mh-e: Folders
7 Organizing Your Mail with Folders
***********************************
This chapter discusses the things you can do with folders within MH-E.
The commands in this chapter are also found in the ‘Folder’ and
‘Message’ menus.
‘?’
Display cheat sheet for the MH-E commands (‘mh-help’).
‘!’
Repeat last output command (‘mh-refile-or-write-again’).
‘c’
Copy range to folder (‘mh-copy-msg’).
‘F ?’
Display cheat sheet for the commands of the current prefix in
minibuffer (‘mh-prefix-help’).
‘F '’
Display ticked messages (‘mh-index-ticked-messages’).
‘F c’
Delete range from the ‘unseen’ sequence (‘mh-catchup’).
‘F k’
Remove folder (‘mh-kill-folder’).
‘F l’
List all folders (‘mh-list-folders’).
‘F n’
Display unseen messages (‘mh-index-new-messages’).
‘F p’
Pack folder (‘mh-pack-folder’).
‘F q’
Display messages in any sequence (‘mh-index-sequenced-messages’).
‘F r’
Rescan folder (‘mh-rescan-folder’).
‘F s’
Search your MH mail (‘mh-search’).
‘F S’
Sort folder (‘mh-sort-folder’).
‘F u’
Undo all refiles and deletes in the current folder
(‘mh-undo-folder’).
‘F v’
Visit folder (‘mh-visit-folder’).
‘o’
Refile (output) range into folder (‘mh-refile-msg’).
‘q’
Quit the current MH-E folder (‘mh-quit’).
‘t’
Toggle between MH-Folder and MH-Folder Show modes
(‘mh-toggle-showing’).
‘u’
Undo pending deletes or refiles in range (‘mh-undo’).
‘x’
Process outstanding delete and refile requests
(‘mh-execute-commands’).
The ‘mh-folder’ customization group is used to tune these commands.
‘mh-new-messages-folders’
Folders searched for the ‘unseen’ sequence (default: ‘Inbox’).
‘mh-ticked-messages-folders’
Folders searched for ‘mh-tick-seq’ (default: ‘t’).
‘mh-large-folder’
The number of messages that indicates a large folder (default:
200).
‘mh-recenter-summary-flag’
On means to recenter the summary window (default: ‘off’).
‘mh-recursive-folders-flag’
On means that commands which operate on folders do so recursively
(default: ‘off’).
‘mh-sortm-args’
Additional arguments for ‘sortm’ (default: ‘nil’).
The following hooks are available.
‘mh-after-commands-processed-hook’
Hook run by ‘x’ after performing outstanding refile and delete
requests (default: ‘nil’).
‘mh-before-commands-processed-hook’
Hook run by ‘x’ before performing outstanding refile and delete
requests (default: ‘nil’).
‘mh-before-quit-hook’
Hook run by q before quitting MH-E (default: ‘nil’).
‘mh-folder-mode-hook’
Hook run by ‘mh-folder-mode’ when visiting a new folder (default:
‘nil’).
‘mh-kill-folder-suppress-prompt-hook’
Abnormal hook run at the beginning of ‘mh-kill-folder’ (default:
‘'mh-search-p’).
‘mh-pack-folder-hook’
Hook run by ‘mh-pack-folder’ after renumbering the messages
(default: ‘nil’).
‘mh-quit-hook’
Hook run by q after quitting MH-E (default: ‘nil’).
‘mh-refile-msg-hook’
Hook run by o after marking each message for refiling (default:
‘nil’).
The following faces are available for customizing the appearance of
the MH-Folder buffer. 
Scan Line Formats.
‘mh-folder-address’
Recipient face.
‘mh-folder-body’
Body text face.
‘mh-folder-cur-msg-number’
Current message number face.
‘mh-folder-date’
Date face.
‘mh-folder-deleted’
Deleted message face.
‘mh-folder-followup’
‘Re:’ face.
‘mh-folder-msg-number’
Message number face.
‘mh-folder-refiled’
Refiled message face.
‘mh-folder-sent-to-me-hint’
Fontification hint face in messages sent directly to us. The
detection of messages sent to us is governed by the scan format
‘mh-scan-format-nmh’ and regular expression
‘mh-scan-sent-to-me-sender-regexp’.
‘mh-folder-scan-format’
Sender face in messages sent directly to us. The detection of
messages sent to us is governed by the scan format
‘mh-scan-format-nmh’ and regular expression
‘mh-scan-sent-to-me-sender-regexp’.
‘mh-folder-subject’
Subject face.
‘mh-folder-tick’
Ticked message face.
‘mh-folder-to’
‘To:’ face.
The hook ‘mh-folder-mode-hook’ is called when visiting a new folder
in MH-Folder mode. This could be used to set your own key bindings, for
example:
(defvar my-mh-init-done nil
"Non-nil when one-time MH-E settings made.")
(defun my-mh-folder-mode-hook ()
"Hook to set key bindings in MH-Folder mode."
(if (not my-mh-init-done) ; only need to bind the keys once
(progn
(local-set-key "//" 'my-search-msg)
(local-set-key "b" 'mh-burst-digest) ; better use of ‘b’
(setq my-mh-init-done t))))
(add-hook 'mh-folder-mode-hook 'my-mh-folder-mode-hook)
(defun my-search-msg ()
"Search for a regexp in the current message."
(interactive) ; user function
(save-window-excursion
(other-window 1) ; go to next window
(isearch-forward-regexp))) ; string search; hit return
; when done
Create additional key bindings via mh-folder-mode-hook
MH-E has analogies for each of the MH ‘folder’ and ‘refile’
commands(1). To refile a message in another folder, use the command ‘o’
(‘mh-refile-msg’) (mnemonic: “output”). You are prompted for the folder
name (Folder Selection). Note that this command can also be
used to create folders. If you specify a folder that does not exist,
you will be prompted to create it. The hook ‘mh-refile-msg-hook’ is
called after a message is marked to be refiled.
If you are refiling several messages into the same folder, you can
use the command ‘!’ (‘mh-refile-or-write-again’) to repeat the last
refile or write (for the description of ‘>’ (‘mh-write-msg-to-file’),
Files and Pipes). You can use a range in either case (for
example, ‘C-u o 1 3 5-7 last:5 frombob <RET>’, Ranges).
If you’ve deleted a message or refiled it, but changed your mind, you
can cancel the action before you’ve executed it. Use ‘u’ (‘mh-undo’) to
undo a refile on or deletion of a single message. You can also undo
refiles and deletes for messages that are found in a given range (
Ranges).
Alternatively, you can use ‘F u’ (‘mh-undo-folder’) to undo all
refiles and deletes in the current folder.
If you’ve marked messages to be deleted or refiled and you want to go
ahead and delete or refile the messages, use ‘x’
(‘mh-execute-commands’). Many MH-E commands that may affect the
numbering of the messages (such as ‘F r’ or ‘F p’) will ask if you want
to process refiles or deletes first and then either run ‘x’ for you or
undo the pending refiles and deletes.
The command ‘x’ runs ‘mh-before-commands-processed-hook’ before the
commands are processed and ‘mh-after-commands-processed-hook’ after the
commands are processed. Variables that are useful with the former hook
include ‘mh-delete-list’ and ‘mh-refile-list’ which can be used to see
which changes will be made to the current folder, ‘mh-current-folder’.
Variables that are useful with the latter hook include
‘mh-folders-changed’, which lists which folders were affected by deletes
and refiles. This list will always include the current folder
‘mh-current-folder’.
If you wish to copy a message to another folder, you can use the
command ‘c’ (‘mh-copy-msg’) (see the ‘-link’ argument to ‘refile’(1)).
Like the command ‘o’, this command prompts you for the name of the
target folder and you can specify a range (Ranges). Note that
unlike the command ‘o’, the copy takes place immediately. The original
copy remains in the current folder.
The command ‘t’ (‘mh-toggle-showing’) switches between MH-Folder mode
and MH-Folder Show mode(2). MH-Folder mode turns off the associated
show buffer so that you can perform operations on the messages quickly
without reading them. This is an excellent way to prune out your junk
mail or to refile a group of messages to another folder for later
examination.
When you use ‘t’ to toggle from MH-Folder Show mode to MH-Folder
mode, the MH-Show buffer is hidden and the MH-Folder buffer is left
alone. Setting ‘mh-recenter-summary-flag’ to a non-‘nil’ value causes
the toggle to display as many scan lines as possible, with the cursor at
the middle. The effect of ‘mh-recenter-summary-flag’ is rather useful,
but it can be annoying on a slow network connection.
When you want to read the messages that you have refiled into
folders, use the command ‘F v’ (‘mh-visit-folder’) to visit the folder.
You are prompted for the folder name. The folder buffer will show just
unseen messages if there are any; otherwise, it will show all the
messages in the buffer as long there are fewer than ‘mh-large-folder’
messages. If there are more, then you are prompted for a range of
messages to scan. You can provide a prefix argument in order to specify
a range of messages to show when you visit the folder (Ranges).
In this case, regions are not used to specify the range and
‘mh-large-folder’ is ignored. Note that this command can also be used
to create folders. If you specify a folder that does not exist, you
will be prompted to create it.
If you forget where you’ve refiled your messages, you can find them
using ‘F s’ (‘mh-search’). Searching.
If you use a program such as ‘procmail’ to file your incoming mail
automatically, you can display new, unseen, messages using the command
‘F n’ (‘mh-index-new-messages’). All messages in the ‘unseen’ sequence
from the folders in ‘mh-new-messages-folders’ are listed. However, this
list of folders can be overridden with a prefix argument: with a prefix
argument, enter a space-separated list of folders, or nothing to search
all folders.
If you have ticked messages (Sequences), you can display them
using the command ‘F '’ (‘mh-index-ticked-messages’). All messages in
the ‘tick’ sequence from the folders in ‘mh-ticked-messages-folders’ are
listed. With a prefix argument, enter a space-separated list of
folders, or nothing to search all folders.
You can display messages in any sequence with the command ‘F q’
(‘mh-index-sequenced-messages’). All messages from the folders in
‘mh-new-messages-folders’ in the sequence you provide are listed. With
a prefix argument, enter a space-separated list of folders at the
prompt, or nothing to search all folders.
Set the options ‘mh-new-messages-folders’ and
‘mh-ticked-messages-folders’ to ‘Inbox’ to search the ‘+inbox’ folder or
‘All’ to search all of the top level folders. Otherwise, list the
folders that should be searched with the ‘Choose Folders’ menu item.
See ‘mh-recursive-folders-flag’.
Other commands you can perform on folders include: ‘F l’
(‘mh-list-folders’), to place a listing of all the folders in your mail
directory in a buffer called ‘*MH-E Folders*’ (Miscellaneous);
‘F k’ (‘mh-kill-folder’), to remove a folder; ‘F S’ (‘mh-sort-folder’),
to sort the messages by date (see ‘sortm’(1) to see how to sort by other
criteria); ‘F p’ (‘mh-pack-folder’), to pack a folder, removing gaps
from the numbering sequence; and ‘F r’ (‘mh-rescan-folder’), to rescan
the folder, which is useful to grab all messages in your ‘+inbox’ after
processing your new mail for the first time. If you don’t want to
rescan the entire folder, the commands ‘F r’ or ‘F p’ will accept a
range (Ranges).
The command ‘F p’ runs ‘mh-pack-folder-hook’ after renumbering the
messages. A variable that is useful with this hook is
‘mh-current-folder’.
By default, operations on folders work only one level at a time. Set
‘mh-recursive-folders-flag’ to non-‘nil’ to operate on all folders.
This mostly means that you’ll be able to see all your folders when you
press <TAB> when prompted for a folder name.
The hook ‘mh-kill-folder-suppress-prompt-functions’ is an abnormal
hook run at the beginning of the command ‘k’. The hook functions are
called with no arguments and should return a non-‘nil’ value to suppress
the normal prompt when you remove a folder. This is useful for folders
that are easily regenerated. The default value of ‘mh-search-p’
suppresses the prompt on folders generated by searching.
Use this hook with care. If there is a bug in your hook which
returns ‘t’ on ‘+inbox’ and you press ‘k’ by accident in the
‘+inbox’ folder, you will not be happy.
The option ‘mh-sortm-args’ holds extra arguments to pass on to the
command ‘sortm’(3) when a prefix argument is used with ‘F S’. Normally
default arguments to ‘sortm’ are specified in the MH profile. This
option may be used to provide an alternate view. For example,
‘'(\"-nolimit\" \"-textfield\" \"subject\")’ is a useful setting.
When you want to quit using MH-E and go back to editing, you can use
the ‘q’ (‘mh-quit’) command. This buries the buffers of the current
MH-E folder and restores the buffers that were present when you first
ran ‘M-x mh-rmail’. It also removes any MH-E working buffers whose name
begins with ‘ *mh-’ or ‘*MH-E ’ (Miscellaneous). You can later
restore your MH-E session by selecting the ‘+inbox’ buffer or by running
‘M-x mh-rmail’ again.
The two hooks ‘mh-before-quit-hook’ and ‘mh-quit-hook’ are called by
‘q’. The former one is called before the quit occurs, so you might use
it to perform any MH-E operations; you could perform some query and
abort the quit or call ‘mh-execute-commands’, for example. The latter
is not run in an MH-E context, so you might use it to modify the window
setup. If you find that ‘q’ buries a lot of buffers that you would
rather remove, you can use both ‘mh-before-quit-hook’ and ‘mh-quit-hook’
to accomplish that.
(defvar my-mh-folder-buffer-to-delete nil
"Folder buffer that is being quit.")
(defun my-mh-before-quit-hook ()
"Save folder buffer that is to be deleted."
(setq my-mh-folder-buffer-to-delete (current-buffer)))
(defun my-mh-quit-hook ()
"Kill folder buffer rather than just bury it."
(set-buffer my-mh-folder-buffer-to-delete)
(if (get-buffer mh-show-buffer)
(kill-buffer mh-show-buffer))
(kill-buffer (current-buffer)))
Kill MH-Folder buffer instead of burying it
You can use dired to manipulate the folders themselves. For example,
I renamed my ‘+out’ folder to the more common ‘+outbox’ by running dired
on my mail directory (‘M-x dired RET ~/Mail RET’), moving my cursor to
‘out’ and using the command ‘R’ (‘dired-do-rename’).
---------- Footnotes ----------
(1) See the sections Your Current Folder: folder
(http://rand-mh.sourceforge.net/book/mh/fol.html#Youfol) and Moving and
Linking Messages: refile
(http://rand-mh.sourceforge.net/book/mh/fol.html#Movref) in the MH book.
(2) For you Emacs wizards, this is implemented as an Emacs minor
mode.
(3) See the section Sorting Messages: sortm
(http://rand-mh.sourceforge.net/book/mh/sorsor.html) in the MH book.
Info Catalog
mh-e: Reading Mail
mh-e: Top
mh-e: Sending Mail