claws-mail1

Usage

Overview

Claws Mail is an email client (and news reader) based on GTK, running on the X Window System, and aiming for:

• Quick response
• Graceful, and sophisticated interface
• Easy configuration, intuitive operation
• Abundant features

Currently implemented features include:

• POP3 support
• IMAP4rev1 support
• integrated NetNews client
• unlimited multiple account handling
• thread display
• filtering
• MIME (attachments)
• built-in image view
• X-Face and (colour) Face support
• multiple MH folder support
• mbox importing / exporting
• external editor support
• message queueing
• automatic mail checking
• draft message function
• template function
• line-wrapping
• clickable URI
• XML-based address book
• LDAP, vCard, and JPilot support
• newly arrived and unread message management
• Mew/Wanderlust-like key bind
• printing
• APOP authentication support
• SMTP AUTH support
• SSL support (POP3, SMTP, IMAP4rev1)
• IPv6 support
• drag & drop (partially implemented)
• GnuPG support
• automake + autoconf support
• internationalization of UI messages by gettext
• support of many code sets, including UTF-8 (Unicode)
• support for plugins

This list is not complete.

Options

--compose [address]
--compose-from-file file
--subscribe uri
--attach file1 [file2]...
--insert file1 [file2]...
--import-mbox file
--receive
--receive-all
--cancel-receiving
--cancel-sending
--search folder type request [recursive]
--send
--status
--status folder[/subfolder]
--status-full
--status-full folder[/subfolder]
--statistics
--reset-statistics
--select [#mh/mailbox/]folder[/msg|/msgid], a file:// uri or an absolute path
--online
--offline
--exit
--debug
--toggle-debug
--help
--version
--version-full
--config-dir
--alternate-config-dir directory
--geometry [WxH][+X+Y]

Files

$HOME/Mail

Default directory for mail storage.

$PREFIX/share/claws-mail

Global program directory.

$PREFIX/share/claws-mail/manual

Manual files in HTML, PDF, PostScript and plain text format.

$PREFIX/share/claws-mail/themes

Global themes directory.

$PREFIX/lib/claws-mail/plugins

Directory for plugins.

$PREFIX/include/claws-mail

Directory for header files.

$HOME/.claws-mail

Default directory for user's configuration files directory.

$HOME/.claws-mail/imapcache/*

IMAP caches.

$HOME/.claws-mail/addrbook/*

Addressbook files.

$HOME/.claws-mail/autofaces/*

Automatic Faces and X-Faces files for accounts.

$HOME/.claws-mail/certs/*

SSL certificates received from mail servers.

$HOME/.claws-mail/tagsdb

Tags directory.

$HOME/.claws-mail/templates

User-defined templates directory.

$HOME/.claws-mail/themes

User's themes directory.

$HOME/.claws-mail/accountrc

Configuration for account(s).

$HOME/.claws-mail/actionsrc

User-defined custom actions.

$HOME/.claws-mail/addrbook/attributesrc

User-defined address book custom attributes.

$HOME/.claws-mail/claws.log

Claws Mail logfile.

$HOME/.claws-mail/clawsrc

Main configuration file.

$HOME/.claws-mail/command_history

User-specified commands.

$HOME/.claws-mail/customheaderrc

Configuration for custom headers for sending mail.

$HOME/.claws-mail/dispheaderrc

Configuration for custom display of headers in message view.

$HOME/.claws-mail/extraheaderrc

Editable extra headers to be added to compose window combobox.

$HOME/.claws-mail/folderitemrc

All folders' attributes.

$HOME/.claws-mail/folderlist.xml

Folder hierarchy listing.

$HOME/.claws-mail/matcherrc

Filtering and Processing function configuration.

$HOME/.claws-mail/menurc

Menu shortcut-key configuration.

$HOME/.claws-mail/messagesearch_history

User-specified searches in message bodies.

$HOME/.claws-mail/quicksearch_history

User-specified quick-search list.

$HOME/.claws-mail/messagesearch_history

User-specified searches in message bodies.

$HOME/.claws-mail/oauth2rc

Oauth2 configuration.

$HOME/.claws-mail/summary*_history

User-specified searches in message list.

$HOME/.claws-mail/passwordstorerc

User saved passwords.

$HOME/.claws-mail/tagsrc

User-specified tag list.

$HOME/.claws-mail/toolbar*.xml

User-defined custom toolbars.

%TEMP%\claws-win32.log (Windows only)

Claws Mail output file when --debug is enabled. If %TEMP% is not set it defaults to windows directory (usually C:\Windows) or C:\ if windows directory is not available.

%APPDATA%\Claws-mail\claws.log (Windows only)

Claws Mail log file.

Examples

To run this program the standard way type:

claws-mail

Alternatively you can run it with the following options:

--compose [address]

To open a Compose window.

--compose "mailto:%t?subject=%s&cc=%c&body=%b"

This syntax can be used in web-browsers and CLI to open a pre-populated Compose window. Possible fields after the destination recipient are: subject, from, cc, bcc, in-reply-to, body, insert (insert a file in body part, needs an absolute path), attach (attach a file, needs an absolute path, see also: --attach).

--compose-from-file file

Open composition window with data from the given file. Use - as file name for reading from standard input. Content format: headers first (To: header required) until an empty line is found, then mail body until end of file.

--subscribe uri

Subscribe to the given URI if possible.

--attach file1 [file2]...

Open composition window with specified files attached.

--insert file1 [file2]...

Open composition window with specified files inserted.

--receive

Receive new messages.

--receive-all

Receive new messages from all accounts.

--cancel-receiving

Cancel receiving of messages.

--cancel-sending

Cancel sending of messages.

--search folder type request [recursive]

Searches mail:
folder ex.: "#mh/Mailbox/inbox" or "Mail"
type: s[ubject],f[rom],t[o],e[xtended],m[ixed] or g: tag
request: search string
recursive: false if arg. starts with 0, n, N, f or F

--send

Send all queued messages.

--status

Show the total number of messages:
[new][unread][unread answers to marked][total]

--status folder[/subfolder]

Show the total number of messages in the specified folder:
[new][unread][unread answers to marked][total]

--status-full

Show the total number of messages per folder:
[new][unread][unread answers to marked][total]

--status-full folder[/subfolder]

Show the total number of messages int the specified folder:
[new][unread][unread answers to marked][total]

--statistics

Show session statistics.

--reset-statistics

Reset session statistics.

--select #mh/Mailbox/inbox/123

--select file://home/johndoe/Mail/inbox/123
--select /home/johndoe/Mail/inbox/123

On startup, jump to the specified folder/message.

--online

Start Claws Mail in (or switch to, if already running) online mode.

--offline

Start Claws Mail in (or switch to, if already running) offline mode.

--exit

Exit Claws Mail.

--debug

For debug mode (on Windows systems output is written to a file instead of standard error output, see Windows only on FILES section).

--toggle-debug

Toggle debug mode of the running Claws Mail instance.

--help

Display the help message.

--version

Display version number.

--version-full

Display version number and compiled-in features.

--config-dir

Display the CONFIG-DIR.

--alternate-config-dir dir

Start Claws Mail with the configuration stored in the [dir] directory.

--geometry [WxH][+X+Y]

Set initial X geometry of main window.

Environment

CLAWS_NO_CRASH

If defined disables crash dialog (only if Claws Mail has been built with crash dialog feature enabled).

DISPLAY

Default host and display number to use.

ETPANSERVER, ETPANPORT

When using a tunnel command to open server connections these temporary variables are set to the server name and server port respectively in the environment of the running command.

GPG_AGENT_INFO

The information to access the GPG agent if using GPG agent is enabled in GPG plugin preferences (this is usually set by the agent when launched, otherwise it likely means the GPG agent is not running).

G_BROKEN_FILENAMES

Assumes that filenames are in the locale encoding rather than in UTF-8.

HOME

Full path of the user's home directory.

LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE, LANG

Locale to use for non-windows systems (the first one not empty is used).

PILOT_CHARSET

If defined overrides default J-Pilot charset (CP1252).

POSIXLY_CORRECT

If defined regular expressions matching follows POSIX standards.

SESSION_MANAGER

If defined tries to use the Session Manager (only if Claws Mail has been built with libSM feature enabled).

SHELL

If defined overrides default shell "sh" used by Spamassassin plugin to launch spamc wrappers.

SSL_CERT_DIR

Use this CA certificates directory instead known system directories.

SSL_CERT_FILE

Use this CA certificates file instead of searching known system files.

USER

Used to initialize default "user_id" preference in newly created accounts.