meli/meli.1

.\" meli - meli.1
.\"
.\" Copyright 2017-2019 Manos Pitsidianakis
.\"
.\" This file is part of meli.
.\"
.\" meli is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
.\" it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
.\" the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
.\" (at your option) any later version.
.\"
.\" meli is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
.\" but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
.\" MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
.\" GNU General Public License for more details.
.\"
.\" You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
.\" along with meli. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
.\"
.Dd July 29, 2019
.Dt MELI 1
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm meli
.Nd Meli Mail User Agent. meli is the Greek word for honey
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.Nm
.Op Fl -help | h
.Op Fl -version | v
.Op Fl -create-config Op Ar path
.Op Fl -test-config Op Ar path
.Op Fl -config Ar path
.Op Fl -print-default-theme
.Op Fl -print-loaded-themes
.Bl -tag -width flag -offset indent
.It Fl -help | h
Show help message and exit.
.It Fl -version | v
Show version and exit.
.It Fl -create-config Op Ar path
Create configuration file in
.Pa path
if given, or at
.Pa $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/meli/config.toml
.It Fl -test-config Op Ar path
Test a configuration file for syntax issues or missing options.
.It Fl -config Ar path
Start meli with given configuration file.
.It Fl -print-default-theme
Print default theme keys and values in TOML syntax, to be used as a blueprint.
.It Fl -print-loaded-themes
Print all loaded themes in TOML syntax.
.El
.Sh DESCRIPTION
.Nm
is a terminal mail client aiming for extensive and user-frendly configurability.
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.Ed
.Sh STARTING WITH meli
When launched for the first time,
.Nm
will search for its configuration directory,
.Pa $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/meli/ Ns
\&.
If it doesn't exist, you will be asked if you want to create one along with a sample configuration.
The sample configuration
.Pa $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/meli/config.toml
includes comments with the basic settings required for setting up accounts allowing you to copy and edit right away.
See
.Xr meli.conf 5
for the available configuration options.
.Pp
At any time, you may press
.Cm \&?
to show a searchable list of all available actions and shortcuts, along with every possible setting and command that your version supports.
.Pp
The main visual navigation tool is the left-side sidebar.
The menu's visibility may be toggled with
.Cm `
(shortcuts.listing:
.Ic toggle_menu_visibility Ns
).
.Pp
The view into each mailbox has 4 modes: plain, threaded, conversations and compact.
Plain views each mail indvidually, threaded shows their thread relationship visually, and conversations includes one entry per thread of emails (compact is one row per thread).
.Pp
If you're using a light color palette in your terminal, you may set
.Em theme = "light"
in the
.Em terminal
section of your configuration.
See
.Xr meli-themes 5
for complete documentation on user themes.
.Sh VIEWING MAIL
Open attachments by typing their index in the attachments list and then
.Cm a Ns
\&.
.Nm
will attempt to open text inside its pager and other content via
.Cm xdg-open Ns
\&.
Press
.Cm m
instead to use the mailcap entry for the MIME type of the attachment, if any.
See
.Sx FILES
for the location of the mailcap files and
.Xr mailcap 5
for their syntax.
.Sh SEARCH
Each e-mail storage backend has its default search method.
.Em IMAP
uses the SEARCH command,
.Em notmuch
uses libnotmuch and
.Em Maildir/mbox
have to do a slow linear search.
Thus it is advised to use a cache on
.Em Maildir/mbox
accounts.
.Nm Ns
, if built with sqlite3, includes the ability to perform full text search on the following fields: From, To, Cc, Bcc, In-Reply-To, References, Subject and Date.
The message body (in plain text human readable form) and the flags can also be queried.
To enable sqlite3 indexing for an account set
.Em cache_type
to
.Em sqlite3
in the configuration file and to create the sqlite3 index issue command
.Cm index Ar ACCOUNT_NAME Ns \&.
.sp
To search in the message body type your keywords without any special formatting.
To search in specific fields, prepend your search keyword with "field:" like so:
.Pp
.D1 subject:helloooo or subject:\&"call for help\&" or \&"You remind me today of a small, Mexican chihuahua.\&"
.Pp
.D1 not ((from:unrealistic and (to:complex or not "query")) or flags:seen,draft)
.Pp
.D1 alladdresses:mailing@list.tld and cc:me@domain.tld
.Pp
Boolean operators are
.Em or Ns
,
.Em and
and
.Em not
.Po
alias:
.Em \&!
.Pc
String keywords with spaces must be quoted.
Quotes should always be escaped.
.sp
.Sy Important Notice about IMAP/JMAP
.sp
To prevent downloading all your messages from your IMAP/JMAP server, don't set
.Em cache_type
to
.Em sqlite3 Ns
\&.
.Nm
will relay your queries to the IMAP server.
Expect a delay between query and response.
Sqlite3 on the contrary at reasonable mailbox sizes should have a non noticable delay.
.Sh TAGS
.Nm
supports tagging in notmuch and IMAP/JMAP backends.
Tags can be searched with the `tags:` or `flags:` prefix in a search query, and can be modified by
.Cm tag add TAG
and
.Cm tag remove TAG
(see
.Xr meli.conf 5 TAGS Ns
, settings
.Ic colors
and
.Ic ignore_tags
for how to set tag colors and tag visiblity)
.Sh COMPOSING
To send mail, press
.Cm m
while viewing the appropriate account to open a new composing tab.
To reply to a mail, press
.Cm R Ns
\&.
You may edit some of the header fields from within the view, by selecting with the arrow keys and pressing
.Cm enter
to enter
.Ar INSERT
mode.
At any time you may press
.Cm e
to launch your editor (see
.Xr meli.conf 5 COMPOSING Ns
, setting
.Ic editor_cmd
for how to select which editor to launch).
Attachments may be handled with the
.Em add-attachment Ns
,
.Em remove-attachment
commands (see below).
Finally, pressing
.Cm s
will send your message by piping it into a binary of your choosing (see
.Xr meli.conf 5 COMPOSING Ns
, setting
.Ic mailer_cmd Ns
).
To save your draft without sending it, issue command
.Cm close
and select 'save as draft'.
.Pp
With no Draft or Sent mailbox,
.Nm
tries first saving mail in your INBOX and then at any other mailbox.
On complete failure to save your draft or sent message it will be saved in your
.Em tmp
directory instead and you will be notified of its location.
.Pp
To open a draft for editing later, select your draft in the mail listing and press
.Cm e Ns
\&.
.sp
Your editor can be used in
.Nm Ns
\&'s embed terminal emulator by setting
.Ic embed
to
.Em true
in your composing settings.
When launched, your editor captures all input until it exits or stops.
To stop your editor and return to
.Nm
issue Ctrl-z and to resume editing press the
.Ic edit_mail
command again (default
.Em e Ns
).
.Sh CONTACTS
.Nm
supports two kinds of contact backends:
.sp
.Bl -enum -compact -offset indent
.It
an internal format that gets saved under
.Pa $XDG_DATA_HOME/meli/account_name/addressbook Ns
\&.
.It
vCard files (v3, v4) through the
.Ic vcard_folder
option in the account section.
The path defined as
.Ic vcard_folder
can hold multiple vCards per file.
They are loaded read only.
.El
.sp
See
.Xr meli.conf 5 ACCOUNTS
for the complete account configuration values.
.Sh EXECUTE mode
Commands are issued in EXECUTE mode, by default started with Space and exited with Escape key.
.Pp
the following commands are valid in the mail listing context:
.Bl -tag -width 36n
.It Cm set Ar plain | threaded | compact | conversations
set the way mailboxes are displayed
.El
.TS
allbox tab(:);
lb l.
conversations:shows one entry per thread
compact:shows one row per thread
threaded:shows threads as a tree structure
plain:shows one row per mail, regardless of threading
.TE
.Bl -tag -width 36n
.It Cm sort Ar subject | date \  Ar asc | desc
sort mail listing
.It Cm subsort Ar subject | date \  Ar asc | desc
sorts only the first level of replies.
.It Cm go Ar n
where
.Ar n
is a mailbox prefixed with the
.Ar n
number in the side menu for the current account
.It Cm toggle_thread_snooze
don't issue notifications for thread under cursor in thread listing
.It Cm search Ar STRING
search mailbox with
.Ar STRING
key.
Escape exits search results
.It Cm set read, set unread
.It Cm create-mailbox Ar ACCOUNT Ar MAILBOX_PATH
create mailbox with given path.
Be careful with backends and separator sensitivity (eg IMAP)
.It Cm subscribe-mailbox Ar ACCOUNT Ar MAILBOX_PATH
subscribe to mailbox with given path
.It Cm unsubscribe-mailbox Ar ACCOUNT Ar MAILBOX_PATH
unsubscribe to mailbox with given path
.It Cm rename-mailbox Ar ACCOUNT Ar MAILBOX_PATH_SRC Ar MAILBOX_PATH_DEST
rename mailbox
.It Cm delete-mailbox Ar ACCOUNT Ar MAILBOX_PATH
delete mailbox
.El
.Pp
envelope view commands:
.Bl -tag -width 36n
.It Cm pipe Ar EXECUTABLE Ar ARGS
pipe pager contents to binary
.It Cm list-post
post in list of viewed envelope
.It Cm list-unsubscribe
unsubscribe automatically from list of viewed envelope
.It Cm list-archive
open list archive with
.Cm xdg-open
.El
.Pp
composing mail commands:
.Bl -tag -width 36n
.It Cm add-attachment Ar PATH
in composer, add
.Ar PATH
as an attachment
.It Cm add-attachment < Ar CMD Ar ARGS
in composer, pipe
.Ar CMD Ar ARGS
output into an attachment
.It Cm remove-attachment Ar INDEX
remove attachment with given index
.It Cm toggle sign
toggle between signing and not signing this message.
If the gpg invocation fails then the mail won't be sent.
.El
.Pp
generic commands:
.Bl -tag -width 36n
.It Cm open-in-tab
opens envelope view in new tab
.It Cm close
closes closeable tabs
.It Cm setenv Ar KEY=VALUE
set environment variable
.Ar KEY
to
.Ar VALUE
.It Cm printenv Ar KEY
print environment variable
.Ar KEY
.El
.Sh SHORTCUTS
Non-complete list of shortcuts and their default values.
.Bl -tag -width 36n
.It Ic open_thread
\&'\\n'
.It Ic exit_thread
\&'i'
.It Ic create_contact
\&'c'
.It Ic edit_contact
\&'e'
.It Ic prev_page
PageUp,
.It Ic next_page
PageDown
.It Ic prev_mailbox
\&'K'
.It Ic next_mailbox
\&'J'
.It Ic prev_account
\&'l'
.It Ic next_account
\&'h'
.It Ic new_mail
\&'m'
.It Ic scroll_up
\&'k'
.It Ic scroll_down
\&'j'
.It Ic page_up
PageUp
.It Ic page_down
PageDown
.It Ic toggle-menu-visibility
\&'`'
.It Ic select
\&'v'
.It Ic `
toggles hiding of sidebar in mail listings
.It Ic \&?
opens up a shortcut window that shows available actions in the current component you are using (eg mail listing, contact list, mail composing)
.It Ic m
starts a new mail composer
.It Ic R
replies to the viewed mail.
.It Ic u
displays numbers next to urls in the body text of an email and
.Ar n Ns Ic g
opens the
.Ar n Ns
th
url with xdg-open
.It Ar n Ns Ic a
opens the
.Ar n Ns
th
attachment.
.It Ar n Ns Ic m
opens the
.Ar n Ns
th
attachment according to its mailcap entry.
.It Ic v
(un)selects mail entries in mail listings
.El
.Sh QUERY ABNF SYNTAX
.Bl -bullet
.It
.Li query = \&"(\&" query \&")\&" | from | to | cc | bcc | alladdresses | subject | flags | has_attachments | query \&"or\&" query | query \&"and\&" query | not query
.It
.Li not = \&"not\&" | \&"!\&"
.It
.Li quoted = ALPHA / SP *(ALPHA / DIGIT / SP)
.It
.Li term = ALPHA *(ALPHA / DIGIT) | DQUOTE quoted DQUOTE
.It
.Li tagname = term
.It
.Li flagval = \&"passed\&" | \&"replied\&" | \&"seen\&" | \&"read\&" | \&"junk\&" | \&"trash\&" | \&"trashed\&" | \&"draft\&" | \&"flagged\&" | tagname
.It
.Li flagterm = flagval | flagval \&",\&" flagterm
.It
.Li from = \&"from:\&" term
.It
.Li to = \&"to:\&" term
.It
.Li cc = \&"cc:\&" term
.It
.Li bcc = \&"bcc:\&" term
.It
.Li alladdresses = \&"alladdresses:\&" term
.It
.Li subject = \&"subject:\&" term
.It
.Li flags = \&"flags:\&" flag | \&"tags:\&" flag | \&"is:\&" flag
.El
.Sh EXIT STATUS
.Nm
exits with 0 on a successful run.
Other exit statuses are:
.Bl -tag -width 2n
.It 1
catchall for general errors
.El
.Sh ENVIRONMENT
.Bl -tag -width "$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/meli/plugins/*" -offset indent
.It Ev EDITOR
Specifies the editor to use
.It Ev MELI_CONFIG
Override the configuration file
.It Ev NO_COLOR
When present (regardless of its value), prevents the addition of ANSI color.
The configuration value
.Ic use_color
overrides this.
.El
.Sh FILES
.Nm
uses the following parts of the XDG standard:
.Bl -tag -width "$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/meli/plugins/*" -offset indent
.It Ev XDG_CONFIG_HOME
defaults to
.Pa ~/.config/
.It Ev XDG_CACHE_HOME
defaults to
.Pa ~/.cache/
.El
.Pp
and appropriates the following locations:
.Bl -tag -width "$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/meli/plugins/*" -offset indent
.It Pa $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/meli/
User configuration directory.
.It Pa $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/meli/config.toml
User configuration file.
See
.Xr meli.conf 5
for its syntax and values.
.It Pa $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/meli/hooks/*
Reserved for event hooks.
.It Pa $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/meli/plugins/*
Reserved for plugin files.
.It Pa $XDG_CACHE_HOME/meli/*
Internal cached data used by meli.
.It Pa $XDG_DATA_HOME/meli/*
Internal data used by meli.
.It Pa $XDG_DATA_HOME/meli/meli.log
Operation log.
.It Pa /tmp/meli/*
Temporary files generated by
.Nm Ns
\&.
.El
.Pp
Mailcap entries are searched for in the following files, in this order:
.Pp
.Bl -enum -compact -offset indent
.It
.Pa $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/meli/mailcap
.It
.Pa $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/.mailcap
.It
.Pa $HOME/.mailcap
.It
.Pa /etc/mailcap
.It
.Pa /usr/etc/mailcap
.It
.Pa /usr/local/etc/mailcap
.El
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr meli.conf 5 ,
.Xr meli-themes 5 ,
.Xr xdg-open 1 ,
.Xr mailcap 5
.Sh CONFORMING TO
XDG Standard
.Aq https://standards.freedesktop.org/basedir-spec/basedir-spec-latest.html Ns
, maildir
.Aq https://cr.yp.to/proto/maildir.html Ns
, IMAPv4rev1 RFC3501, The JSON Meta Application Protocol (JMAP) RFC8620, The JSON Meta Application Protocol (JMAP) for Mail RFC8621.
.Sh AUTHORS
Copyright 2017-2019
.An Manos Pitsidianakis Aq epilys@nessuent.xyz
Released under the GPL, version 3 or greater.
This software carries no warranty of any kind.
(See COPYING for full copyright and warranty notices.)
.Pp
.Aq https://meli.delivery