DOVEADM-MAILBOX(1) Dovecot DOVEADM-MAILBOX(1)
NAME
doveadm-mailbox - Commands related to handling mailboxes
SYNOPSIS
doveadm [GLOBAL OPTIONS] [-f formatter] mailbox_cmd [OPTIONS] [ARGU-
MENTS]
DESCRIPTION
doveadm mailbox can be used to query and modify mailboxes.
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.
-f formatter
Specifies the formatter for formatting the output. Supported format-
ters are:
flow
prints each line with key=value pairs.
pager
prints each key: value pair on its own line and separates records
with form feed character (^L).
tab
prints a table header followed by tab separated value lines.
table
prints a table header followed by adjusted value lines.
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.
-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
mailbox
Is the name of a mailbox, as visible to IMAP clients, except in
UTF-8 format. The hierarchy separator between a parent and child
mailbox is commonly '/' or '.', but this depends on your selected
mailbox storage format and namespace configuration. The mailbox
names may also require a namespace prefix.
COMMANDS
mailbox create
doveadm [GLOBAL OPTIONS] mailbox create [-A | -u user | -F file | --no-
userdb-lookup] [-S socket_path] [-g guid] [-s] mailbox...
This command is used to create one or more mailboxes. The mailbox format
of the created mailboxes depends on the mail_driver setting, or the
user's mail field, returned by the userdb.
-g guid
Create the mailbox with the specified GUID.
-s
When this option was given, the created mailboxes will be also added
to the user's subscriptions.
mailbox cryptokey
doveadm [GLOBAL OPTIONS] mailbox cryptokey export|generate|list|password
This command is used to manage mail crypt plugin cryptographic keys.
Please see doveadm-mailbox-cryptokey(1) for more details.
mailbox delete
doveadm [GLOBAL OPTIONS] mailbox delete [-A | -u user | -F file | --no-
userdb-lookup] [-S socket_path] [-s] [-r] [-e] [-Z] mailbox...
This command deletes a mailbox and expunges all the messages it con-
tains. If the mailbox has any children, they won't be deleted, unless -r
is given.
-r
Delete mailboxes recursively
-s
Unsubscribe deleted mailboxes.
-e
Require mailboxes to be empty before deleting.
-Z
Delete the mailbox as efficiently as possible, but the user may not
be in fully consistent state afterwards. For example quota may be
wrong. This option is mainly useful when deleting the entire user.
mailbox list
doveadm [GLOBAL OPTIONS] mailbox list [-7 | -8] [-A | -u user | -F file
| --no-userdb-lookup] [-S socket_path] [-s] [mailbox ...]
To get an overview of existing mailboxes use this command. It's also
possible to use wildcards in the mailbox name.
When the -s option is present, only subscribed mailboxes will be listed.
Listed subscriptions may also contain mailboxes that are already
deleted.
-7
Lists the mailboxes with mUTF-7 encoding.
-8
Lists the mailboxes with UTF-8 encoding.
mailbox metadata list
doveadm [GLOBAL OPTIONS] mailbox metadata list [-A | -u user | -F file |
--no-userdb-lookup] [-S socket_path] [-s] [-p] mailbox [key-prefix]
-s
Allows to specify mailbox "", which points to the server metadata
instead of mailboxes' matadata. It has no effect if mailbox is any-
thing else than an empty string.
-p
Prepend prefix.
mailbox
The target mailbox (mandatory). If -s is specified, the empty string
"" can be used to indicate access to server metadata.
key-prefix
The key prefix to look for. All keys will be listed if not provided.
mailbox metadata get
doveadm [GLOBAL OPTIONS] mailbox metadata get [-A | -u user | -F file |
--no-userdb-lookup] [-S socket_path] [-s] mailbox key
-s
Allows to specify mailbox "", which points to the server metadata
instead of mailboxes' matadata. It has no effect if mailbox is any-
thing else than an empty string.
mailbox
The target mailbox (mandatory). If -s is specified, the empty string
"" can be used to indicate access to server metadata.
key
The key to retrieve.
mailbox metadata set
doveadm [GLOBAL OPTIONS] mailbox metadata set [-A | -u user | -F file |
--no-userdb-lookup] [-S socket_path] [-s] mailbox key value
-s
Allows to specify mailbox "", which points to the server metadata
instead of mailboxes' matadata. It has no effect if mailbox is any-
thing else than an empty string.
mailbox
The target mailbox (mandatory). If -s is specified, the empty string
"" can be used to indicate access to server metadata.
key
The key to set.
value
The value to set.
mailbox metadata unset
doveadm [GLOBAL OPTIONS] mailbox metadata unset [-A | -u user | -F file
| --no-userdb-lookup] [-S socket_path] [-s] mailbox key
-s
Allows to specify mailbox "", which points to the server metadata
instead of mailboxes' matadata. It has no effect if mailbox is any-
thing else than an empty string.
mailbox
The target mailbox (mandatory). If -s is specified, the empty string
"" can be used to indicate access to server metadata.
key
The key to unset.
mailbox mutf7
doveadm [GLOBAL OPTIONS] mailbox mutf7 [-7 | -8] name...
into a modified version of the UTF-7 encoding and vice versa. See RFC
3501 (Mailbox International Naming Convention).
-7
Indicates that the name's string representation is mUTF-7 encoded
and it should be converted to UTF-8.
-8
Indicates that the name's is UTF-8 encoded and should be converted
to mUTF-7 (default).
name
One or more mailbox names that should be converted.
mailbox path
doveadm [GLOBAL OPTIONS] mailbox path [-A | -u user | -F file | --no-
userdb-lookup] [-S socket_path] [-s] [-t type] mailbox
The mailbox path command returns the filesystem path for the given mail-
box. By default, this is the path to the "index" directory.
-t type
Output the path to this mailbox location type. One of:
• alt-dir
• alt-mailbox
• control
• dir
• index (DEFAULT)
• index-cache
• index-private
• list-index
• mailbox
mailbox
The mailbox to query (mandatory).
mailbox rename
doveadm [GLOBAL OPTIONS] mailbox rename [-A | -u user | -F file | --no-
userdb-lookup] [-S socket_path] [-s] old_name new_name
The mailbox rename command is used to rename the mailbox old_name to
new_name.
When the -s option is given, old_name will be unsubscribed and new_name
will be subscribed.
mailbox status
doveadm [GLOBAL OPTIONS] mailbox status [-A | -u user | -F file | --no-
userdb-lookup] [-S socket_path] [-t] fields mailbox...
Show the status of one or more mailboxes. The mailbox name may also con-
tain wildcards.
This command uses by default the output formatter flow.
-t
Summarize the values of the status fields messages, recent, unseen
and/or vsize of multiple mailboxes to a sum (total).
fields
Specify the status fields which should be shown.
In order to specify multiple status fields, enclosed them in quotes.
all : This is a special status field name. It means show all of
the following fields. When the -t option is present, it means
show only the messages, recent, unseen and vsize fields.
guid : The mailbox's globally unique identifier.
highestmodseq : The highest mod-sequence value of all messages in
the mailbox.
messages : The number of messages in the mailbox.
recent : The number of messages with the \Recent flag set.
uidnext : The next unique identifier value.
uidvalidity : The unique identifier validity value.
unseen : The message sequence number of the first unseen message in
the mailbox.
vsize : The mailbox's virtual size, computed with CRLF line termina-
tors.
firstsaved : Saved time of the first mail in the mailbox.
mailbox subscribe
doveadm [GLOBAL OPTIONS] mailbox subscribe [-A | -u user | -F file |
--no-userdb-lookup] [-S socket_path] mailbox ...
This command is used to subscribe one or more mailboxes.
mailbox unsubscribe
doveadm [GLOBAL OPTIONS] mailbox unsubscribe [-A | -u user | -F file |
--no-userdb-lookup] [-S socket_path] mailbox ...
This command is used to unsubscribe one or more mailboxes.
mailbox update
doveadm [GLOBAL OPTIONS] mailbox update [-A | -u user | -F file | --no-
userdb-lookup] [-S socket_path] [--mailbox-guid guid] [--uid-validity
uid] [--min-next-uid uid] [--min-first-recent-uid uid] [--min-highest-
modseq seq] [--min-highest-pvt-modseq seq] mailbox ...
This command is used to set UID validity, next UID, first recent UID and
modification sequence values.
Usually this is only ever to be used during migration, or restoring
mailbox after disaster. Settings these values is highly discouraged, and
is not supported for all mail backends.
mailbox cache purge
doveadm [GLOBAL OPTIONS] mailbox cache purge [-A | -u user | -F file |
--no-userdb-lookup] [-S socket_path] mailbox ...
Purge the dovecot.index.cache file. Most importantly this frees up disk
space from mails that were already deleted. Normally there i no need to
run this command manually, because the compression is also run automati-
cally.
mailbox cache decision
doveadm [GLOBAL OPTIONS] mailbox cache decision [-A | -u user | -F file
| --no-userdb-lookup] [-S socket_path] [--all] [--fields list of fields]
[--last-used unix timestamp] [--decision no|temp|yes] mailbox ...
This command is used to list or change caching decisions for field(s) in
mailbox(es). You can list decisions by leaving out decision and last-
used parameters.
--all
List or change all fields.
--fields
List or change these comma/space separated fields.
--decision
Set field caching decision. Yes means it's always cached. Temp means
it's provisionally cached. No means the field is not cached.
--last-used
Set field's last used timestamp.
NOTE: This command cannot be used to add new fields to cache! You need
to first add them to configuration. Setting caching to no will not imme-
diately drop field from cache, it will stop adding the field to cache.
mailbox cache remove
doveadm [GLOBAL OPTIONS] mailbox cache remove [-A | -u user | -F file |
--no-userdb-lookup] [-S socket_path] search query
Remove any matching mail(s) from cache.
WARNING! This command can erase ALL cached data, causing system slow-
ness.
See doveadm-search-query(7) for the search query syntax.
EXAMPLE
List subscribed mailboxes, beginning with 'dovecot', of user bob:
doveadm mailbox list -s -u bob dovecot\*
dovecot
dovecot/pigeonhole
dovecot/pigeonhole/2.0
Now have a look at the status of user bob's dovecot mailboxes:
doveadm -f table mailbox status -u bob "messages vsize" dovecot\*
mailbox messages vsize
dovecot 20501 93968492
dovecot/pigeonhole 0 0
dovecot/pigeonhole/2.0 47 323474
Converting an internationalized mailbox name from mUTF-7 to UTF-8 and
vice versa:
doveadm mailbox mutf7 -7 "~peter/mail/&U,BTFw-/&ZeVnLIqe-"
~peter/mail/台北/日本語
doveadm mailbox mutf7 ~peter/mail/台北/日本語
~peter/mail/&U,BTFw-/&ZeVnLIqe-
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)
78ffb79 March 2025 DOVEADM-MAILBOX(1)
Generated by dwww version 1.16 on Tue Dec 16 05:56:30 CET 2025.