DOVEADM-IMPORT(1) Dovecot DOVEADM-IMPORT(1)
NAME
doveadm-import - Import messages matching given search query
SYNOPSIS
doveadm [GLOBAL OPTIONS] import [-S socket_path] [-U source_user] [-s]
-A source_mail_driver:source_mail_path
doveadm [GLOBAL OPTIONS] import [-S socket_path] [-U source_user] [-s]
-F file source_mail_driver:source_mail_path
doveadm [GLOBAL OPTIONS] import [-S socket_path] [-U source_user] [-s]
--no-userdb-lookup source_mail_driver:source_mail_path
doveadm [GLOBAL OPTIONS] import [-S socket_path] [-U source_user] [-s]
-u user source_mail_driver:source_mail_path
DESCRIPTION
This command can be used to import mails from another mail storage spec-
ified by source_mail_driver, source_mail_path, and other settings speci-
fied via -p parameters to one or more user's mailboxes. All the mail-
boxes are imported under the given dest_parent mailbox, or to root level
if dest_parent is empty (""). The search_query can be used to restrict
which mailboxes or messages are imported. By default the import is done
in destination user's context, you can use -U to change this.
In the first form, doveadm(1) will executed the
In the second form, the mails will be imported for all users listed in
the given file.
In the third form, the command will be performed for the user contained
in the USER environment variable.
In the final form, the mails will be imported only for given user (s).
GLOBAL OPTIONS
Global doveadm(1)
-D
Enables verbosity and debug messages.
-O
Do not read any config file, just use defaults. The dovecot_stor-
age_version setting defaults to the latest version, but can be over-
ridden with
-k
Preserve entire environment for doveadm, not just import_environment
setting.
-v
Enables verbosity, including progress counter.
-i instance-name
If using multiple Dovecot instances, choose the config file based on
this instance name.
See instance_name setting for more information.
-c config-file
Read configuration from the given config-file. By default it first
reads config socket, and then falls back to /etc/dovecot/dove-
cot.conf. You can also point this to config socket of some instance
running compatible version.
-o setting=value
Overrides the configuration setting from /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf
and from the userdb with the given value. In order to override mul-
tiple settings, the -o option may be specified multiple times.
OPTIONS
-A
If the -A option is present, the command will be performed for all
users. Using this option in combination with system users from
userdb { driver = passwd } is not recommended, because it contains
also users with a lower UID than the one configured with the
first_valid_uid setting.
When the SQL userdb module is used, make sure that the
userdb_sql_iterate_query setting setting matches your database lay-
out.
When using the LDAP userdb module, make sure that the userdb_fields
setting and userdb_ldap_iterate_fields setting settings match your
LDAP schema. Otherwise doveadm(1) will be unable to iterate over all
users.
-F file
Execute the command for all the users in the file. This is similar
to the -A option, but instead of getting the list of users from the
userdb, they are read from the given file. The file contains one
username per line.
--no-userdb-lookup
Do not perform userdb lookup. Use the USER environment variable to
specify the username.
-S socket_path
The option's argument is either an absolute path to a local UNIX do-
main socket, or a hostname and port (hostname:port), in order to
connect a remote host via a TCP socket.
This allows an administrator to execute doveadm(1) mail commands
through the given socket.
-p setting=value
Overrides the configuration setting for source storage.
-s
When the -s option is present, dest_parent and all new mailboxes un-
der it will be subscribed to.
-U username
When the -U option is present, the source box is opened with given
username.
-u user/mask
Run the command only for the given user. It's also possible to use
'*' and '?' wildcards (e.g. -u *@example.org).
ARGUMENTS
dest_parent
The name of the destination mailbox, under which the mails should be
imported. doveadm(1) will create the
search_query
Copy messages matching this search query. See doveadm-search-
query(7) for details.
source_mail_driver:source_mail_path
This argument specifies the mail_driver and mail_path settings for
the source location. The -p parameter can optionally be used to
specify additional settings. For example:
maildir:/backup/20101126/jane.doe/Maildir or -p mail_alt_path=/nfs-
mount/john.doe/mdbox mdbox:/srv/mail/john.doe/mdbox
EXAMPLE
This example imports all mails from a backup under a backup-20101026
mailbox:
doveadm import -u jane.doe@example.org \
mdbox:/backup/20101026/jane.doe/mdbox backup-20101026 all
Another example that imports only messages from foo@example.org in the
backup mdbox's INBOX to jane's INBOX:
doveadm import -u jane.doe@example.org \
mdbox:~/mdbox-backup "" mailbox INBOX from foo@example.org
REPORTING BUGS
Report bugs, including doveconf -n output, to the Dovecot Mailing List
⟨dovecot@dovecot.org⟩. Information about reporting bugs is available at:
https://dovecot.org/bugreport.html
SEE ALSO
doveadm(1), doveadm-search-query(7)
78ffb79 March 2025 DOVEADM-IMPORT(1)
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