Archive for November, 2008

Mutt is a bulletproof email client

Mutt is a powerful text-based email client. It is used mainly by system administrators and/or those who work remotely in terminal sessions. I wanted to try mutt as an email client for my daily work. And after a week of use I don’t want to return back to Apple Mail.

I have two email accounts and a dozen of aliases. In my configuration together with mutt I use the following applications:

  • fetchmail – to retrieve messages from different email accounts
  • dropmail – to filter and to save received messages locally in maildir format
  • msmtp – to send messages using smtp servers
  • mairix – to index and search emails
  • emacs – to edit new messages and replies
  • aspell – to spell check messages
  • lynx – to view html attachments

The result is a small, powerful, and flexible email client. I can name a few inconveniences though:

  • It takes time for mutt to parse big maildir boxes (during startup and when changing boxes only).
  • There is no simple way to view another email (in a separate window) while you reply to a message. As a workaround you can keep another instance of mutt running just to view emails.

In overall mutt fits very well in the way I manage my daily emails.

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