Sorting / filtering before reading with mutt

[Rene Kita]

On Sun, Oct 05, 2025 at 02:16:10PM +0000, Pietido wrote:
> 
> Dear Mutt-users,
> 
> maybe my request was answered more than one time from you,
> but I did not find out how I can sort e-mails before I read them with
> mutt.
> 
> I use  mbsync to receive my e-mails for an IMAP account
> provider and to read it offline with mutt.
> 
> Maybe there is a way to setup procmail or a similar app to filter
> e-mail?

I call fdm after I synced with mbsync to filter some email in my Inbox.
I also use mlist from mblaze to check if there is new mail. This all
happens in a script.

.fdm.conf looks like this:
#v+
$mail = "%h/Mail"

account "filter" maildir "${mail}/Inbox"
action "spam" maildir "${mail}/Spam"

# Bob Idiot
match case "^From: Some Idiot <idiot at example\.com>" in headers action drop

# spam
match case "^X-Original-To: info at rkta\.de" in headers action "spam"
#v-

And here is my script:
#v+
#!/bin/sh

mbsync default || exit 10
rsync -a --delete ~/Mail/ ~/.Mail.backup/ || exit 9
fdm fetch || exit 8
mlist -N ~/Mail/Inbox | read _
#v-

I usually have mutt put in the background and call the scripts as
$ ms && %1

So, if I have new mail mutt will be put in the foreground. You get the
idea.