Speed Up Address Book Access with Key Bindings

Prerequisites

1. A working alias setup (see Using the Address Book).

Bind the Alias Menu to a Key

The <alias-dialog> function opens the full alias list. By default it may not have a binding in the index.

1. Bind it to a convenient key:

bind index,pager a alias-dialog

2. Press a in the index to open the alias menu directly.

Expected result: the alias menu opens and you can select a contact to compose a message to.

Create a Macro to Save and Reload Aliases

The default <create-alias> (a) appends to $alias_file but doesn’t reload it.

1. Create a macro that saves and reloads in one step:

macro index,pager A "<create-alias><enter-command>source $alias_file<Enter>" "Save alias and reload"

2. Open a message and press A.

Expected result: the alias is saved and immediately available without a manual :source.

Bind a Key for External Queries

If you use $query_command (abook, khard, LDAP):

1. Bind a key for quick queries from the index:

bind index,pager Q <query>

2. Press Q, enter a search term, and select a result.

Expected result: the query menu opens and you can compose a message to the selected address.

Create a Macro to Open a Specific Alias File

If you split aliases into multiple files, you can create a macro to edit one quickly:

macro index,pager \ea "<shell-escape>$EDITOR ~/.config/neomutt/aliases-work<Enter><enter-command>source ~/.config/neomutt/aliases-work<Enter>" "Edit and reload work aliases"

Expected result: pressing Alt-a opens your editor on the work alias file, and reloads it when you return.

See Customise Key Bindings for the full :bind and :macro syntax and Macros for more macro examples.