Mutt Addressbook

Need an address book program for Mutt? Look no further than abook. Use your distribution's package manager to install abook.

yum install abook

The Config

Edit your ~/.muttrc file to include a macro for abook

set alias_file=~/.mutt-alias
source ~/.mutt-alias
set query_command= "abook --mutt-query '%s'" macro index,pager A "<pipe-message>abook --add-email-quiet<return>" "add the sender address to abook"

If you have no ~/.mutt-alias, be sure to create one before running mutt.

touch ~/.mutt-alias
mutt

Walkthrough of Usage

To use the addressbook, hit 'a'. Accept the given alias, or replace with your own.

Confirm the address.

Give the contact a name. The name can contain spaces.

Accept the entry.

Finally, confirm the alias file.

After doing this a few times, it will become second nature to hit <Enter> through most of the steps.

Accessing Contacts

To access the mutt addressbook, hit <Tab> at the to, cc or bcc line. You will be presented with a list of aliases from your ~/.mutt-alias file.

See the abook SourceForge.net page for more information.

Use Gmail with Mutt

Mutt is a powerful text email client that can be used to access Gmail over IMAPS. Here are the relevant settings for your .muttrc.

Enable header caching

set header_cache=~/.mutt_cache

Configure IMAP over SSL

set from="FNAME LNAME <USERNAME@gmail.com>"
set imap_user=USERNAME@gmail.com
set imap_pass=PASSWORD
set folder=imaps://imap.gmail.com
set spoolfile=imaps://imap.gmail.com/INBOX
set record=imaps://imap.gmail.com/Sent
set postponed=imaps://imap.gmail.com/Drafts
set timeout=10
set mail_check=5
mailboxes =INBOX

Configure SMTP AUTH over SSL

set smtp_url="smtps://USERNAME\@gmail.com:PASSWORD@smtp.gmail.com/"