Re: IMAP access marking new messages as "old" for mutt

August 15, 2026 at 5:58 AM, "Marc Haber via dovecot" <[email protected] mailto:[email protected]?to=%22Marc%20Haber%20via%20dovecot%22%20%3Cdovecot%40dovecot.org%3E > wrote:

> 
> Hi,
> 
> this might be a stupid question asked by someone who does not know 
> enough about IMAP, but I'm going to tell you my user story anyway:
> 
> tl;dr: can I keep dovecot from moving all "NEW" message to·
> "OLD" state when the Mailbox was opened once and nothing actually read?
> 
> long version:
> My mail is delivered to a maildir on a machine I also have a shell 
> account on. That Maildir is huge, it holds half a million messages. I 
> usually access it directly with mutt accessing the spool. In the 
> Mailbox, new messages automatically get the N flag and once I have 
> opened it in mutt, I can mark it as "O" (old). I use that flag for 
> messages that still need further work, I usually have a couple of 
> hundred messages in that state. There is also a third state (I would 
> call it "read") that doesnt display any flags in mutt.
> 
> Occasionally, I need access to an attachment directly on my work box. In 
> the past, I have moved that message to a sub-maildir which I then access 
> with Thunderbird or neomutt via IMAP and dovecot (configured via 
> userdb).
> 
> I now want to give neomutt direct IMAP access to the BIG mailbox. I am 
> impressed how quickly the neomutt/dovecot acesses this mailbox. However, 
> once I have once opened that mailbox, all messages that had the N flag 
> in the mutt-on-spool lose that flag immediately, replaced by the O flag. 
> That destroys my method of seeing "O" messages as "needs work".
> 
> Since that happens with both Thunderbird and neomutt when testing, I 
> suspect, this is either mandated by the protocol (which would be a 
> showstopper for me), or a dovecot issue, maybe even a thing that I could 
> configure in dovecot.
> 
> Hence, my question, can I configure dovecot to move a "NEW" message to 
> "OLD" only if the message was actually READ/body-displayed by an IMAP 
> client? And, if yes, how do I do that.
> 
> Greetings
> Marc
> 
> -- 
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Marc Haber | "I don't trust Computers. They | Mailadresse im Header
> Leimen, Germany | lose things." Winona Ryder | Fon: *49 6224 1600402
> Nordisch by Nature | How to make an American Quilt | Fax: *49 6224 1600421
> _______________________________________________
> dovecot mailing list -- [email protected]
> To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected]
>

Marc,

I think this isn't a Dovecot bug or a config option — the new/old split maps to IMAP's \Recent flag, which gets cleared as soon as any client opens the mailbox (SELECT). Dovecot handles that by moving messages from new/ to cur/, so your N→O distinction is gone. That's protocol, not configurable.

Note that opening the box over IMAP does not mark anything \Seen, so your read/unread state is fine — only the "O = needs work" convention breaks.

What I'd do: use \Flagged instead. In mutt just hit F; it's persistent and shows up the same across mutt-on-spool, neomutt-over-IMAP and Thunderbird. No Dovecot config needed.

n4ch0
_______________________________________________
dovecot mailing list -- [email protected]
To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected]