Mutt is a simple, configurable mail user agent MUA/email client. I got tired of using webmail to check my email, so I got Mutt set up on my computer instead. Mutt is intended to be an email browser, so most versions don't have built in SMTP support. For a simple setup, you can use an external SMTP client like msmtp, which is how we'll do it in the examples below.

Install

For Debian-type distros (e.g. Debian, Ubuntu, …), you can install Mutt and msmpt with

$ apt-get install mutt msmtp

Local account

Mutt is a very flexible beast, and in the past I've used some of the more complicated setups described below. However, I eventually broke down and got a domain name, after which it made more sense to setup a local Postfix server, and have Mutt interact with this local server. I'll keep the IMAP/POP examples below because they might be useful for those of you that don't want to run your own mail server ;).

Single IMAP account

You configure Mutt with the file ~/.muttrc. To set it up with the Drexel email system, I looked up the server addresses, and created the .muttrc file:

# login information
set imap_user='<your-username>@drexel.edu'
set imap_pass='<your-password>'
set from='<your-username>@drexel.edu'
set use_from=yes # required so msmtp knows which account to use to send mails

# setting your realname is optional, but drexel addresses can be cryptic...
set realname='<your-realname>'

# email server location
set spoolfile=imaps://<your-username>@imap.mail.drexel.edu:993/INBOX
set folder=imaps://<your-username>@imap.mail.drexel.edu:993/

# use msmtp for sending mail
set sendmail=/usr/bin/msmtp # Debian-style system path, yours may be different

# save copies of sent email to the ${folder}Sent directory
# the '+' expands to $folders (like '~' to $HOME in bash)
set record=+Sent

set mail_check=600 # check for new mail every 10 minutes when user is active
set timeout=600    # check for new mail every 10 min. when user is not active

set editor='/usr/bin/emacs -nw'   # use emacs for writing emails
set edit_headers                  # allow editing headers while you're in emacs

Since this file contains your password, you should not allow other users to read it.

$ chmod 600 ~/.muttrc

This still isn't terribly secure, so you could remove the password line entirely, in which case Mutt prompts you for it when it tries to log in (just like webmail does).

The mail_check and timeout settings set up how often Mutt checks for new mail, which I've set to be pretty slow. You can type $ to sync, whenever you want to send outgoing mail or check for new mail.

Googling .muttrc should turn up tons of other goodies, or try man muttrc.

You also have to configure msmtp with a ~/.msmtprc file:

account default
     host smtp.mail.drexel.edu
     from <your-username>@drexel.edu

# use STMP authentication
     auth on
     user <your-username>
     password <your-password>

# use TLS encryption
     tls on
     tls_trust_file /etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt

To find information on a given SMTP server from the command line, use

$ msmtp --host=smtp.some.domain --server-info

The same security issues with plain text passwords apply to .msmtprc, so chmod 600 it, or possibly remove your password information entirely.

Usage

There's list of basic shortcuts across the top of the Mutt screen. Most importantly, ?:Help, which will give a list of all the current shortcuts. An excellent tutorial page is my first mutt.

Multiple IMAP accounts

I finally had some time to play around and get Drexel mail and Gmail working at the same time. The basic setup is the same as above, using msmtp to send the mail and Mutt's built in IMAP capability to get it from the servers.

First configure msmtp with:

# ~/.msmtp
# Mostly from Peter Garrett's examples
#  https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-users/2007-September/122698.html
# Accounts from Scott Robbins' `A Quick Guide to Mutt'
#  http://home.nyc.rr.com/computertaijutsu/mutt.html

account drexel
     host smtp.mail.drexel.edu
     from <drexel-from-address>@drexel.edu
     auth on
     user <drexel-username>
     password <drexel-password>
     tls on
     tls_trust_file /etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt
     #tls_trust_file /etc/pki/tls/cert.pem

account gmail
     host smtp.gmail.com
     from <gmail-from-address>@gmail.com
     user <gmail-from-address>@gmail.com
     password <gmail password>
     port 587
     auth on
     tls on
     tls_trust_file /etc/pki/tls/cert.pem

account default : drexel

This sets msmtp up so it can connect to either mail server. <drexel-username> is your username (abc123), <drexel-from-address> can be the same as <drexel-username>, but you can use any address you've set up as an alias. <gmail-from-address>@gmail.com is your full gmail email address. The tls_trust_file line depends on your distribution. For Gentoo and Debian-based distributions, use the ca-certificates.crt line; and for Red Hat-based distributions, use the cert.pem line. I don't know where the certificate information is stored for other distributions, but googling about should find it.

Configure mutt with

# ~/.muttrc

mailboxes imaps://<drexel-username>@imap.mail.drexel.edu imaps://<gmail-username>@gmail.com@imap.gmail.com

source ~/.mutt/common
source ~/.mutt/drexel

# from http://wiki.mutt.org/?MuttGuide/UseIMAP
# account-hook to set up connection parameters (username, password, etc.)
# and folder hook for everything else.
account-hook . 'set imap_user=<drexel-username>@drexel.edu imap_pass="<drexel-password>"'
account-hook imaps://<drexel-username>@imap.mail.drexel.edu \
        'set imap_user=<drexel-username>@drexel.edu imap_pass="<drexel-password>"'
account-hook imaps://<gmail-username>@gmail.com@imap.gmail.com \
        'set imap_user=<gmail-username>@gmail.com imap_pass="<gmail-password>"'
folder-hook imaps://<drexel-username>@imap.mail.drexel.edu 'source ~/.mutt/drexel'
folder-hook imaps://<gmail-username>@gmail.com@imap.gmail.com 'source ~/.mutt/gmail'

# switch FROM field so msmtp changes sending account
# http://home.nyc.rr.com/computertaijutsu/mutt.html
macro generic '<esc>1' ":set from='<drexel-from-address>@drexel.edu'"
macro generic '<esc>2' ":set from='<gmail-username>@gmail.com'"
# no send2-hook in version 1.4.2.2i
send-hook '~f <drexel-from-address>@drexel.edu' 'set sendmail="/usr/local/bin/msmtp "'
send-hook '~f <gmail-username>@gmail.com' 'set sendmail="/usr/local/bin/msmtp -a gmail"'
#send-hook '~f <drexel-from-address>@drexel.edu' 'set sendmail="/usr/bin/msmtp "'
#send-hook '~f <gmail-username>@gmail.com' 'set sendmail="/usr/bin/msmtp -a gmail"'

set use_from=yes # required so msmtp knows which account to use to send mails

This sets up your two mailboxes (drexel and gmail) where you can receive mail. It also sets up methods for switching between the two accounts. To ease in configuring the two accounts, we split most of the configuration details into ~/.mutt/common, ~/.mutt/drexel, and ~/.mutt/gmail. Sourcing common brings in some configuration commands shared by both accounts. The drexel and gmail files contain account-specific configuration commands. All the password information is in .muttrc and .msmtprc though, so be sure to chmod 600 them. Make sure you get the path to msmtp right for your system (which msmtp should find it).

Note that I removed the folder-hook . 'source ~/.mutt/drexel' line that had been in my previous version. This line was stupid and switched back to my drexel settings whenever I left my Gmail inbox (say for my Gmail Sent Mail box). Without it, Mutt has been behaving much more intuitively.

The specific configuration files are:

The common configuration (these are all optional):

#~/.mutt/common
set realname='<your-realname>'

set move=no        # stop asking to "move read messages to mbox"

set mail_check=600 # check for new mail every 10 minutes when user is active
set timeout=600    # check for new mail every 10 minutes when user is not active

set editor='/usr/bin/emacs -nw'    # use emacs as the editor
set edit_headers                   # editable headers

The Drexel setup:

#~/.mutt/drexel
# Drexel information

# Drexel mail server addresses extracted from
#  https://askdrexel.drexel.edu/app/answers/detail/a_id/2786
# email server location
set spoolfile=imaps://<drexel-username>@imap.mail.drexel.edu:993/INBOX
set folder=imaps://<drexel-username>@imap.mail.drexel.edu:993/

# save copies of sent emails to the ${folder}Sent directory
# the '+' expands to $folders (like '~' to $HOME in the bash shell)
set record=+Sent

# use msmtp to send outgoing mail to the mailserver
# see ~/.msmtp for configuration
set sendmail=/usr/local/bin/msmtp

set from='<drexel-from-address>@drexel.edu'

The Gmail setup:

# Gmail information

# Gmail mail server addresses from
#  http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=78799
# email server location
set spoolfile=imaps://<gmail-username>@gmail.com@imap.gmail.com:993/INBOX
set folder=imaps://<gmail-username>@gmail.com@imap.gmail.com:993/

# gmail does this automatically
unset record

# use msmtp to send outgoing mail to the mailserver
# see ~/.msmtp for configuration
set sendmail='/usr/local/bin/msmtp -a gmail'

set from='<gmail-username>@gmail.com'

Firing up mutt takes you to your Drexel inbox like you're used to. You can change directories like your used to with c. You switch accounts with c TAB TAB. The first tab lists all the mailboxes in your Drexel account, and the second lists all of your available accounts (mailboxes).

Strangely (I haven't figured out why yet), c TAB from gmail also lists the drexel directories. No problem though, you can get a list of gmail directories with c +TAB TAB TAB from gmail (I also don't understand what the second TAB does).

Anyhow, that should get people started.

POP

I just added my Comcast email account (a necessary administrative evil) to the above configuration. Comcast doesn't supply an IMAP interface, so we're forced to fall back on POP. Luckily, that doesn't change much of the configuration, which consisted of creating a .mutt/comcast file:

# Comcast information

# Comcast mail server addresses from
#  http://www.comcast.com/customers/faq/FaqDetails.ashx?Id=2165
# Ports from
#  http://www.comcast.com/customers/faq/FaqDetails.ashx?ID=2288
# email server location
set spoolfile=pops://<comcast-username>@mail.comcast.net:110/INBOX
set folder=pops://<comcast-username>@mail.comcast.net:110/

# gmail does this automatically
unset record

# use msmtp to send outgoing mail to the mailserver
# see ~/.msmtp for configuration
set sendmail='/usr/local/bin/msmtp -a gmail'

set from='<gmail-username>@gmail.com'

set nopop_delete
set pop_checkinterval=600

Where the gmail stuff is because I'm sending mail using Gmail when I'm looking at my Comcast account. This avoids using Comcast as much as possible ;). Note that <comcast-username> is everything before the @ in your Comcast email address.

I then adjust my .muttrc file by adding Comcast to my list of mailboxes:

mailboxes imaps://<drexel-username>@imap.mail.drexel.edu imaps://<gmail-username>@gmail.com@imap.gmail.com pops://<comcast-username>@mail.comcast.net

in a single long line. I also added account and folder hooks:

account-hook pops://<comcast-username>@mail.comcast.net \
        'set pop_user=<comcast-username> pop_pass="<comcast-password>"'
folder-hook imaps://<comcast-username>@imap.comcast.net 'source ~/.mutt/comcast'

And that seems to handle it…

PGP

PGP is a encryption and authentication system often used for protecting email. The GnuPG implementation can be used with Mutt to send secure, authenticated emails between capable parties.

Once you've got a key set up, determine the key ID for your pair with

$ gpg --list-keys --keyid-format 0xlong
/home/user/.gnupg/pubring.gpg
-----------------------------
pub   1024D/0xFC29BDCDF15F5BE8 2008-08-09 [expires: 2009-08-09]
…

Where 0xFC29BDCDF15F5BE8 is my long key ID (long IDs are short IDs prefixed with additional fingerprint information). I use the long ID here because it is more specific and I only have to enter it once for Mutt.

Tell Mutt how to use gpg by adding

source ~/.mutt/pgp

to your .muttrc file and creating ~/.mutt/pgp as follows (replacing my key ID with your own)

# from Justin R. Miller's
# `Everything You Need To Know To Start Using GnuPG with Mutt'
# http://codesorcery.net/old/mutt/mutt-gnupg-howto

set pgp_decode_command='gpg %?p?--passphrase-fd 0? --no-verbose --batch --output - %f'
set pgp_verify_command='gpg --no-verbose --batch --output - --verify %s %f'
set pgp_decrypt_command='gpg --passphrase-fd 0 --no-verbose --batch --output - %f'
set pgp_sign_command='gpg --no-verbose --batch --output - --passphrase-fd 0 --armor --detach-sign --textmode %?a?-u %a? %f'
set pgp_clearsign_command='gpg --no-verbose --batch --output - --passphrase-fd 0 --armor --textmode --clearsign %?a?-u %a? %f'
set pgp_encrypt_only_command='/usr/lib/mutt/pgpewrap gpg --batch --quiet --no-verbose --output - --encrypt --textmode --armor --always-trust --encrypt-to 0xFC29BDCDF15F5BE8 -- -r %r -- %f'
set pgp_encrypt_sign_command='/usr/lib/mutt/pgpewrap gpg --passphrase-fd 0 --batch --quiet --no-verbose --textmode --output - --encrypt --sign %?a?-u %a? --armor --always-trust --encrypt-to 0xFC29BDCDF15F5BE8 -- -r %r -- %f'
set pgp_import_command='gpg --no-verbose --import -v %f'
set pgp_export_command='gpg --no-verbose --export --armor %r'
set pgp_verify_key_command='gpg --no-verbose --batch --fingerprint --check-sigs %r'
set pgp_list_pubring_command='gpg --no-verbose --batch --with-colons --list-keys %r'
set pgp_list_secring_command='gpg --no-verbose --batch --with-colons --list-secret-keys %r'
set pgp_autosign=yes
set pgp_sign_as=0xFC29BDCDF15F5BE8
set pgp_replyencrypt=yes
set pgp_timeout=1800
set pgp_good_sign='^gpg: Good signature from'

The above file autosigns all your sent emails (set pgp_autosign=yes), but you can obviously turn that off if you would like. To change signing/encryption on an email, use the p key from the compose view (the screen shown after you have finished editing a new e-mail; thank, you Chad Perrin).

Browsing email with links

Usually Mutt is pretty good about handling HTML in emails. When you get emails that are obviously HTML, v will take you to the attachment list (which should show the email as type text/html), and enter will open the email in your browser (via mailcap).

Sometimes you get text/plain emails with URLs in them, or maybe the above procedure just isn't working. In that case, add

macro pager \cb <pipe-entry>'w3m'<enter> 'Follow links in w3m'

somewhere in your mutt configuration files (thank you, Bruno Postle). Then pressing Ctrl-b will pipe the email you're looking at into w3m. Pressing : in w3m will scan the document for URL-like strings and make them browsable.

Folder size in status bar

Add the folder size to the status bar by adding %l or %L to status_format in your ~/.muttrc file. For example

set status_format='-%r-Mutt: %f %L'