Configure Mailboxes#
Using Multiple Spool Mailboxes#
mbox-hook [-noregex] regex mailbox
This command is used to move read messages from a specified mailbox to a different mailbox automatically when you quit or change folders regex is used to specify the mailbox to treat as a “spool” mailbox and mailbox specifies where mail should be saved when read. The -noregex switch controls whether regex is matched using a simple string comparison or a full regex match.
The regex parameter has mailbox shortcut expansion performed on the first character. See mailbox-hook for more details.
Note that execution of mbox-hooks is dependent on the $move configuration variable.
If set to “no” (the default), mbox-hooks will not be executed.
Unlike some of the other hook commands, only the first matching regex is used (it is not possible to save read mail in more than a single mailbox).
Monitoring Incoming Mail#
mailboxes [-label label] [-nolabel] [-notify] [-nonotify] [-poll] [-nopoll] mailbox [...]
named-mailboxes [-notify] [-nonotify] [-poll] [-nopoll] label mailbox [label mailbox ...]
unmailboxes { * | mailbox [...] }
This command specifies folders which can receive mail and which will be checked for new messages periodically.
The -label argument can be used to specify an alternative label to print in the sidebar or mailbox browser instead of the mailbox path.
A label may be removed via the -nolabel argument.
If unspecified, an existing mailbox label will be unchanged.
Use -nonotify to disable notifying when new mail arrives.
The -notify argument can be used to re-enable notifying for an existing mailbox.
If unspecified: a new mailbox will notify by default, while an existing mailbox will be unchanged.
To disable polling, specify -nopoll before the mailbox name.
The -poll argument can be used to re-enable polling for an existing mailbox.
If unspecified: a new mailbox will poll by default, while an existing mailbox will be unchanged.
folder can either be a local file or directory (Mbox/Mmdf or Maildir/Mh). If NeoMutt was built with POP and/or IMAP support, folder can also be a POP/IMAP folder URL. The URL syntax is described in URL syntax, POP and IMAP are described in POP and IMAP respectively.
NeoMutt provides a number of advanced features for handling (possibly many) folders and new mail within them, please refer to new mail for details (including in what situations and how often NeoMutt checks for new mail).
Additionally, $new_mail_command can be used to run a command when new mail is detected.
The unmailboxes command is used to remove a token from the list of folders which receive mail.
unmailboxes can be used on the mailbox path, $folder-abbreviated path, or description.
Use unmailboxes * to remove all tokens.
📷 Screenshot Needed
Subject: Mailbox browser with named mailboxes
Description: The NeoMutt mailbox browser (opened with c? or the
<browser> function) showing a list of monitored mailboxes configured via
:named-mailboxes, displaying the custom label names (e.g. “My INBOX”, “Work
Mail”) instead of raw folder paths, along with message counts and new mail
indicators.
Highlights: How -label / :named-mailboxes labels replace raw paths in the browser, the new mail flag column, and the folder size or message count columns.
Note
The folders in the :mailboxes command are resolved when the command is executed, so if these names contain shortcut characters (such as = and !), any variable definition that affects these characters (like $folder and $spool_file) should be set before the :mailboxes command.
If none of these shortcuts are used, a local path should be absolute as otherwise NeoMutt tries to find it relative to the directory from where NeoMutt was started which may not always be desired.
Address Normalization#
NeoMutt normalizes all email addresses to their simplest canonical form.
If an address contains a display name, the form Joe User <joe@example.com> is used; otherwise just the bare address joe@example.com (without angle brackets) is used.
This normalization applies to all headers NeoMutt generates, including aliases.
Initial Folder Selection#
The folder NeoMutt opens at startup is determined in the following order of precedence (highest to lowest):
The mailbox given with the
-fcommand-line option (highest priority).The
$MAILenvironment variable, if set.The
$MAILDIRenvironment variable, if set.The compile-time mail spool (
/var/spool/mail/$USERor similar; last fallback).The
$spool_fileconfig option overrides the compile-time default spool location.
New Mail Detection#
How Detection Works by Format#
NeoMutt detects new mail differently depending on the mailbox format:
Mbox / Mmdf NeoMutt compares the file’s access time against its modification time.
A folder is considered to have new mail if it was modified more recently than it was last accessed.
External tools (e.g. biff, frm) that read the mailbox without resetting its access time can prevent detection.
Backup tools and filesystems mounted with noatime can have the same effect.
NeoMutt resets the access time correctly when there is at least one unread, non-deleted, non-old message remaining in the folder.
If mtime/atime-based detection is unreliable in your setup, use file-size tracking instead:
set check_mbox_size
Note that check_mbox_size won’t detect changes that leave the file size unchanged.
Maildir New mail is assumed if the new/ subdirectory contains at least one message that is not marked deleted (see $maildir_trash).
MH A mailbox has new mail if there is at least one message in the unseen sequence defined by $mh_seq_unseen.
IMAP NeoMutt uses recent message counts reported by the server.
If $imap_idle is set, NeoMutt uses the IMAP IDLE extension when the server advertises it, for lower-latency notification.
POP3 NeoMutt does not poll POP3 folders for new mail — it only checks the currently open folder.
Controlling Notification Scope#
Set $mail_check_recent (on by default) to be notified only about mail that arrived since you last opened the mailbox.
Unset it to be notified of all new mail regardless:
unset mail_check_recent
Run a command whenever new mail arrives in the current inbox:
set new_mail_command = "notify-send 'New mail in NeoMutt'"
Polling Interval#
NeoMutt polls monitored mailboxes while idle in the index. The check interval is:
Local and IMAP folders —
$mail_check(seconds, default 5)POP folders —
$pop_check_interval
Mailboxes added with -nopoll are excluded from polling.
To also check all subscribed IMAP folders (not just those in :mailboxes):
set imap_check_subscribed
Inotify (Linux)#
When NeoMutt is compiled with inotify support, it receives immediate kernel notifications for new mail in locally monitored folders — no polling delay. This works for mail delivered by a local agent; it does not work for remote delivery over NFS or similar.
Inotify debug output is available at log level 3 (-d3 on the command line).