14d58c2f7b
This document used to specify some constraints on the receipient address, but this has since been corrected in aerc.
157 lines
5.2 KiB
Markdown
157 lines
5.2 KiB
Markdown
aerc-tutorial(7)
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# NAME
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aerc - the world's best email client
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# INTRODUCTION
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Welcome to aerc! This tutorial will guide you through your first steps in using
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the client. This tutorial is a man page - you can read it again later with
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*:help tutorial* from aerc, or *man aerc-tutorial* from your terminal.
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First, let's introduce some basic keybindings. For convention, we'll use *<C-p>*
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to represent Ctrl+p, which matches the convention used for writing keybindings
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for aerc.
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*<C-p>*, *<C-n>*
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Cycles to the previous or next tab
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Try using these now to switch between your message list and the tutorial. In
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your message list, we use vim-style keys to get around.
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*k*, *j*
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Scrolls up and down between messages
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*<C-u>*, *<C-d>*
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Scrolls half a page up or down
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*g*, *G*
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Selects the first or last message, respectively
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*K*, *J*
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Switches between folders in the sidebar
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*<Enter>*
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Opens the selected message
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You can also search the selected folder with */*, or filter with *\\*. When
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searching you can use n and p to jump to the next and previous result.
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Filtering hides any non-matching message.
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# THE MESSAGE VIEWER
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Press *<Enter>* to open a message. By default, the message viewer will display
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your message using *less*(1). This should also have familiar, vim-like
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keybindings for scrolling around in your message.
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Multipart messages (messages with attachments, or messages with several
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alternative formats) show a part selector on the bottom of the message viewer.
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*<C-k>*, *<C-j>*
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Cycle between parts of a multipart message
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*q*
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Close the message viewer
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To show HTML messages, comment out the *text/html* filter in your aerc.conf
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file (which is probably in ~/.config/aerc/) and install its dependencies: w3m
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and dante-utils.
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You can also do many tasks you could do in the message list from here, like
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replying to emails, deleting the email, or view the next and previous message
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(*J* and *K*).
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# COMPOSING MESSAGES
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Return to the message list by pressing *q* to dismiss the message viewer. Once
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there, let's compose a message.
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*C*
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Compose a new message
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*rr*
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Reply-all to a message
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*rq*
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Reply-all to a message, and pre-fill the editor with a quoted version of the
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message being replied to
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*Rr*
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Reply to a message
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*Rq*
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Reply to a message, and pre-fill the editor with a quoted version of the
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message being replied to
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For now, let's use *C* to compose a new message. The message composer will
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appear. You should see To, From, and Subject lines, as well as your *$EDITOR*.
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You can use *<Tab>* or *<C-j>* and *<C-k>* to cycle between these fields (tab
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won't cycle between fields once you enter the editor, but *<C-j>* and *<C-k>*
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will).
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Let's send an email to yourself. Note that the To and From headers expect RFC
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5322 addresses, e.g. *John Doe <john@example.org>*, or simply
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*<john@example.org>*. Separate multiple recipients with commas. Go ahead and
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fill out an email, then close the editor. You can add additional headers like
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Cc and Reply-To by simply adding them to the top of your email, adding a blank
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line between the email's headers and body.
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The message review screen is shown next. You have a chance now to revise the
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email before it's sent. Press *y* to send the email if it looks good.
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*Note*: when using the terminal in the message view, you can summon aerc's ex
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command line by using *<C-x>*. ':' is sent to the editor.
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# USING THE TERMINAL
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aerc comes with an embedded terminal, which you've already used to view and edit
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emails. We can also use this for other purposes, such as referencing a git
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repository while reviewing a patch. From the message list, we can use the
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following keybindings to open a terminal:
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*<C-t>*
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Opens a new terminal tab, running your shell
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*$*, *!*
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Prompts for a command to run, then opens a new terminal tab running that
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command
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*|*
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Prompts for a command to run, then pipes the selected email into that
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command and displays the result on a new terminal tab
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Try pressing *$* and entering "top". You can also use the *:cd* command to
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change aerc's working directory, and the directory in which new terminals run.
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Use *:pwd* to see it again if you're not sure where you are.
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# ADDITIONAL NOTES
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## COMMANDS
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Every keybinding is ultimately bound to an aerc command. You can also summon the
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command line by pressing ':', then entering one of these commands. See *aerc*(1)
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or *:help* for a full list of commands.
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## MESSAGE FILTERS
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When displaying messages in the message viewer, aerc will pipe them through a
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_message filter_ first. This allows you to decode messages in non-plaintext
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formats, add syntax highlighting, etc. aerc ships with a few default filters:
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- Emails which begin with "[PATCH" will be piped into a filter for rendering
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git-format-patch and hg export emails.
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- text/html is rendered with w3m in a network sandbox
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- text/\* is rendered with a simple filter for coloring quoted text
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## CUSTOMIZING AERC
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Aerc is highly customizable. Review *aerc-config*(5) (or use *:help config*) to
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learn more about how to add custom keybindings, install new message filters,
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change its appearance and behavior, and so on.
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# AUTHORS
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Maintained by Drew DeVault <sir@cmpwn.com>, who is assisted by other open
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source contributors. For more information about aerc development, see
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https://git.sr.ht/~sircmpwn/aerc.
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