1isync(1) General Commands Manual isync(1)
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6 isync - synchronize IMAP4 and Maildir mailboxes
7
9 isync [options ...] {mailbox ...|-a|-l}
10
12 isync is a command line application which synchronizes local Maildir
13 mailboxes with remote IMAP4 mailboxes, suitable for use in IMAP-discon‐
14 nected mode. Multiple copies of the remote IMAP4 mailboxes can be
15 maintained, and all flags are synchronized.
16 isync is only a wrapper binary around mbsync to simplify upgrades. It
17 will automatically migrate the UID mapping from previous versions of
18 isync (even before 0.8) to the new format, and transparently call
19 mbsync. If you were using isync version 0.8 or 0.9.x you might want to
20 use mdconvert to convert the mailboxes to the more efficient native UID
21 storage scheme after migrating them.
22 isync is deprecated. Please use the -w option to permanently migrate
23 the configuration and start using mbsync directly.
24
26 -c, --config file
27 Read configuration from file. By default, the configuration is
28 read from ~/.isyncrc if it exists.
29 -1, --one-to-one
31 Instead of using the mailbox specifications in ~/.isyncrc, isync
32 will pick up all mailboxes from the local directory and remote
33 folder and map them 1:1 onto each other according to their
34 names.
35 -I, --inbox mailbox
37 Exception to the 1:1 mapping created by -1: the special IMAP
38 mailbox INBOX is mapped to the local mailbox (relative to the
39 maildir).
40 -a, --all
42 Synchronize all mailboxes (either specified in ~/.isyncrc or
43 determined by the 1:1 mapping).
44 -l, --list
46 Don't synchronize anything, but list all mailboxes and exit.
47 -L, --create-local
49 Automatically create the local Maildir mailbox if it doesn't
50 already exist.
51 -R, --create-remote
53 Automatically create the remote IMAP mailbox if it doesn't
54 already exist.
55 -C, --create
57 Automatically create any mailboxes if they don't already exist.
58 This is simply a combination of -L and -R.
59 -d, --delete
61 Causes isync to propagate message deletions. By default, dead
62 messages are not deleted.
63 -e, --expunge
65 Causes isync to permanently remove all messages marked for dele‐
66 tion. By default, deleted messages are not expunged.
67 -f, --fast
69 Only fetch new messages existing on the server into the local
70 mailbox. Message deletions and flag changes will not be propa‐
71 gated.
72 -h, --help
74 Displays a summary of command line options
75 -p, --port port
77 Specifies the port on the IMAP server to connect to (default:
78 143 for imap, 993 for imaps)
79 -q, --quiet
81 Suppress informational messages. If specified twice, suppress
82 warning messages as well.
83 -r, --remote box
85 Specifies the name of the remote IMAP mailbox to synchronize
86 with (Default: INBOX)
87 -s, --host [imaps:]host
89 Specifies the hostname of the IMAP server
90 -u, --user user
92 Specifies the login name to access the IMAP server (default:
93 $USER)
94 -P, --pass password
96 Specifies the password to access the IMAP server (prompted for
97 by default)
98 -M, --maildir dir
100 Specifies the location for your local mailboxes.
101 -F, --folder folder/
103 Specifies the location for your remote mailboxes.
104 -v, --version
106 Displays isync version information.
107 -V, --verbose
109 Enables verbose mode, which displays the IMAP4 network traffic.
110 -D, --debug
112 Enable printing of debug messages.
113 -w, --write
115 Don't run mbsync, but instead write a permanent config file for
116 it. The UID mappings of all configured mailboxes will be
117 migrated. Note that most command line options that would affect
118 an actual sync operation will be incorporated into the new con‐
119 fig file as well; exceptions are --fast and --cre‐
120 ate[-remote|-local]. The name of the new config file is deter‐
121 mined by replacing the last occurrence of "isync" with "mbsync",
122 or appending ".mbsync" if "isync" was not found.
123 -W, --writeto file
125 Like -w, but use the specified name for the new config file.
126
128 isync by default reads ~/.isyncrc to load configuration data. Each
129 non-empty line of the configuration file that does not start with a
130 hash mark consists of a command. The following commands are under‐
131 stood:
132 Mailbox path
134 Defines a local Maildir mailbox. All configuration commands
135 following this line, up until the next Mailbox command, apply to
136 this mailbox only.
137 Host [imaps:]name
139 Defines the DNS name or IP address of the IMAP server. If the
140 hostname is prefixed with imaps: the connection is assumed to be
141 a SSL connection to port 993 (though you can change this by
142 placing a Port command after the Host command). Note that mod‐
143 ern servers support SSL on the default port 143. isync will
144 always attempt to use SSL if available.
145 Port port
147 Defines the TCP port number of the IMAP server (Default: 143 for
148 imap, 993 for imaps)
149 Box mailbox
151 Defines the name of the remote IMAP mailbox associated with the
152 local Maildir mailbox (Default: INBOX)
153 User username
155 Defines the login name on the IMAP server (Default: current
156 user)
157 Pass password
159 Defines the password for username on the IMAP server. Note that
160 this option is NOT required. If no password is specified in the
161 configuration file, isync will prompt you for it.
162 Alias string
164 Defines an alias for the mailbox which can be used as a shortcut
165 on the command line.
166 CopyDeletedTo mailbox
168 Specifies the remote IMAP mailbox to copy deleted messages to
169 prior to expunging (Default: none).
170 Delete yes|no
172 Specifies whether message deletions are propagated. (Default:
173 no). NOTE: The -d command line option overrides this setting
174 when set to no.
175 Expunge yes|no
177 Specifies whether deleted messages are expunged. (Default: no).
178 NOTE: The -e command line option overrides this setting when
179 set to no.
180 MailDir directory
182 Specifies the location of your local mailboxes if a relative
183 path is specified in a Mailbox command (Default: ~). NOTE: This
184 directive is allowed only in the global section (see below).
185 Folder directory/
187 Specifies the location of your IMAP mailboxes specified in Box
188 commands (Default: ""). NOTE: You must append the hierarchy
189 delimiter (usually a slash) to this specification. NOTE 2: This
190 directive is allowed only in the global section (see below).
191 MaxMessages count
193 Sets the number of messages isync should keep in the local copy
194 of a mailbox. This is useful for mailboxes where you keep a
195 complete archive on the server, but want to mirror only the last
196 messages (for instance, for mailing lists). The messages that
197 were the first to arrive in the mailbox (independently of the
198 actual date of the message) will be deleted first. Messages
199 that are flagged (marked as important) and unread messages will
200 not be automatically deleted. If count is 0, the maximum number
201 of messages is unlimited. (Default: 0)
202 MaxSize bytes
204 Messages larger than that many bytes will not be transferred
205 over the wire. This is useful for weeding out messages with
206 large attachments. If bytes is 0, the maximum file size is
207 unlimited. (Default: 0)
208 Tunnel command
210 Specify a command to run to establish a connection rather than
211 opening a TCP socket. This allows you to run an IMAP session
212 over an SSH tunnel, for example.
213 UseNamespace yes|no
215 Selects whether the server's first "personal" NAMESPACE should
216 be prefixed to mailbox names. Disabling this makes sense for
217 some broken IMAP servers. This option is meaningless if a
218 Folder was specified. (Default: yes)
219 RequireCRAM yes|no
221 If set to yes, isync will abort the connection if no CRAM-MD5
222 authentication is possible. (Default: no)
223 RequireSSL yes|no
225 isync will abort the connection if a TLS/SSL session cannot be
226 established with the IMAP server. (Default: yes)
227 CertificateFile path
229 File containing additional X.509 certificates used to verify
230 server identities. Directly matched peer certificates are always
231 trusted, regardless of validity.
232 Note that the system's default certificate store is always used
233 and should not be specified here.
234 UseSSLv2 yes|no
236 Should isync use SSLv2 for communication with the IMAP server
237 over SSL? (Default: no)
238 UseSSLv3 yes|no
240 Should isync use SSLv3 for communication with the IMAP server
241 over SSL? (Default: yes if the imaps port is used, otherwise
242 no)
243 UseTLSv1 yes|no
245 Should isync use TLSv1.x for communication with the IMAP server
246 over SSL? (Default: yes)
247 OneToOne
249 isync will ignore any Mailbox specifications and instead pick up
250 all mailboxes from the local MailDir and remote Folder and map
251 them 1:1 onto each other according to their names. NOTE: This
252 directive is allowed only in the global section (see below).
253 Inbox mailbox
255 Exception to the OneToOne mapping: the special IMAP mailbox
256 INBOX is mapped to the local mailbox (relative to the MailDir).
257 NOTE: This directive is only meaningful in the global section
258 (see below).
259 Configuration commands that appear prior to the first Mailbox command
261 are considered to be global options which are used as defaults when
262 those specific options are not specifically set for a defined Mailbox.
263 For example, if you use the same login name for several IMAP servers,
264 you can put a User command before the first Mailbox command, and then
265 leave out the User command in the sections for each mailbox. isync
266 will then use the global value by default.
267
269 ~/.isyncrc
270 Default configuration file
271
273 The configuration file takes precedence over command line options.
274 Use -c /dev/null to work around.
275 See the INHERENT PROBLEMS section in the mbsync man page, too.
277
279 mbsync(1), mdconvert(1), mutt(1), maildir(5)
280 Up to date information on isync can be found at http://isync.sf.net/
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284 Originally written by Michael R. Elkins, currently maintained by Oswald
285 Buddenhagen.
286 2010 Feb 7 isync(1)