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Faculty of Mathematics | Computerlab
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mutt

To read e-mail with mutt from the IMAP server, the follwing variables must be set or changed in the file ~/.muttrc  (please replace jdoe with your login name):

set spoolfile=imap://jdoe@imap.math.uni-bielefeld.de/INBOX
set folder=imap://jdoe@imap.math.uni-bielefeld.de/

An existing local inbox should then be copied to the IMAP server, using the following command:

/vol/opt/bin/local2imap ~/.inbox INBOX

For a large .inbox this can take a while - please be patient (you may have to answer some questions with yes).

In an analogous way, other local folders may be copied to the IMAP server, but this is not compulsory. You can also continue to use the local folders. The first argument of the above command is always the path to the local folder, and the second argument the path to the IMAP folder, relative to the IMAP folder directory.

All folder names starting with a = or + refer to the IMAP folder directory. Local folders can be addressed with their full path (without =  or +). In this way, both local and IMAP folders can continue to be used, and mail can be copied form local folders to IMAP folders, or vice versa. A local folder in the directory  ~/Mail can directly be opened with:

mutt -f ~/Mail/foldername

Unfortunately, it is not possible to configure more than one folder directory in mutt, such as one for IMAP folders and one for local folders. If an IMAP folder directory is present, local folders always have to be addressed with their full path.

As an alternative, one could continue to work with a local folder directory, and use IMAP only for the INBOX. This is achieved by setting the folder variable in ~/.muttrc to the desired local directory:

set folder=~/Mail

In doing so, a number of advantages of IMAP are given up (rapid search and opening of large folders), but the transition to IMAP becomes especially simple, and the local e-mail folders will continue to be used.

If you intend to use mutt directly on a notebook or an external computer, you will need to configure also the outgoing mail server:

set smtp_url=smtp://jdoe@smtp.math.uni-bielefeld.de:587

Since on such a computer you will have no Kerberos ticket available, you will need to authenticate with your password to the outgoing mail server, as well as to the IMAP server.