AERC(1) General Commands Manual AERC(1) NAME aerc - a pretty good email client. SYNOPSIS aerc [-h] [-v] [-a ] [mailto:... | : | mbox:] For a guided tutorial, use :help tutorial from aerc, or man aerc- tutorial from your terminal. OPTIONS -h Show aerc usage help and exit. -v Print the installed version of aerc and exit. -a Load only the named account, as opposed to all configured accounts. It can also be a comma separated list of names. This option may be specified multiple times. The account order will be preserved. --aerc-conf Instead of using $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/aerc/aerc.conf use the file at the specified path for configuring aerc. --accounts-conf Instead of using $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/aerc/accounts.conf use the file at the specified path for configuring accounts. --binds-conf Instead of using $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/aerc/binds.conf use the file at the specified path for configuring binds. mailto:address[,address][?query[&query]] Open the composer with the address(es) in the To field. These addresses must not be percent encoded. If aerc is already running, the composer is started in this instance, otherwise aerc will be started. The following (optional) query parameters are supported: +--------------------------+----------------------------+ |Query | Description | +--------------------------+----------------------------+ |subject= | Subject line will be | | | completed with the | +--------------------------+----------------------------+ |body= | Message body will be | | | completed with the | +--------------------------+----------------------------+ |cc=
[,
] | Cc header will be | | | completed with the list of | | | addresses | +--------------------------+----------------------------+ |bcc=
[,
] | Bcc header will be | | | completed with the list of | | | addresses | +--------------------------+----------------------------+ |in-reply-to= | In-reply-to header will be | | | set to the message id | +--------------------------+----------------------------+ |account= | Specify the account (must | | | be in accounts.conf; | | | default is the selected | | | account) | +--------------------------+----------------------------+ |template= | Template sets the template | | | file for creating the | | | message | +--------------------------+----------------------------+ Note that reserved characters in the queries must be percent encoded. : Run an aerc-internal command as you would in Ex-Mode. See RUNTIME COMMANDS below. mbox: Open the specified mbox file as a virtual temporary account. RUNTIME COMMANDS To execute a command, press : to bring up the command interface. Commands may also be bound to keys, see aerc-binds(5) for details. In some contexts, such as the terminal emulator, is used to bring up the command interface. Different commands work in different contexts, depending on the kind of tab you have selected. Dynamic arguments are expanded following aerc-templates(7) depending on the context. For example, if you have a message selected, the following command: :filter -f "{{index (.From | emails) 0}}" Will filter all messages sent by the same sender. Aerc stores a history of commands, which can be cycled through in command mode. Pressing the up key cycles backwards in history, while pressing down cycles forwards. GLOBAL COMMANDS These commands work in any context. :help :man Display one of aerc's man pages in the embedded terminal. :help keys :man keys Display the active key bindings in the current context. :new-account [-t] Start the new account wizard. -t: Create a temporary account. Do not modify accounts.conf. :cd Changes aerc's current working directory. :z Changes aerc's current working directory using zoxide. If zoxide is not on $PATH., the command will not be registered. :change-tab [+|-] :ct [+|-] Changes the focus to the tab with the given name. If a number is given, it's treated as an index. If the number is prepended with + or -, the number is interpreted as a delta from the selected tab. If only a - is given, changes the focus to the previously selected tab. :exec Executes an arbitrary command in the background. Aerc will set the environment variables $account and $folder when the command is executed from an Account tab or an opened message. Note: commands executed in this way are not executed with the shell. :eml [] :preview [] Opens an eml file and displays the message in the message viewer. Can also be used in the message viewer to open an rfc822 attachment or in the composer to preview the message. :pwd Displays aerc's current working directory in the status bar. :send-keys Send keystrokes to the currently visible terminal, if any. Can be used to control embedded editors to save drafts or quit in a safe manner. Here's an example of quiting a Vim-like editor: :send-keys :wq! Note: when used in binds.conf (see aerc-binds(5)), angle brackets need to be escaped in order to make their way to the command: = :send-keys \:wq!\ This way the and the first keystrokes are passed to :send-keys, while the last keystroke is executed directly, committing the :send-keys command's execution. :term [...] :terminal [...] Opens a new terminal tab with a shell running in the current working directory, or the specified command. :move-tab [+|-] Moves the selected tab to the given index. If + or - is specified, the number is interpreted as a delta from the selected tab. :prev-tab [] :next-tab [] Cycles to the previous or next tab in the list, repeating times (default: 1). :pin-tab Moves the current tab to the left of all non-pinned tabs and displays the pinned-tab-marker (default: `) to the left of the tab title. :unpin-tab Removes the pinned-tab-marker from the current tab and returns the tab to its previous location. :prompt ... Displays the prompt on the status bar, waits for user input, then appends that input as the last argument to the command and executes it. The input is passed as one argument to the command, unless it is empty, in which case no extra argument is added. :menu [-c ""] [-e] [-b] [-a] [-d] Opens a popover dialog running sh -c "" (if not specified [general].default-menu-cmd will be used). When the command exits, all lines printed on its standard output will be appended to and executed as a standard aerc command like xargs(1) would do when used in a shell. A colon (:) prefix is supported for but is not required. :menu can be used without an external program by setting to -. This also acts as a fallback in case where no was specified at all or the executable in the was not found. -c "" Override [general].default-menu-cmd. See aerc-config(5) for more details. -e: Stop executing commands on the first error. -b: Do NOT spawn the popover dialog. Start the commands in the background (NOT in a virtual terminal). Use this if is a graphical application that does not need a terminal. may be fed with input text using the following flags: -a: All account names, one per line. E.g.: '' LF -d: All current account directory names, one per line. E.g.: '' LF -ad: All directories of all accounts, one per line. E.g.: '' '' LF Quotes may be added by aerc when either tokens contain special characters. The quotes should be preserved for . Examples: :menu -adc fzf :cf -a :menu -c 'fzf --multi' :attach :menu -dc 'fzf --multi' :cp :menu -bc 'dmenu -l 20' :cf :menu -c 'ranger --choosefiles=%f' :attach This may also be used in key bindings (see aerc-binds(5)): = :menu -adc fzf :cf -a :choose -o [-o ]... Prompts the user to choose from various options. :suspend Suspends the aerc process. Some ongoing connections may be terminated. :quit [-f] :exit [-f] Exits aerc. If a task is being performed that should not be interrupted (like sending a message), a normal quit call might fail. In this case, closing aerc can be forced with the -f option. MESSAGE COMMANDS These commands are valid in any context that has a selected message (e.g. the message list, the message in the message viewer, etc). :archive Moves the selected message to the archive. The available schemes are: flat: No special structure, all messages in the archive directory year: Messages are stored in folders per year month: Messages are stored in folders per year and subfolders per month :accept [-e|-E] Accepts an iCalendar meeting invitation. -e: Forces [compose].edit-headers = true for this message only. -E: Forces [compose].edit-headers = false for this message only. :accept-tentative [-e|-E] Accepts an iCalendar meeting invitation tentatively. -e: Forces [compose].edit-headers = true for this message only. -E: Forces [compose].edit-headers = false for this message only. :copy [-p] [-a ] :cp [-p] [-a ] Copies the selected message(s) to . -p: Create if it does not exist. -a: Copy to of . If does not exist, it will be created whether or not -p is used. :decline [-e|-E] Declines an iCalendar meeting invitation. -e: Forces [compose].edit-headers = true for this message only. -E: Forces [compose].edit-headers = false for this message only. :delete :delete-message Deletes the selected message. :envelope [-h] [-s ] Opens the message envelope in a dialog popup. -h: Show all header fields -s User-defined format specifier requiring two %s for the key and value strings. Default format: %-20.20s: %s :recall [-f] [-e|-E] Opens the selected message for re-editing. Messages can only be recalled from the postpone directory. -f: Open the message for re-editing even if it is not in the postpone directory. Aerc remembers the folder, so the further :postpone call will save the message back there. -e: Forces [compose].edit-headers = true for this message only. -E: Forces [compose].edit-headers = false for this message only. Original recalled messages are deleted if they are sent or postponed again. In both cases you have another copy of the message somewhere. Otherwise the recalled message is left intact. This happens if the recalled message is discarded after editing. It can be deleted with :rm if it is not needed. :forward [-A|-F] [-T ] [-e|-E] [
...] Opens the composer to forward the selected message to another recipient. -A: Forward the message and all attachments. -F: Forward the full message as an RFC 2822 attachment. -T Use the specified template file for creating the initial message body. Unless -F is specified, this defaults to what is set as forwards in the [templates] section of aerc.conf. -e: Forces [compose].edit-headers = true for this message only. -E: Forces [compose].edit-headers = false for this message only. :move [-p] [-a ] :mv [-p] [-a ] Moves the selected message(s) to . -p: Create if it does not exist. -a: Move to of . If does not exist, it will be created whether or not -p is used. :patch Patch management sub-commands. See aerc-patch(7) for more details. :pipe [-bmp] Downloads and pipes the selected message into the given shell command (executed with sh -c ""), and opens a new terminal tab to show the result. By default, the selected message part is used in the message viewer and the full message is used in the message list. Operates on multiple messages when they are marked. When piping multiple messages, aerc will write them with mbox format separators. -b: Run the command in the background instead of opening a terminal tab -m: Pipe the full message -p: Pipe just the selected message part, if applicable This can be used to apply patch series with git: :pipe -m git am -3 When at least one marked message subject matches a patch series (e.g. [PATCH X/Y]), all marked messages will be sorted by subject to ensure that the patches are applied in order. :reply [-acq] [-T ] [-A ] [-e|-E] Opens the composer to reply to the selected message. -a: Reply all -c: Close the view tab when replying. If the reply is not sent, reopen the view tab. -q: Insert a quoted version of the selected message into the reply editor -T Use the specified template file for creating the initial message body. If -q is specified, defaults to what is set as quoted-reply in the [templates] section of aerc.conf. -A_: Reply with the specified account instead of the current one. -e: Forces [compose].edit-headers = true for this message only. -E: Forces [compose].edit-headers = false for this message only. :read [-t] Marks the marked or selected messages as read. -t: Toggle the messages between read and unread. :unread [-t] Marks the marked or selected messages as unread. -t: Toggle the messages between read and unread. :flag [-t] [-a | -x ] Sets (enables) a certain flag on the marked or selected messages. -t: Toggle the flag instead of setting (enabling) it. -a: Mark message as answered/unanswered. -x : Mark message with specific flag. The available flags are (adapted from RFC 3501, section 2.3.2): Seen Message has been read Answered Message has been answered Flagged Message is flagged for urgent/special attention Draft Message is a draft :unflag [-t] Operates exactly like :flag, defaulting to unsetting (disabling) flags. :modify-labels [+|-]