meli/docs/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/>.
.\"
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.Dd November 11, 2022
.Dt MELI 1
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm meli
.Nd terminal e-mail client
.Em μέλι
is the Greek word for honey
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.Nm
.Op Fl -help | h
.Op Fl -version | v
.Op Fl -config Ar path
.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 -config Ar path
Start meli with given configuration file.
.It Cm create-config Op Ar path
Create configuration file in
.Pa path
if given, or at
.Pa $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/meli/config.toml
.It Cm test-config Op Ar path
Test a configuration file for syntax issues or missing options.
.It Cm man Op Ar page
Print documentation page and exit (Piping to a pager is recommended).
.It Cm print-default-theme
Print default theme keys and values in TOML syntax, to be used as a blueprint.
.It Cm print-loaded-themes
Print all loaded themes in TOML syntax.
.It Cm compiled-with
Print compile time feature flags of this binary.
.It Cm view
View mail from input file.
.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 and presented with a sample configuration file
.Pq Pa $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/meli/config.toml
that includes 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
.Shortcut \&? general toggle_help
for 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, the left-side sidebar may be toggled with
.ShortcutPeriod ` listing toggle_menu_visibility
\&.
.Pp
Each mailbox may be viewed in 4 modes:
Plain views each mail individually, Threaded shows their thread relationship visually, Conversations collapses each thread of emails into a single entry, Compact shows one row per thread.
.Pp
If you're using a light color palette in your terminal, you should set
.Em theme = "light"
in the
.Em terminal
section of your configuration.
See
.Xr meli-themes 5
for complete documentation on user themes.
.Pp
See
.Xr meli 7
for a more detailed tutorial on using
.Nm Ns
\&.
.Sh VIEWING MAIL
Open attachments by typing their index in the attachments list and then
.ShortcutPeriod a envelope_view open_attachment
\&.
.Nm
will attempt to open text inside its pager, and other content via
.Cm xdg-open Ns
\&.
Press
.Shortcut m envelope_view open_mailcap
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.
You can save individual attachments with the
.Command save-attachment Ar INDEX Ar path-to-file
command.
.Ar INDEX
is the attachment's index in the listing.
If the path provided is a directory, the attachment is saved with its filename set to the filename in the attachment, if any.
If the 0th index is provided, the entire message is saved.
If the path provided is a directory, the message is saved as an eml file with its filename set to the messages message-id.
.Sh SEARCH
Each e-mail storage backend has a default search method assigned.
.Em IMAP
uses the SEARCH command,
.Em notmuch
uses libnotmuch and
.Em Maildir/mbox
performs a slow linear search.
It is advised to use a search backend on
.Em Maildir/mbox
accounts.
.Nm Ns
, if built with sqlite3, includes the ability to perform full text search on the following fields:
.Em From ,
.Em To ,
.Em Cc ,
.Em Bcc ,
.Em In-Reply-To ,
.Em References ,
.Em Subject
and
.Em 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 search_backend
to
.Em sqlite3
in the configuration file and to create the sqlite3 index issue command:
.Command index Ar ACCOUNT_NAME Ns
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@example.com and cc:me@example.com
.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 search_backend
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.
.Ss 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 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
.Command tag add TAG
and
.Command 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 visibility)
.Sh COMPOSING
.Ss Opening the message Composer tab
To create a new mail message, press
.Shortcut m listing new_mail
while viewing a mailbox.
To reply to a mail, press
.ShortcutPeriod R envelope_view reply
\&.
Both these actions open the mail composer view in a new tab.
.Ss Editing text
.Bl -bullet -compact
.It
Edit the header fields by selecting with the arrow keys and pressing
.Shortcut Enter general focus_in_text_field
to enter
.Em INSERT
mode and
.Cm Esc
key to exit.
.It
At any time you may press
.Shortcut e composing edit_mail Ns
to launch your editor (see
.Xr meli.conf 5 COMPOSING Ns
, setting
.Ic editor_command
for how to select which editor to launch).
.It
Your editor can be used in
.Nm Ns
\&'s embed terminal emulator by setting
.Ic embed
to
.Em true
in your composing settings
.Po
You can return to
.Nm
at any time by pressing
.Aq Ctrl-Z
.Pc
.It
When launched, your editor captures all input until it exits or stops.
.It
To stop your editor and return to
.Nm
press
.Aq Ctrl-z
and to resume editing press the
.Ic edit_mail
command again.
.El
.Ss Attachments
Attachments may be handled with the
.Cm add-attachment Ns
,
.Cm remove-attachment
commands (see below).
.Ss Sending
Finally, pressing
.Shortcut s composing send_mail
will send your message according to your settings
.Po
see
.Xr meli.conf 5 COMPOSING Ns
, setting name
.Ic send_mail
.Pc Ns
\&.
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.
.Ss Drafts
To save your draft without sending it, issue
.Em COMMAND
.Cm close
and select 'save as draft'.
.sp
To open a draft for further editing, select your draft in the mail listing and press
.Ic edit_mail 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 MODES
.Bl -tag -compact -width 8n
.It NORMAL
is the default mode
.It COMMAND
commands are issued in
.Em COMMAND
mode, by default started with
.Shortcut \&: general enter_command_mode
and exited with
.Aq Esc
key.
.It EMBED
is the mode of the embed terminal emulator
.It INSERT
captures all input as text input, and is exited with
.Cm Esc
key.
.El
.Ss COMMAND Mode
.Ss Mail listing commands
.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
query.
Escape exits search results.
.It Cm select Ar STRING
select threads matching
.Ar STRING
query.
.It Cm set seen, set unseen
Set seen status of message.
.It Cm import Ar FILEPATH Ar MAILBOX_PATH
Import mail from file into given mailbox.
.It Cm copyto, moveto Ar MAILBOX_PATH
Copy or move to other mailbox.
.It Cm copyto, moveto Ar ACCOUNT Ar MAILBOX_PATH
Copy or move to another account's  mailbox.
.It Cm delete
Delete selected threads.
.It Cm export-mbox Ar FILEPATH
Export selected threads to mboxcl2 file.
.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
deletes mailbox in the mail backend.
This action is unreversible.
.El
.Ss Mail view commands
.Bl -tag -width 36n
.It Cm pipe Ar EXECUTABLE Ar ARGS
pipe pager contents to binary
.It Cm filter Ar EXECUTABLE Ar ARGS
filter and display pager contents through command
.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
.Ss 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 add-attachment-file-picker
Launch command defined in the configuration value
.Ic file_picker_command
in
.Xr meli.conf 5 TERMINAL
.It Cm add-attachment-file-picker < Ar CMD Ar ARGS
Launch command
.Ar CMD Ar ARGS Ns
\&.
The command should print file paths in stderr, separated by NULL bytes.
.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.
See
.Xr meli.conf 5 PGP
for PGP configuration.
.It Cm save-draft
saves a copy of the draft in the Draft folder
.El
.Ss 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
.It Cm quit
Quits
.Nm Ns
\&.
.It Cm reload-config
Reloads configuration but only if account configuration is unchanged.
Useful if you want to reload some settings without restarting
.Nm Ns
\&.
.El
.Sh SHORTCUTS
See
.Xr meli.conf 5 SHORTCUTS
for shortcuts and their default values.
.Sh EXIT STATUS
.Nm
exits with 0 on a successful run.
Other exit statuses are:
.Bl -tag -width 5n
.It 1
catchall for general errors
.It 101
process panic
.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 meli 7 ,
.Xr xdg-open 1 ,
.Xr mailcap 5
.Sh CONFORMING TO
.Bl -bullet -compact
.It
XDG Standard
.Lk https://standards.freedesktop.org/basedir-spec/basedir-spec-latest.html Ns
\&.
.It
mailcap file, RFC 1524: A User Agent Configuration Mechanism For Multimedia Mail Format Information
.It
RFC 5322: Internet Message Format
.It
RFC 6532: Internationalized Email Headers
.It
RFC 2047: MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) Part Three: Message Header Extensions for Non-ASCII Text
.It
RFC 3676: The Text/Plain Format and DelSp Parameters
.It
RFC 3156: MIME Security with OpenPGP
.It
RFC 2183: Communicating Presentation Information in Internet Messages: The Content-Disposition Header Field
.It
RFC 2369: The Use of URLs as Meta-Syntax for Core Mail List Commands and their Transport through Message Header Fields
.It
.Li maildir
.Lk https://cr.yp.to/proto/maildir.html Ns
\&.
.It
RFC 5321: Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
.It
RFC 3461: Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) Service Extension for Delivery Status Notifications (DSNs)
.It
RFC 4954: SMTP Service Extension for Authentication
.It
RFC 6152: SMTP Service Extension for 8-bit MIME Transport
.It
RFC 4616: The PLAIN Simple Authentication and Security Layer (SASL) Mechanism
.It
RFC 3501: INTERNET MESSAGE ACCESS PROTOCOL - VERSION 4rev1
.It
RFC 3691: Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) UNSELECT command
.It
RFC 4549: Synch Ops for Disconnected IMAP4 Clients
.It
RFC 7162: IMAP Extensions: Quick Flag Changes Resynchronization (CONDSTORE) and Quick Mailbox Resynchronization (QRESYNC)
.It
RFC 8620: The JSON Meta Application Protocol (JMAP)
.It
RFC 8621: The JSON Meta Application Protocol (JMAP) for Mail
.It
RFC 3977: Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP)
.It
RFC 6048: Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP) Additions to LIST Command
.It
vCard Version 3, RFC 2426: vCard MIME Directory Profile
.It
vCard Version 4, RFC 6350: vCard Format Specification
.It
RFC 6868 Parameter Value Encoding in iCalendar and vCard
.El
.Sh AUTHORS
Copyright 2017-2022
.An Manos Pitsidianakis Mt manos@pitsidianak.is
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
.Lk https://meli.delivery