Get started with Mutt

5. Navigation
Navigating around the Mutt interface is quite simple. You should be able to see the navigation keyboard shortcuts at the top of the application screen at all times. You can use the Up and Down arrows on your keyboard to navigate through your Inbox, and Page Up and Page Down to jump pages. Hit the Return key to view a mail. When reading a mail, use the space bar to scroll down and the ‘-’ (or minus key) on your keyboard to scroll up. Note that using the Up and Down keys when reading mails will result in moving between mails and not scrolling. To exit from the mail and return to the Inbox interface, hit the I key.

6. Sending mail
Now that you have got the hang of how to read your mail in Mutt, let’s see how to compose mail. When in Mutt’s main interface, hit the M key. A new line will pop up at the bottom of your terminal window with ‘To:’ written on it. This is quite easy to miss, so remember to look there. Enter the email address of the person you want to mail. Hit the Return key when done. Now Mutt will ask you to type in a subject; do that and hit the Return key. Next, Mutt will launch the default text editor on your computer for you to type out the body of the mail. Do that and save and exit from the text editor. You will return to Mutt, to a final screen, after which your mail will be sent out. Hit the Y key to finish sending the mail. You will return to the Inbox page and you should see a notification saying ‘Mail sent’ at the bottom of your terminal window.

7. Forwarding mail
One of the shortcuts not mentioned at the top of the screen is the one used to forward a mail. To do so, open a mail and then hit the F key on your keyboard. You will see a new line open at the bottom of the screen with ‘To:’ written on it. The rest is quite straightforward, just like composing a new mail.

8. Deleting mail
One important feature any mail client should have is the ability to delete mails. Mutt provides this feature with several options. You can simply delete a mail by selecting it and then hitting the D key. You will notice that this mail doesn’t disappear from your mailbox right away. It is, however, marked for deletion and will be deleted when you exit Mutt. Mutt also allows you to ‘undelete’ a mail by using the U key. You can delete or ‘undelete’ a mail thread using the key combinations Ctrl+D and Ctrl+U.

9. Advanced configuration
We covered some of the essential configuration parameters required to get started with Mutt earlier. Now let’s take a look at some of the advanced configuration options it provides, some useful and some just for fun.

set signature=”~/.mutt/sig” # mail signature file location
set mail_check=60           # check for new mail every 60 seconds
set timeout=15              # after 15 secs of no keypresses, start checking for new mail

The settings shown above are quite self-explanatory. There are several other configuration parameters like these. You can look up the Mutt documentation here.