mutt - Text-based MIME mail client

Oct 25, 2022 · 2 min read · email tui  ·
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Mutt is one of the most widely used email client for the terminal; it is a small and efficient program, with customizable interface and keybindings and support for several standard protocols and storage formats.

In the world of web-based email clients, Mutt represents one of the best, if not the best at all, terminal program for sending/receiving emails.

Although its first version appeared in 1996, Mutt features all the characteristics expected from a modern email client: sending emails using the SMTP protocol , receiving emails using the POP3 or IMAP protocols, composing and editing the emails, managing attachments, etc. It does not manage the contacts internally, but it can leverage external programs such as lbdb, the Little Brother's DataBase for the Mutt mail reader.

One of the nice features of Mutt is the ability to handle emails stored in different standard formats, such as mbox and maildir.

In the latest versions it also supports the organization of emails into threads, which sometimes facilitates the navigation of long lists of related emails.

Being a terminal program, it is inherently limited in managing some aspects of modern emails, such as the ones containing HTML content and images, which can not be fully handled in the terminal.

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