Provided by: meli_0.8.11+dfsg-1_amd64 
NAME
meli — Tutorial for the meli terminal e-mail client
SYNOPSIS
meli [...]
DESCRIPTION
meli is a terminal mail client aiming for extensive and user-friendly configurability.
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INTRODUCTION
To quit meli press ⟨q⟩ (shortcuts.general.quit) at any time. When launched for the first time, meli
will search for its configuration directory, $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/meli/. If it doesn't exist, you will be
asked if you want to create one and presented with a sample configuration file
($XDG_CONFIG_HOME/meli/config.toml) that includes the basic settings required for setting up accounts
allowing you to copy and edit right away. See meli.conf(5) for the available configuration options.
At any time, you may press ⟨?⟩ (shortcuts.general.toggle_help) for a searchable list of all available
actions and shortcuts, along with every possible setting and command that your version supports.
Each time a shortcut is mentioned in this document, you will find a parenthesis next to it with the name
of the shortcut setting along with its section in the configuration settings so that you can modify it if
you wish.
For example, to set the toggle_help shortcut mentioned in the previous paragraph, add the following to
your configuration:
[shortcuts]
general.toggle_help = 'F1'
Or alternatively:
[shortcuts.general]
toggle_help = 'F1'
To go to the next tab on the right, press ⟨T⟩ (shortcuts.general.next_tab).
INTERACTING WITH meli
You will be interacting with meli in four primary ways:
1. keyboard shortcuts in NORMAL mode.
2. commands with arguments in COMMAND mode.
3. regular text input in text input widgets in INSERT mode.
4. any kind of input that gets passed directly into an embedded terminal in EMBED mode.
MODES
meli is a modal application, just like vi(1). This means that pressing the same keys in different modes
would yield different results. This allows you to separate how the input is interpreted without the need
to focus your input with a mouse.
NORMAL This is the default mode of meli. All keyboard shortcuts work in this mode.
COMMAND Commands are issued in COMMAND mode, by default started with ⟨:⟩
(shortcuts.general.enter_command_mode) and exited with ⟨Esc⟩ key.
EMBED This is the mode of the embed terminal emulator. To exit an embedded application, issue
⟨Ctrl-C⟩ to kill it or ⟨Ctrl-Z⟩ to stop the program and follow the instructions on meli to
exit.
INSERT This mode is entered when pressing ⟨Enter⟩ on a cursor selected text input field, and it
captures all input as text input. It is exited with the ⟨Esc⟩ key.
ACTIVE SHORTCUTS POPUP
By pressing ⟨?⟩ (shortcuts.general.toggle_help) at any time, the shortcuts popup display status gets
toggled. You can find all valid shortcuts for the current UI state you are in.
┌─shortcuts──Press ? to close────────────────────────────────┐
│ ▀│
│ use COMMAND "search" to find shortcuts █│
│ Use Up, Down, Left, Right to scroll. █│
│ █│
│ pager █│
│ █│
│ PageDown page_down █│
│ PageUp page_up │
│ j scroll_down │
│ k scroll_up │
│ │
│ view mail │
│ │
│ c add_addresses_to_contacts │
│ e edit │
│ u toggle_url_mode │
│ a open_attachment │
│ m open_mailcap │
│ R reply │
│ C-r reply_to_author │
│ C-g reply_to_all │
│ C-f forward │
│ M-r view_raw_source │
│ h toggle_expand_headers ▄│
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Shows active shortcuts in order of the widget hierarchy.
MAIN VIEW
┌───────────────────────┐
├────┼──────────────────┤
│___ │ ___________ │
│ _ │ _______________ │
│ _ │__________________│
│ _ │ ___________ │
│ │ _____ │
│ │ │
└────┴──────────────────┘
The main view's layout.
This is the view you will spend more time with in meli.
Press ⟨`⟩ (shortcuts.listing.toggle_menu_visibility) to toggle the sidebars visibility.
Press ⟨Left⟩ (shortcuts.listing.focus_right) to switch focus on the sidebar menu. Press ⟨Right⟩
(shortcuts.listing.focus_left) to switch focus on the e-mail list.
On the e-mail list, press ⟨k⟩ (shortcuts.listing.scroll_up) to scroll up, and ⟨j⟩
(shortcuts.listing.scroll_down) to scroll down. Press ⟨Enter⟩ (shortcuts.listing.open_entry) to open an
e-mail entry and ⟨i⟩ (shortcuts.listing.exit_entry) to exit it.
The sidebar.
┌─────────────┉┉┉┉┉✂
│ mail▐ contact li✂
│personal account ✂
│ 0 INBOX ✂
│ 1 ┣━Sent ✂
│ 2 ┣━Lists ✂
│ 3 ┃ ┣━meli-dev ✂
│ 4 ┃ ┗━meli ✂
│ 5 ┣━Drafts ✂
│ 6 ┣━Trash ✂
│ 7 ┗━foobar ✂
┇ 8 Trash ✂
✂ ✂ ✂ ✂ ✂ ✂ ✂ ✂ ✂ ✂
Press ⟨k⟩ (shortcuts.listing.scroll_up) to scroll up, and ⟨j⟩ (shortcuts.listing.scroll_down) to scroll
down.
Press ⟨Enter⟩ (shortcuts.listing.open_mailbox) to open an entry (either a mailbox or an account name).
Entering an account name will show you a page with details about the account and its network connection,
depending on the backend.
While focused in the sidebar, you can “collapse” a mailbox tree, if it has children, and you can open it
with ⟨Space⟩ (shortcuts.listing.toggle_mailbox_collapse). You can have mailbox trees collapsed on
startup by default by setting a mailbox's collapsed setting to true. See meli.conf(5) section MAILBOXES
for details.
You can increase the sidebar's width with ⟨Ctrl-p⟩ (shortcuts.listing.increase_sidebar) and decrease
with ⟨Ctrl-o⟩ (shortcuts.listing.decrease_sidebar).
The status bar.
┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────┈┈
│NORMAL | Mailbox: Inbox, Messages: 25772, New: 3006
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────┈┈
The status bar shows which mode you are, and the status message of the current view. In the pictured
example, it shows the status of a mailbox called “Inbox” with lots of e-mails.
The number modifier buffer.
┈┈────────────┐
12 │
┈┈────────────┘
Some commands may accept a number modifier. For example, scroll down commands can receive a multiplier n
to scroll down n entries. Another use of the number buffer is opening URLs inside the pager. See
“PAGER” for an explanation of interacting with URLs in e-mails.
Pressing numbers in NORMAL mode will populate this buffer. To erase it, press the ⟨Esc⟩ key.
MAIL LIST
There are four different list styles:
- "plain" which shows one line per e-mail.
- "threaded" which shows a threaded view with drawn tree structure.
- "compact" which shows one line per thread which can include multiple e-mails.
- "conversations" which shows more than one line per thread which can include multiple e-mails with
more details about the thread.
Plain view.
│42 Fri, 02 Sep 2022 19:51 xxxxxxxxxxxxx < [PATCH 3/8] │
│43 Fri, 02 Sep 2022 19:51 xxxxxxxxxxxxx < [PATCH 2/8] │
│44 Fri, 02 Sep 2022 19:51 xxxxxxxxxxxxx < [PATCH 1/8] │
|45 Fri, 02 Sep 2022 19:51 xxxxxxxxxxxxx < [PATCH 0/8] |
│46 Fri, 02 Sep 2022 18:18 xxxxxxxx <xxxxx Re: [PATCH 3│
Threaded view.
│12 9 hours ago xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [PATCH v3 0│
│13 9 hours ago xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ├─>[PATCH │
│14 9 hours ago xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ├─>[PATCH │
|15 9 hours ago xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ├─>[PATCH |
│16 9 hours ago xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ├─>[PATCH │
│17 9 hours ago xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx └─>[PATCH │
│18 2022-08-23 01:23:51 xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [RFC v4 00/│
│19 2022-08-23 01:23:52 xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ├─>[RFC v4│
|20 2022-08-30 10:30:16 xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx │ └─> |
│21 6 days ago xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx │ └─> │
│22 2022-08-23 01:23:53 xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ├─>[RFC v4│
Compact view.
│18 2022-…:38 xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [PATCH v3 3/3] u…_l() (2) │
|19 2022-…:49 xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [PATCH v8 0/7] A…e (3) |
│20 2022-…:10 xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [PATCH v8 2/7] f…s (2) │
│21 2022-…:38 xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [PATCH v8 3/7] b…s (2) │
│22 2022-…:53 xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [PATCH v6 00/10] p…g (31) │
Conversations view.
│[PATCH v2] xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (5) │
|1 day ago▁▁▁▁xxxxxxxxxxxxx <xxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxx>, xxxxx│
│ |
│[PATCH v2 0/8] xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx│
│1 day ago▁▁▁▁xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <xxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, xx│
| │
│[PATCH 0/2] xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (4) |
│2 days ago▁▁▁▁xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx>, xxxxx│
│ │
│[PATCH 0/8] xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (12) │
│2 days ago▁▁▁▁xxxxxxxxxxxxx <xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxx>, xxxxxxxxx│
Performing actions on entries and/or selections.
Press ⟨V⟩ (shortcuts.listing.select_entry) to toggle the selection of a single entry. ⟨v⟩
(shortcuts.listing.select_motion) can be prefixed by a number modifier and affixed by a scrolling motion
(up or down) to select multiple entries. Simple set operations can be performed on a selection with
these shortcut modifiers:
- Union modifier: ⟨Ctrl-u⟩ (shortcuts.listing.union_modifier)
- Difference modifier: ⟨Ctrl-d⟩ (shortcuts.listing.diff_modifier)
- Intersection modifier: ⟨Ctrl-i⟩ (shortcuts.listing.intersection_modifier)
To set an entry as "read" , use the ⟨n⟩ (shortcuts.listing.set_seen) shortcut. To set an entry as
"unread" , use the command
set unseen
which also has its complement
set seen
action.
For e-mail backends that support flags you can use the following commands on entries and selections to
modify them:
flag set FLAG
flag unset FLAG
For e-mail backends that support tags (like "IMAP" or "notmuch") you can use the following commands on
entries and selections to modify them:
tag add TAG
tag remove TAG
(see meli.conf(5) TAGS, settings colors and ignore_tags for how to set tag colors and tag visibility) You
can clear the selection with the ⟨Esc⟩ key.
PAGER
You can open an e-mail entry by pressing ⟨Enter⟩ (shortcuts.listing.open_entry). This brings up the
e-mail view with the e-mail content inside a pager.
┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│Date: Sat, 21 May 2022 16:16:11 +0300 ▀│
│From: Narrator <narrator@example.com> █│
│To: Stanley <427@example.com> █│
│Subject: The e-mail ending █│
│Message-ID: <gambheerata@example.com> █│
│ █│
│The story, and the choices, or what have you, and therefore█│
│by becoming it is! So on and so forth, until inevitably, we │
│all until the end of time. At which time, everything all at │
│once, so now you see? Blah, blah, blah, rah, rah, rah... │
│We've eaten too much and it can't be just yet. No, no! │
│Until two-hundred and forty-five! But the logic of │
│elimination, working backwards, the deduction therefore │
│becomes impossible to manufacture. It went on for nearly │
│ten thousand years, until just yesterday. Here and there, │
│forward and back, and never a moment before lunchtime. It │
│can't be! It's the only thing there is! How many billions │
│left until so much more than forever ago! Which is why I │
│say: │
│ │
│The story, and the choices, or what have you, and therefore │
│by becoming it is! So on and so forth, until inevitably, we▄│
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
The pager displaying an e-mail.
The pager is simple to use. Scroll with the following:
Go to next pager page ⟨PageDown⟩ (shortcuts.pager.page_down)
Go to previous pager page ⟨PageUp⟩ (shortcuts.pager.page_up)
Scroll down pager. ⟨j⟩ (shortcuts.pager.scroll_down)
Scroll up pager. ⟨k⟩ (shortcuts.pager.scroll_up)
All scrolling shortcuts can be prefixed with a number modifier which will act as a multiplier.
The pager can enter a special url mode which will prefix all detected hyperlinks and e-mail addresses
with a number inside square brackets ⟨u⟩ (shortcuts.pager.toggle_url_mode). Writing down a chosen number
as a number modifier and pressing ⟨g⟩ (shortcuts.envelope_view.go_to_url) will attempt to open the link
with the system's default open command (xdg-open(1) in supported OSes, and open(1) on MacOS). To
override with a custom launcher, see "pager" configuration setting "url_launcher" (see meli.conf(5) PAGER
for more details).
MAIL VIEW
Other things you can do when viewing e-mail:
- Most importantly, you can exit the mail view with: ⟨i⟩ (shortcuts.listing.exit_entry)
- Add addresses from the e-mail headers to contacts: ⟨c⟩
(shortcuts.envelope_view.add_addresses_to_contacts)
- Open an attachment by entering its index as a number modifier and pressing: ⟨a⟩
(shortcuts.envelope_view.open_attachment)
- Open an attachment by its mailcap(4) entry by entering its index as a number modifier and pressing:
⟨m⟩ (shortcuts.envelope_view.open_mailcap)
- Reply to envelope: ⟨R⟩ (shortcuts.envelope_view.reply)
- Reply to author: ⟨Ctrl-r⟩ (shortcuts.envelope_view.reply_to_author)
- Reply to all/Reply to list/Follow up: ⟨Ctrl-g⟩ (shortcuts.envelope_view.reply_to_all)
- Forward e-mail: ⟨Ctrl-f⟩ (shortcuts.envelope_view.forward)
- Expand extra headers: (References and others) ⟨h⟩ (shortcuts.envelope_view.toggle_expand_headers)
- View envelope source in a pager: (toggles between raw and decoded source) ⟨M-r⟩
(shortcuts.envelope_view.view_raw_source)
- Return to envelope_view if viewing raw source or attachment: ⟨r⟩
(shortcuts.envelope_view.return_to_normal_view)
COMPOSING
To compose an e-mail, you can either start with an empty draft by pressing ⟨m⟩
(shortcuts.listing.new_mail) which opens a composer view in a new tab. To reply to a specific e-mail,
when in envelope view you can select the specific action you want to take:
- Reply to envelope. ⟨R⟩ (shortcuts.envelope_view.reply)
- Reply to author. ⟨Ctrl-r⟩ (shortcuts.envelope_view.reply_to_author)
- Reply to all. ⟨Ctrl-g⟩ (shortcuts.envelope_view.reply_to_all)
To launch your editor, press ⟨e⟩ (shortcuts.composing.edit). To send your draft, press ⟨s⟩
(shortcuts.composing.send_mail). To save the draft without submission, enter the command
close
and select "save as draft". You can return to the draft by going to your "Drafts" mailbox and selecting
⟨e⟩ (shortcuts.envelope_view.edit).
┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ mail▐ contact list ▐ composing ▍███████████████████████│
│ COMPOSING MESSAGE │
│ Date Mon, 05 Sep 2022 17:49:19 +0300 │
│ From myself <myself@example.com>░░░░ │
│ To friend <myfriend@example.com>░░ │
│ Cc ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ │
│ Bcc ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ │
│ Subject This is my subject!░░░░░░░░░░░░ │
│ │
│ no attachments │
│ ☐ don't sign │
│ ☐ don't encrypt │
│ │
│ Hello friend!░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ │
│ ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ │
│ ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ │
│ │
│NORMAL | Mailbox: Inbox, Messages: 25772, New: 3006 │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
The lightly highlighted cells represent text input fields.
If you enable the embed terminal option, you can launch your terminal editor of choice when you press
edit.
┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ mail▐ contact list ▐ composing ▍███████████████████████│
│ ╓COMPOSING MESSAGE┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄╖ │
│ ║ p/v/f/h/5/T/m/07f56b6e-ec09-49d9-b8d8-f0c5a81e7826 ║ │
│ ║ 7 Date: Mon, 05 Sep 2022 18:43:10 +0300 ║ │
│ ║ 6 From: Mister Cardholder <mrholder@example.com> ║ │
│ ║ 5 To: ║ │
│ ║ 4 Cc: ║ │
│ ║ 3 Bcc: ║ │
│ ║ 2 Subject: ║ │
│ ║ 1 User-Agent: meli 0.7.2 ║ │
│ ║8 █ ║ │
│ ║~ ║ │
│ ║~ ║ │
│ ║~ ║ │
│ ║~ ║ │
│ ║ N… <6e-ec09-49d9-b8d8-f0c5a81e7826 100% ㏑:8 ℅:1║ │
│ ╚════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ │
│ │
│ │
│ ☐ don't sign │
│ ☐ don't encrypt │
│ no attachments │
│ │
│EMBED | Mailbox: Inbox, Messages: 25772, New: 3006 │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
nvim(1) running inside the composing tab.
The double line border annotates the area of the embedded terminal, the actual embedding is seamless.
composing mail commands
add-attachment PATH in composer, add PATH as an attachment
add-attachment < CMD ARGS in composer, pipe CMD ARGS output into an attachment
add-attachment-file-picker Launch command defined in the configuration value
file_picker_command in meli.conf(5) TERMINAL
add-attachment-file-picker < CMD ARGS
Launch command CMD ARGS. The command should print file paths in
stdout, separated by NUL bytes. Example usage with fzf:
add-attachment-file-picker < fzf --print0
remove-attachment INDEX remove attachment with given index
toggle sign toggle between signing and not signing this message. If the gpg
invocation fails then the mail won't be sent. See meli.conf(5) PGP
for PGP configuration.
save-draft saves a copy of the draft in the Draft folder
THEMES
See meli-themes(5) for documentation on how to theme meli.
SEE ALSO
meli(1), meli.conf(5), meli-themes(5), xdg-open(1), mailcap(5)
AUTHORS
Copyright 2017–2024 Manos Pitsidianakis <manos@pitsidianak.is>
Released under the GPL, version 3 or greater. This software carries no warranty of any kind. (See
COPYING for full copyright and warranty notices.)
Links
Website: https://meli-email.org
Main git repository and issue tracker: https://git.meli-email.org/meli/meli
Official read-only git mirror on codeberg.org: https://codeberg.org/meli/meli
Official read-only git mirror on github.com: https://github.com/meli/meli
meli crate on crates.io: https://crates.io/crates/meli
Debian March 10, 2024 MELI(7)