mailtool — Process mailboxes
mailtool [options...]
mailtool is a diagnostic utility for handling various operations on mailboxes. mailtool's main uses include: display the list of folders in a mailbox; displaying list of messages in a mailbox; and copying mailboxes.
The following mailboxes can be accessed by mailtool:
userid@server[/options]An IMAP account. mailtool will prompt for the login password.
userid@server[/options]An IMAP account accessed via an encrypted SSL connection.
userid@server[/options]A POP3 account. mailtool will prompt for the login password.
userid@server[/options]A POP3 account accessed via an encrypted SSL connection.
pathA local maildir mailbox. path specifies the maildir's location
            relative to the home directory (NOT the current
            directory).
pathLocal mbox mail folders. path specifies the path to an mbox
            folder file, or a directory containing mbox folders,
            relative to the home directory (NOT the current
            directory).
pathLocal mbox mail folders, like “mbox:path”;
            additionally, the system spool mailbox is automatically
            copied to $HOME/Inbox,
            which is accessible as folder INBOX.
The name of a remote IMAP or POP3 server may be followed by one or more options that control various settings of the IMAP or POP3 connection:
/cramDo not open the account unless the server supports
            secure password authentication. Secure password
            authentication verifies the account's password using a
            challenge/response authentication mechanism (where the
            label "cram" comes from).
            The actual password is never actually transmitted to
            the server, and therefore cannot be intercepted while
            in transit over an untrusted network.
Secure password authentication is not supported by
            all servers. This option may not work with some
            servers. This option does not enable secure password
            authentication, it only mandates its use. If the server
            supports secure password authentication, it will be
            used even without the /cram option. Traditional
            userid/password authentication will be used only if the
            server does not implement secure password
            authentication. The /cram
            option makes secure password authentication
            mandatory.
The /cram option is
            marginally useful even with encrypted server
            connections. The secure password authentication never
            sends the explicit password to the server. Encryption
            makes it theoretically impossible to recover the
            password from an encrypted data connection; but with
            secure authentication the password is never sent over
            the connection in the first place (the password's
            validity is certified by exchanging certain
            mathematical calculations between the server and the
            client). If the server is compromised, the compromised
            server will not receive the account password (unless
            the password is recovered from the server in other
            ways).
/imapDo not use the SMAP if the server claims the
            availability of this experimental mail access protocol,
            and fall back to IMAP compatibility mode (this option
            is meaningful only with “imap://” and
            “imaps://”
            URLs).
/notlsDo not upgrade a plain connection to an encrypted one. This option is primarily used for testing and debugging purposes. Sometimes this option might be useful with servers that claim to offer encryption, but are unable to do so when taken up on their offer.
/novalidate-certDo not validate the server's SSL certificate when using an encrypted connection. Normally the mail server's SSL certificate must be validate when using an encrypted connection. The certificate's name must match the server's name, and the certificate must be signed by a trusted certificate authority.
The encrypted connection normally fails if the certificate cannot be validate. Validation requires that a list of trusted certificate authorities must be known and configured. It's simply impossible to know which certificate authorities are valid without an explicit list of valid, known, trusted, certificate authorities. If a trusted authority list is not configured, no certificate can be validated. If the server's certificate is a self-signed certificate (this is often used for testing purposes), or if it's not signed by a known authority, the encrypted connection fails.
This /novalidate-cert
            option disables certificate validation. The encrypted
            connection will be established even if the server's
            certificate would otherwise be rejected.
This option is applicable even when an encrypted IMAP or POP3 connection is not explicitly requested. Many mail servers are capable of automatically upgrading unencrypted connections to a fully-encrypted connection. If a mail server claims to be able to use encryption, then there's no reason not to use it. The result is that all encryption certification requirements still apply even when encryption is not explicitly requested.
mailtool -tree | -list
          account
-tree shows a hierarchical
        representation of mail folders in account. -list generates a simple folder listing,
        one folder name per line. -tree shows folder names, while
        -list shows the actual mail
        folder path in account.
mailtool -tree imap://jsmith@mail.example.com/novalidate-cert/cram
mailtool -create |
          -createdir folder name account
-create creates a new
        subfolder of folder in account. The new
        subfolder's name is name. -createdir creates a new folder directory
        (a folder that contains other folders).
mailtool -create INBOX.lists announcements maildir:Maildir
This command creates a new folder “announcements” as a subfolders of “INBOX.lists” in the local maildir.
mailtool -delete |
          -deletedir folder account
-delete deletes an existing
        folder in
        account.
-deletedir deletes a folder
        directory.
mailtool -delete INBOX.lists.announcements maildir:Maildir
mailtool -rename
          oldfolder
          folder
          name account
-renames renames an
        existing oldfolder. The folder is
        renamed as name,
        as a subfolder of folder. folder may be an empty
        string if the folder should be moved to the top level of
        account's folder
        hierarchy.
mailtool -rename INBOX.lists.announcements INBOX.lists Announcements maildir:Maildir
The folder “INBOX.lists.announcements” is
        renamed to “INBOX.lists.Announcements”.
        This slightly unusual way to rename folder allows folders
        to be relocated in the mail account's folder
        hierarchy.
mailtool -index
          folder
          account
-index downloads and prints
        a summary of all messages in folder, in account. The summary shows
        the sender's and recipients' address, the message's
        subject, and size.
mailtool -index INBOX imap://john@mail.example.com/novalidate-cert
mailtool -remove
          folder
          n account
-remove removes message
        #n (ranging from
        1 to the number of messages in the folder) in folder, in account. The message
        numbers may be obtained by using -index.
n may be a
        comma-separated list of message numbers, in strictly
        numerically increasing order. -remove confirms the list of messages to
        remove and issues a “Ready:” prompt. Press
        ENTER to
        remove the messages.
mailtool -remove INBOX 28,31 imap://john@mail.example.com/novalidate-cert
mailtool -filter
          folder
          account
-filter is a combination of
        -index and -remove. folder's index is
        downloaded, and the summary of each message is shown, one
        message at a time. Each message's summary is followed by a
        prompt: “Delete, Skip, or Exit”.
        Pressing D
        removes the message, S leaves the message
        unchanged, and E leaves the remaining
        messages unchanged.
mailtool -filter INBOX pop3://john@mail.example.com/novalidate-cert
-filter is not meant to
          be used with large folders. Unless messages are removed
          quickly, the connection to the server may be disconnected
          for inactivity.
mailtool [-recurse]
          -tofolder tofolder -copyto
          toaccount
          -fromfolder fromfolder fromaccount
This command copies an entire folder, fromfolder in fromaccount to a new folder, tofolder (which will be created, if
        necessary) in toaccount.
        Optionally, -recurse specifies
        that all subfolders of fromfolder should also be copied.
mailtool -tofolder INBOX -copyto maildir:Maildir \
    -fromfolder "INBOX" imap://mbox100@mail.example.com/novalidate-cert
mailtool -recurse -tofolder INBOX.converted_mail \
    -copyto maildir:Maildir -fromfolder "mail" \
        imap://mbox100@mail.example.com/novalidate-cert
        This example first copies the INBOX on the IMAP server
        to $HOME/Maildir, then copies
        subfolders of “mail” on the IMAP server to the
        “converted_mail” subfolder in
        the maildir.
mailtool -tofolder INBOX -copyto maildir:Maildir \
   -fromfolder "INBOX" inbox:mail
mailtool -recurse -tofolder INBOX.converted_mail \
    -copyto maildir:Maildir -fromfolder "" mbox:mail
        This example first copies $HOME/Inbox (accessed as the INBOX folder
        in inbox:mail) to $HOME/Maildir, then copies mbox folders
        from $HOME/mail to the
        “converted_mail” subfolder in
        the maildir.
Mail accounts that contain hybrid folders (folders that contain both messages and subfolders) can only be copied to account types that also support hybrid folders: either local maildirs, or to remote servers that support hybrid folders.