Monthly Archives: January 2010

Linux

Using mutt instead of MS Outlook on an Exchange server

2 Comments

Problem Statement

  • MS Outlook & Exchange sucks but that’s what your company supports.
  • Mutt over IMAP is too slow. What you want is something like mutt + spool like the good email old days.
  • Just about every GUI-based email client sucks (any OS). They are too slow compared to mutt.

Design Goals

  • Use mutt from local disk to keep mutt fast.
  • Keep mail on corporate IMAP/Exchange servers so it is still backed up & maintained by the IT dept.
  • Use IMAP because Exchange servers support it.
  • No manual sync or push. Automate everything so all you have to do is use mutt.
  • Allow straight-forward use of GUI email clients should you ever need them.

Design Concepts

  • OfflineIMAP synchronizes mail folders between the Exchange server and your machine (mutt’s local disk).
  • You read mail in mutt. Mutt reads mail from disk.
  • You write mail filtering rules in fdm.  fdm filters mail into folders to your liking.
  • Use cron to automate syncs and filtering jobs behind the scenes.

Howto

Step 1: Install ubuntu packages: mutt, offlineimap, fdm, msmtp (ubuntu 10.04 LTS package names)

Step 2: Config mutt to send mail using msmtp

~/.msmtprc

account default
host smtp.mymailserver.com
port 587
from donn@bigcorp.com
auth login
user donn
password s00perSekrit 
tls on
tls_starttls on
tls_certcheck off
#Or:
#tls_fingerprint FE:39:F9:B4:64:31:0E:DF:31:51:72:DA:A7:4F:35:4B
logfile ~/.msmtp.log

Paste view: http://pastie.org/9129773

~/.muttrc

set sendmail=/usr/bin/msmtp

Step 3: Setup Maildir directory

Add to ~/.muttrc:

set mbox_type=Maildir
set folder="~/Maildir"
mailboxes `echo -n "+ "; for file in ~/Maildir/*; do box=$(basename "$file"); echo -n "\"+$box\" "; done`
set spoolfile="~/Maildir/work/INBOX"
set postponed="+Drafts"
set record="+work/Sent"

Paste view: http://pastie.org/9129744

Step 4: Setup OfflineIMAP

The key point of offlineimap: Mutt can read your messages from local hard disk, instead of over the network. This greatly reduces the lag / delay when reading messages quickly.

OfflineIMAP syncs your ~/Maildir/work message base with MS Exchange over IMAP. So, if you read a message in mutt, it will be marked read in ~/Maildir, and then offlineimap will sync this change with Exchange. If you later check your inbox with Thunderbird, OWA, Outlook, or other client, that message will have ‘read’ status (awesome). OfflineIMAP downloads new mail from Exchange and stores them in ~/Maildir/work/INBOX, but this is really the syncing process: Exchange has the new messages, ~/Maildir/work/INBOX does not, until after a sync.

offlineimaprc:

[general]
accounts = Work
 
[Account Work]
localrepository = Local
remoterepository = Remote
 
[Repository Local]
type = Maildir
localfolders = ~/Maildir/work
 
[Repository Remote]
type = IMAP
remotehost = mail.mymailserver.com
ssl = yes
remoteuser = donn
remotepass = myPass
# Folders to skip during sync.
folderfilter = lambda foldername: foldername not in ['Deleted Items', 'Contacts', 'Calendar', 'Trash', 'MyFolderOfReallyOldMail']

Paste view: http://pastie.org/9129763

Step 5: Setup FDM

FDM is used to filter mail between your INBOX and your other Maildir “folders”. For example, I filter mailing-list email to a separate folder. OfflineIMAP puts ALL incoming mail into INBOX, then FDM moves messages from INBOX to other folders based on your rules. All of this FDM work is done on local Maildir subdirs (local disk). I also have FDM move (ie. archive) all email over 30 days to a local, “old mail” folder.

WARNING: Be extra cautious as you develop your FDM rules. If you make a typo (eg. regex typo), you could accidentally delete incoming mail. Use the -n switch (test syntax) and -v (verbose output) to check your rules carefully.

#unmatched keep default. A lot of these, just to be safe.
set unmatched-mail keep
 
# Delivery actions.
action "INBOX" maildir "%h/Maildir/work/INBOX"
action "widgets-list" maildir "%h/Maildir/work/widgets-list"
action "ix_email" maildir "%h/Maildir/work/ix_email"
action "inbox_overflow" maildir "%h/Maildir/work/inbox_overflow"
 
#Bread and Butter INBOX account only operates on one folder
account "WORK" maildir "%h/Maildir/work/INBOX"
 
# Match regex's are *not* case-sensitive by default.
match account "WORK" {
 match "^subject:.*\\[ubuntu-widgets\\].*" in headers {
 match all action "widgets-list"
 }
 # Negative match regex.
 match "^(to:|cc:)(.*linx.net|.*tech-l@ams-ix.*)" in headers {
 match "^From:(?!.*linx.net.*)" in headers {
 # If not from linx admins, move it.
 match all action "ix_email"
 }
 }
 # Move older msgs to overflow box so fdm doesn't have to process them over and over.
 # My email is donn @ bigcorp.com
 match age > 1 months {
 match "^To:(?!.*donn@.*)" in headers {
 # If not to-donn, archive the old mail to overflow box.
 match all action "inbox_overflow"
 }
 }
 # Last catchall match term.
 match unmatched action keep
}
# Send all mail to inbox.
match unmatched action keep

Paste view: http://pastie.org/9129776

Step 6: Setup mutt basics

muttrc:

set hostname="bigcorp.com"
set realname="Donn Lee"
set from="donn@bigcorp.com"
set envelope_from=yes
set hidden_host=yes
set use_domain=yes
set pager_stop=yes
my_hdr From: donn@bigcorp.com
set attribution="%n <%a> wrote on %{%a} [%{%Y-%b-%d %H:%M:%S %Z}]:"
set strict_threads = no
set date_format="!%a, %b %d, %Y at %I:%M:%S%p %Z"
set index_format="%4C %Z[%[%a %m/%d %H:%M]] %-16.16L%?X? [%X]? (%?l?%4l&%4c?) %s"
set pager_index_lines=20
# Change default subject format for fwd'd msgs.
set forward_format="Fwd: %s"
# Use emacs to compose mail.
set editor = "/usr/bin/emacs -nw %s"
# Create a nice status bar.
set status_format=" %r %b %f New:%n Del:%d TotMsgs:%m Tag:%t Flag:%F Size:%l %> Lim:%V (%P)"
# Ignore all lines by default
ignore *
# Set what I want to see
unignore from to cc subject date reply-to mail-followup-to x-url organisation organization x-mailer user-agent xmail-sent-to
hdr_order from to cc subject date reply-to mail-followup-to x-url organisation organization x-mailer user-agent xmail-sent-to
# Create a cache for performance.
# http://www.mutt.org/doc/devel/manual.html#header-cache
set header_cache="~/.mutt_cache"
set maildir_header_cache_verify="yes"
set header_cache_pagesize="65536"
# And all your other mutt goodies...

Paste view: http://pastie.org/9129782

Step 7: Read messages that are html formatted

Add to muttrc:

# View html email
# Must also add these two lines to ~/.mailcap
# text/html; links %s; nametemplate=%s.html
# text/html; links -dump %s; nametemplate=%s.html; copiousoutput
auto_view text/html

Paste view: http://pastie.org/9129786

Step 8: Opening email attachments

I use Outlook Web App (OWA) to open an attachment (eg. a Powerpoint file). I always have a browser up and OWA is usually loaded in one of the tabs.

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