Browser Dialog#
Introduction – Where am I?#
The Browser Dialog is NeoMutt’s file and mailbox chooser. It appears whenever NeoMutt needs you to pick a mailbox, a folder on disk, or a file to attach, save, or inspect. Depending on the context, it behaves like a local file browser, an IMAP folder browser, or an NNTP/remote mailbox list.
1 drwxr-xr-x 1 mutt mutt 0K Mar 27 11:50 ../ 2 drwxr-xr-x 1 mutt mutt 0K Mar 28 13:46 address/ 3 drwxr-xr-x 1 mutt mutt 0K Mar 28 13:45 alias/ 4 drwxr-xr-x 1 mutt mutt 0K Mar 28 13:46 attach/ 5 -rw-r--r-- 1 mutt mutt 16K Mar 11 15:00 AUTHORS.md 6 drwxr-xr-x 1 mutt mutt 0K Mar 28 13:45 autocrypt/ 7 -rw-r--r-- 1 mutt mutt 40K Mar 28 10:33 auto.def 8 drwxr-xr-x 1 mutt mutt 0K Mar 11 15:00 autosetup/ 9 drwxr-xr-x 1 mutt mutt 0K Mar 28 13:46 bcache/ 10 drwxr-xr-x 1 mutt mutt 0K Mar 28 13:45 browser/ 11 -rw------- 1 mutt mutt 10K Mar 28 14:02 browser-shot.log0 12 -rw-r--r-- 1 mutt mutt 122K Mar 11 15:00 ChangeLog.md 13 drwxr-xr-x 1 mutt mutt 0K Mar 28 13:46 cli/ 14 drwxr-xr-x 1 mutt mutt 0K Mar 28 13:46 color/ 15 drwxr-xr-x 1 mutt mutt 0K Mar 28 13:46 commands/ 16 drwxr-xr-x 1 mutt mutt 0K Mar 28 13:45 complete/ 17 drwxr-xr-x 1 mutt mutt 0K Mar 28 13:45 compmbox/ 18 drwxr-xr-x 1 mutt mutt 0K Mar 28 13:45 compose/ 19 drwxr-xr-x 1 mutt mutt 0K Mar 28 13:46 compress/ 20 drwxr-xr-x 1 mutt mutt 0K Mar 28 13:46 config/ 21 -rw-r--r-- 1 mutt mutt 4.6K Mar 28 13:45 config.h 22 -rw-r--r-- 1 mutt mutt 16K Mar 28 13:45 config.log Directory [~/work/screenshot], File mask: !^\.[^.]
What am I looking at?#
The main list shows files, directories, or mailboxes, along with metadata such as permissions, owner, size, and modification date where available.
The highlighted row is the entry that will be opened, attached, or selected.
The status line shows the current directory or mailbox root and the active file mask.
On IMAP or NNTP backends, the list represents remote mailboxes rather than local files.
Prompts for masks, paths, and completion come through the Message Window.
What can I do?#
Move through directories, descend into the current directory, and go back to the parent.
Filter the listing with a file mask, switch between mailbox-only and all-file views, and sort the results.
Open the selected mailbox or choose the selected file for the calling action.
Subscribe, unsubscribe, create, rename, or delete remote mailboxes where the backend supports it.
Inspect the currently selected path before choosing it.
Full reference: Browser Functions, Generic Functions.
Where can I go next?#
Selecting a mailbox opens the Index Dialog.
Selecting a file returns to the caller, such as the Compose Dialog for attachments or the Attach Dialog for saving.
q cancels and returns to the dialog or prompt that opened the browser.
Prompts that feed the browser continue in the Message Window.
Where did I come from?#
Startup with
-yor-Gcan bring you here first.The Index Dialog opens the browser when you change folders and ask for browsing.
The Compose Dialog opens it when choosing files to attach or an Fcc folder.
Any filename or mailbox prompt can drop into the browser when you press ? or trigger completion.
How do I configure this?#
Start with Browser Config, Conn Options, and General Config.
Common options include
$browser_sort,$browser_sort_dirs_first,$folder_format,$mailbox_folder_format,$mask,$show_only_unread, and$folder.Useful commands include
:cd,:mailboxes,:named-mailboxes,:subscribe-to, and:unsubscribe-from.Colours come from Colour Objects, especially
indicator,status,message,warning, andnormal.