NAME

       doveadm-move - Move messages matching the given search query into another mailbox

SYNOPSIS

       doveadm [GLOBAL OPTIONS] move [-S socket_path] -A destination [user source_user] search_query

       doveadm [GLOBAL OPTIONS] move [-S socket_path] -F file destination [user source_user] search_query

       doveadm  [GLOBAL  OPTIONS]  move  [-S  socket_path]  --no-userdb-lookup  destination  [user  source_user]
       search_query

       doveadm [GLOBAL OPTIONS] move [-S socket_path] -u user destination [user source_user] search_query

       doveadm [GLOBAL OPTIONS] copy [-S socket_path] -A destination [user source_user] search_query

       doveadm [GLOBAL OPTIONS] copy [-S socket_path] -F file destination [user source_user] search_query

       doveadm  [GLOBAL  OPTIONS]  copy  [-S  socket_path]  --no-userdb-lookup  destination  [user  source_user]
       search_query

       doveadm [GLOBAL OPTIONS] copy [-S socket_path] -u user destination [user source_user] search_query

DESCRIPTION

       doveadm  move  can  be used for moving mails between mailboxes for one or more users. The search_query is
       used to restrict which messages are moved into the destination mailbox.

       doveadm copy behaves the same as doveadm move, except that copied messages will  not  be  expunged  after
       copying.

       In the first form, doveadm(1) will iterate over all users, found in the configured

       In the second form, doveadm(1) will iterate over all users, found in the given

       In the third form, matching mails will be moved or copied only for given user(s).

GLOBAL OPTIONS

       Global doveadm(1)

       -D

           Enables verbosity and debug messages.

       -O

           Do  not  read any config file, just use defaults. The dovecot_storage_version setting defaults to the
           latest version, but can be overridden with

       -k

           Preserve entire environment for doveadm, not just import_environment setting.

       -v

           Enables verbosity, including progress counter.

       -i instance-name

           If using multiple Dovecot instances, choose the config file based on this instance name.

           See instance_name setting for more information.

       -c config-file

           Read configuration from the given config-file. By default it first  reads  config  socket,  and  then
           falls  back  to  /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf. You can also point this to config socket of some instance
           running compatible version.

       -o setting=value

           Overrides the configuration setting from /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf and from the userdb with the given
           value. In order to override multiple settings, the -o option may be specified multiple times.

OPTIONS

       -A

           If the -A option is present, the command will be performed  for  all  users.  Using  this  option  in
           combination with system users from userdb { driver = passwd } is not recommended, because it contains
           also users with a lower UID than the one configured with the first_valid_uid setting.

           When  the  SQL  userdb  module  is  used, make sure that the userdb_sql_iterate_query setting setting
           matches your database layout.

           When  using  the   LDAP   userdb   module,   make   sure   that   the   userdb_fields   setting   and
           userdb_ldap_iterate_fields  setting  settings  match  your  LDAP schema. Otherwise doveadm(1) will be
           unable to iterate over all users.

       -F file

           Execute the command for all the users in the file. This is similar to the -A option, but  instead  of
           getting  the  list of users from the userdb, they are read from the given file. The file contains one
           username per line.

       --no-userdb-lookup

           Do not perform userdb lookup. Use the USER environment variable to specify the username.

       -S socket_path

           The option's argument is either an absolute path to a local UNIX domain socket,  or  a  hostname  and
           port (hostname:port), in order to connect a remote host via a TCP socket.

           This allows an administrator to execute doveadm(1) mail commands through the given socket.

       -u user/mask

           Run  the  command  only  for the given user. It's also possible to use '*' and '?' wildcards (e.g. -u
           *@example.org).

ARGUMENTS

       destination

           The name of the destination mailbox, into which the mails should be moved or copied. The  destination
           mailbox must exist, otherwise this command will fail.

       search_query

           Move/copy messages matching the given search query. See doveadm-search-query(7) for details.

       user source_user

            followed by a valid user name. When this argument is present, doveadm(1) will apply the

           Limitation:  Currently  the  users,  specified  by  -u user and user source_user, must share the same
           system UID and GID.

EXAMPLE

       Move jane's messages - received in September 2011 - from her INBOX into her archive:

         doveadm move -u jane Archive/2011/09 mailbox INBOX BEFORE \
           2011-10-01 SINCE 01-Sep-2011

REPORTING BUGS

       Report bugs, including doveconf -n output, to the Dovecot Mailing List ⟨dovecot@dovecot.org⟩. Information
       about reporting bugs is available at: https://dovecot.org/bugreport.html

SEE ALSO

       doveadm(1)

78ffb79                                            March 2025                                    DOVEADM-MOVE(1)