1isync(1) General Commands Manual isync(1)
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6 isync - synchronize IMAP4 and Maildir mailboxes
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9 isync [options ...] {mailbox ...|-a|-l}
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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
24 -c, --config file
25 Read configuration from file. By default, the configuration is
26 read from ~/.isyncrc if it exists.
27 -1, --one-to-one
29 Instead of using the mailbox specifications in ~/.isyncrc, isync
30 will pick up all mailboxes from the local directory and remote
31 folder and map them 1:1 onto each other according to their
32 names.
33 -I, --inbox mailbox
35 Exception to the 1:1 mapping created by -1: the special IMAP
36 mailbox INBOX is mapped to the local mailbox (relative to the
37 maildir).
38 -a, --all
40 Synchronize all mailboxes (either specified in ~/.isyncrc or
41 determined by the 1:1 mapping).
42 -l, --list
44 Don't synchronize anything, but list all mailboxes and exit.
45 -L, --create-local
47 Automatically create the local Maildir mailbox if it doesn't
48 already exist.
49 -R, --create-remote
51 Automatically create the remote IMAP mailbox if it doesn't
52 already exist.
53 -C, --create
55 Automatically create any mailboxes if they don't already exist.
56 This is simply a combination of -L and -R.
57 -d, --delete
59 Causes isync to propagate message deletions. By default, dead
60 messages are not deleted.
61 -e, --expunge
63 Causes isync to permanently remove all messages marked for dele‐
64 tion. By default, deleted messages are not expunged.
65 -f, --fast
67 Only fetch new messages existing on the server into the local
68 mailbox. Message deletions and flag changes will not be propa‐
69 gated.
70 -h, --help
72 Displays a summary of command line options
73 -p, --port port
75 Specifies the port on the IMAP server to connect to (default:
76 143 for imap, 993 for imaps)
77 -q, --quiet
79 Suppress informational messages. If specified twice, suppress
80 warning messages as well.
81 -r, --remote box
83 Specifies the name of the remote IMAP mailbox to synchronize
84 with (Default: INBOX)
85 -s, --host [imaps:]host
87 Specifies the hostname of the IMAP server
88 -u, --user user
90 Specifies the login name to access the IMAP server (default:
91 $USER)
92 -M, --maildir dir
94 Specifies the location for your local mailboxes.
95 -F, --folder folder/
97 Specifies the location for your remote mailboxes.
98 -v, --version
100 Displays isync version information.
101 -V, --verbose
103 Enables verbose mode, which displays the IMAP4 network traffic.
104 -D, --debug
106 Enable printing of debug messages.
107 -w, --write
109 Don't run mbsync, but instead write a permanent config file for
110 it. The UID mappings of all configured mailboxes will be
111 migrated. Note that most command line options that would affect
112 an actual sync operation will be incorporated into the new con‐
113 fig file as well; exceptions are --fast and --cre‐
114 ate[-remote|-local]. The name of the new config file is deter‐
115 mined by replacing the last occurrence of "isync" with "mbsync",
116 or appending ".mbsync" if "isync" was not found.
117 -W, --writeto file
119 Like -w, but use the specified name for the new config file.
120
122 isync by default reads ~/.isyncrc to load configuration data. Each
123 non-empty line of the configuration file that does not start with a
124 hash mark consists of a command. The following commands are under‐
125 stood:
126 Mailbox path
128 Defines a local Maildir mailbox. All configuration commands
129 following this line, up until the next Mailbox command, apply to
130 this mailbox only.
131 Host [imaps:]name
133 Defines the DNS name or IP address of the IMAP server. If the
134 hostname is prefixed with imaps: the connection is assumed to be
135 a SSL connection to port 993 (though you can change this by
136 placing a Port command after the Host command). Note that mod‐
137 ern servers support SSL on the default port 143. isync will
138 always attempt to use SSL if available.
139 Port port
141 Defines the TCP port number of the IMAP server (Default: 143 for
142 imap, 993 for imaps)
143 Box mailbox
145 Defines the name of the remote IMAP mailbox associated with the
146 local Maildir mailbox (Default: INBOX)
147 User username
149 Defines the login name on the IMAP server (Default: current
150 user)
151 Pass password
153 Defines the password for username on the IMAP server. Note that
154 this option is NOT required. If no password is specified in the
155 configuration file, isync will prompt you for it.
156 Alias string
158 Defines an alias for the mailbox which can be used as a shortcut
159 on the command line.
160 CopyDeletedTo mailbox
162 Specifies the remote IMAP mailbox to copy deleted messages to
163 prior to expunging (Default: none).
164 Delete yes|no
166 Specifies whether message deletions are propagated. (Default:
167 no). NOTE: The -d command line option overrides this setting
168 when set to no.
169 Expunge yes|no
171 Specifies whether deleted messages are expunged. (Default: no).
172 NOTE: The -e command line option overrides this setting when
173 set to no.
174 MailDir directory
176 Specifies the location of your local mailboxes if a relative
177 path is specified in a Mailbox command (Default: ~). NOTE: This
178 directive is allowed only in the global section (see below).
179 Folder directory/
181 Specifies the location of your IMAP mailboxes specified in Box
182 commands (Default: ""). NOTE: You must append the hierarchy
183 delimiter (usually a slash) to this specification. NOTE 2: This
184 directive is allowed only in the global section (see below).
185 MaxMessages count
187 Sets the number of messages isync should keep in the local copy
188 of a mailbox. This is useful for mailboxes where you keep a
189 complete archive on the server, but want to mirror only the last
190 messages (for instance, for mailing lists). The messages that
191 were the first to arrive in the mailbox (independently of the
192 actual date of the message) will be deleted first. Messages
193 that are flagged (marked as important) and recent messages will
194 not be automatically deleted. If count is 0, the maximum number
195 of messages is unlimited. (Default: 0)
196 MaxSize bytes
198 Messages larger than that many bytes will not be transferred
199 over the wire. This is useful for weeding out messages with
200 large attachments. If bytes is 0, the maximum file size is
201 unlimited. (Default: 0)
202 Tunnel command
204 Specify a command to run to establish a connection rather than
205 opening a TCP socket. This allows you to run an IMAP session
206 over an SSH tunnel, for example.
207 UseNamespace yes|no
209 Selects whether the server's first "personal" NAMESPACE should
210 be prefixed to mailbox names. Disabling this makes sense for
211 some broken IMAP servers. This option is meaningless if a
212 Folder was specified. (Default: yes)
213 RequireCRAM yes|no
215 If set to yes, isync will abort the connection if no CRAM-MD5
216 authentication is possible. (Default: no)
217 RequireSSL yes|no
219 isync will abort the connection if a TLS/SSL session cannot be
220 established with the IMAP server. (Default: yes)
221 CertificateFile path
223 File containing X.509 CA certificates used to verify server
224 identities.
225 UseSSLv2 yes|no
227 Should isync use SSLv2 for communication with the IMAP server
228 over SSL? (Default: yes if the imaps port is used, otherwise
229 no)
230 UseSSLv3 yes|no
232 Should isync use SSLv3 for communication with the IMAP server
233 over SSL? (Default: yes if the imaps port is used, otherwise
234 no)
235 UseTLSv1 yes|no
237 Should isync use TLSv1 for communication with the IMAP server
238 over SSL? (Default: yes)
239 OneToOne
241 isync will ignore any Mailbox specifications and instead pick up
242 all mailboxes from the local MailDir and remote Folder and map
243 them 1:1 onto each other according to their names. NOTE: This
244 directive is allowed only in the global section (see below).
245 Inbox mailbox
247 Exception to the OneToOne mapping: the special IMAP mailbox
248 INBOX is mapped to the local mailbox (relative to the MailDir).
249 NOTE: This directive is only meaningful in the global section
250 (see below).
251 Configuration commands that appear prior to the first Mailbox command
253 are considered to be global options which are used as defaults when
254 those specific options are not specifically set for a defined Mailbox.
255 For example, if you use the same login name for several IMAP servers,
256 you can put a User command before the first Mailbox command, and then
257 leave out the User command in the sections for each mailbox. isync
258 will then use the global value by default.
259
261 ~/.isyncrc
262 Default configuration file
263
265 The configuration file takes precedence over command line options.
266 Use -c /dev/null to work around.
267 See the INHERENT PROBLEMS section in the mbsync man page, too.
269
271 mbsync(1), mdconvert(1), mutt(1), maildir(5)
272 Up to date information on isync can be found at http://isync.sf.net/
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276 Written by Michael R. Elkins <me@mutt.org>,
277 maintained by Oswald Buddenhagen <ossi@users.sf.net>.
278 2004 Mar 29 isync(1)