Find a Contact Quickly

Prerequisites

1. One or more aliases defined and loaded (see Using the Address Book).

Search the Alias Menu

1. Open the alias menu by pressing <Tab> at an address prompt (with an empty field) or by using the <alias-dialog> function if bound.

2. Press / to search.

3. Type part of a name or email address.

Expected result: the cursor jumps to the first matching alias.

4. Press n to jump to the next match.

Filter by Tag

If your aliases use tags (e.g. # tags:work,friends):

1. Open the alias menu.

2. Press l to limit the view.

3. Enter a tag pattern:

~Y work

Expected result: only aliases tagged work are shown.

4. Press l again and enter ~A to clear the limit and show all aliases.

Use Tab Completion at Address Prompts

1. At a To: or Cc: prompt, type the first few characters of an alias name.

2. Press <Tab>.

If there is a single match, NeoMutt expands it in place. If there are multiple matches, the alias menu opens showing only the matches.

Expected result: you reach the right contact without browsing the full list.

Query an External Address Book

If you have $query_command configured (abook, khard, LDAP):

1. At an address prompt, press Ctrl-T (<complete-query>).

2. Type part of a name or address.

Expected result: results from the external source appear and you can select one.

See External Address Queries for setup details.

See Manage Aliases for the full alias syntax and Alias Options for $alias_format and $alias_sort.