display of the list of mailboxes (or any menu)?
- Can I personalize/ shortcut the display of or label the folder names in the folder browser?
- Why doesn't $index_format "%b" show some Maildir?
- Can Mutt show the (new) message count in the folder browser?
- How to make the From-addr shown normally in index-view to show To-addr for stuff that I sent?
- Can mutt use virtual folders/ mailboxes?
- Why are some 'N'(ew) messages flagged 'O'(ld) when I leave them and return?
- MuttFaq/Attachment
- How to save all attachments into the same directory, easily?!
- How to use different mailcap entries based on whether X is running (X availability-dependent associations for MIME types)
- How to view/ reply HTML, images, vcards and other non-plain-text attachments?
- How to view HTML attachments in a new tab in firefox?
- How to make M$-office attachments accessible?
- How do I forward a message including attachments?
- But I want to add my own comments to the top of the forwarded message, how can I do that?
- How to make mutt use a correct content-type (data-format) for attachments I send out?
- Can mutt stop me from making me look stupid by sending mails saying "patch attached" without attachments?
- MuttFaq/Charset
- Umlauts, accents, and other non-ASCII characters are displayed as '?' or '\123', fine in some mails, but hidden in others.
- Umlauts, accents, and other non-ASCII characters are only displayed wrong when using auto_view
- How can I check if locales work before I blame Mutt for it?
- UTF-8 chars are displayed fine, but the screen is garbled
- I tuned all the variables correctly, but my messages are still garbled.
- Attached text files get sent misencoded with wrong charset.
- MuttFaq/Encoding
- Why is a message not printed as seen in mutt?
- Why is a message not caught by spam defense when piped to?
- How to launch a browser with text links in plain text but encoded eMails?
- Is there any way to search encoded messages like quoted-printable ones?
- MuttFaq/Alias
- How to use the aliases (addressbook)?
- I changed the aliases but mutt still doesn't know them?
- Is there no better way to manage often used addresses?
- MuttFaq/Encryption
- How to make PGP/GPG work?
- How to make oldstyle/ classic/ traditional/ inline PGP work?
- Other MUAs (mail-programs) can't handle mutt's PGP-stuff being attachments?
- I typed wrong passphrase, but mutt still keeps using it?
- Does Mutt do S/MIME?
- I'm using gpg to encrypt messages and can't read my own postings
- Which keyserver should I use?
- How can I retrieve PGP-keys automatically?
- MuttFaq/Thread
- How to get rid of duplicate msgs?
- How to change the order within a thread?
- How to sort threads based on all the messages in the thread?
- Why are some msgs threaded and others not?
- What do "->", "-?-" and "*>" mean in thread trees?
- Why is the tree display screwed, I see garbage chars in front of the arrows?!
- MuttFaq/Maildir
- How can I search multiple Maildirs for strings all at once?
- Which mailbox format is better, mbox or maildir?
- What is the best directory layout for Maildir folders?
- How can I create subfolders?
- How can I access the subfolders created by Kmail and Courier-IMAP?
- I can see size in bytes, but not lines, is there a fix?
- MuttFaq/Editor
- Why are there strange files (*mutt*~ or *mutt*.bak) when mutt finishes?
- How do I configure Mutt to use mail-mode in Emacs?
- How to trim quoted replies (like stripping signatures)?
- MuttFaq/Hook
- My settings are messed up after hooks are executed, they're not restored?
- Why get the commands given in hooks crippled, some are skipped?
- Why gives muttrc errors for commands specified in hooks at startup?
- How do I make a complex regular expression containing "(|)" and "\" in a *-hook/search work?
- I already doublequote stuff for patterns, but my macro still sucks ass!
- MuttFaq/Misc
- What is mutt's way to provide "templates" for sending new eMail?
- How to make random signatures?
- What am I missing when I invoke mutt in batch mode from the cmd-line but it goes interactive?
- How can I access the development versions of Mutt?
- Where do I find the change log of the differences/ features between releases (stable, dev)?
- Mutt config is static, how to make it dynamic (with "if"-conditions) even without ScriptSupport?
- What is the meaning of "mbox", "maildir", and "folder"?
- How to fix error 'Could not copy message'?
- Switching folders is too slow with big folders, how to speed up?
- How to trigger a script on new mail?
If you don't find a suitable question or answer, add it here below the line to be dealt with by some sage.
When you edit/ add FAQs & As,
- Read first the WikiWorker? guidelines before you edit!
- Use a fitting /Subpage to put your answers, use /Misc otherwise.
- Create a new /Subpage as generic but specific as possible if there are related questions.
- Bundle simple answers into /Subpages, put complex (lengthy) answers onto own separate pages.
- The answers go to the /Subpages only, not here.
- Remember to add the questions to the index list on this page, too. They are not added automatically.
