Render HTML Email with Mailcap

Prerequisites

1. Install a text-mode browser such as w3m, lynx, or elinks.

2. Locate your mailcap file ($mailcap_path) or decide where to create one.

Add a Mailcap Entry for HTML

1. Add a text/html entry to your mailcap file:

text/html; lynx -dump %s; copiousoutput

2. Save the mailcap file.

Expected result: NeoMutt can render HTML messages as text using lynx.

Choose a Different Renderer

1. Replace the command with your preferred tool:

text/html; w3m -dump -T text/html %s; copiousoutput

or

text/html; elinks -dump %s; copiousoutput

Expected result: HTML rendering uses your preferred program.

Auto-View HTML Parts

1. Enable autoview for HTML:

auto-view text/html

2. Open a message with HTML content.

Expected result: NeoMutt renders HTML parts automatically.

Verify Mailcap Search Order

1. Check where NeoMutt looks for mailcap files:

neomutt -nF /dev/null -Q mailcap_path

Expected result: you see the search path NeoMutt will use for mailcap.

Keep Mailcap Secure

1. Avoid backticks and untrusted shell expansions inside mailcap entries.

2. Use mailcap_sanitize if you need stricter controls on mailcap expansion.

Expected result: HTML rendering works without introducing unsafe command execution.

See also MIME Types and MIME.