Wanderlust

First, config file is ~/.folders, you can change it by wl-folders-file. Here you setup "folders", for wanderlust there is only folder, no account.

Mishoo has a detailed and helpful explanation of this, but for archiving purpose I'll repeat him below.

WL stores the folders information in the file “$HOME/.folders” (dot folders). Here's the syntax for one IMAP folder:

%INBOX:johndoe/[email protected]:993! "INBOX"

The above tells WL that we have an IMAP folder (starts with “%”), on the server named “mail.domain.com”, using “clear” (plain) authentication, user name “johndoe”, port “993” and should use secure sockets layer (SSL) when connecting (ends with “!”). Additionally, the string "INBOX" at the end specifies how this folder should be named locally.

P.S. % is IMAP folder, + is local folder, other folders see the manual.

A single folder is not very useful, here is how to setup groups in WL:

GMAIL {
   %Inbox:casouri/[email protected]:993!             "Inbox"
   %[Gmail]/All Mail:casouri/[email protected]:993!  "All Mail"
   %[Gmail]/Sent Mail:casouri/[email protected]:993! "Sent"
   %[Gmail]/Starred:casouri/[email protected]:993!   "Starred"
   %[Gmail]/Drafts:casouri/[email protected]:993!    "Draft"
   %[Gmail]/Trash:casouri/[email protected]:993!     "Trash"
}

And it looks like this in WL:

[-]Desktop:0/37/24319
  [-]GMAIL :0/37/24319
    Inbox:0/0/2
    All Mail:0/0/544
    Sent:0/0/304
    Starred:0/0/1
    Draft:0/0/0
    Trash:0/37/23468

(The Desktop can be changed by variable wl-folder-desktop-name)

It took me a while to sync up the labels in Gmail and my local WL folders.

The part [Gmail]/All Mail is the folder (label in Gmail). I thought that the [Gmail] is some sort of special syntax, turns out it's just how Google name their system labels (folders) in Gmail.

Also you need to make sure you have made these system labels available to SMTP:

Not downloading the mail until I read it sound silly, it's not like I don't read every mail… Plus WL is super slow when fetching mails when I open each mail.

It seems mbsync is faster and easier to configure.

Here is the manual.

Configure ~/.mbsyncrc:

IMAPAccount gmail
# Address to connect to
Host imap.gmail.com
User [email protected]
Pass password
# To store the password in an encrypted file use PassCmd instead of Pass
# PassCmd "gpg2 -q --for-your-eyes-only --no-tty -d ~/.mailpass.gpg"
#
# Use SSL
SSLType IMAPS
AuthMechs LOGIN

# The following line should work. If get certificate errors, uncomment the two following lines and read the "Troubleshooting" section.
# CertificateFile /etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt
#CertificateFile ~/.cert/imap.gmail.com.pem
#CertificateFile ~/.cert/Equifax_Secure_CA.pem

IMAPStore gmail-remote
Account gmail

MaildirStore gmail-local
Path ~/Mail/Gmail/
SubFolders Verbatim
Inbox ~/Mail/Gmail/Inbox

Channel gmail
Master :gmail-remote:
Slave :gmail-local:
# Exclude everything under the internal [Gmail] folder, except the interesting folders
Patterns * ![Gmail]* "[Gmail]/Sent Mail" "[Gmail]/Starred" "[Gmail]/All Mail"
# Or include everything
#Patterns *
# Automatically create missing mailboxes, both locally and on the server
Create Both
# Save the synchronization state files in the relevant directory
SyncState *


IMAPAccount psu
Host outlook.office365.com
User [email protected]
Pass password
SSLType IMAPS
AuthMechs LOGIN

IMAPStore psu-remote
Account psu

MaildirStore psu-local
Path ~/Mail/PSU/
SubFolders Verbatim
Inbox ~/Mail/PSU/Inbox

Channel psu
Master :psu-remote:
Slave :psu-local:
Patterns "Archive" "Sent Items"
Create Both
SyncState *

Most of the stuff can be found in manual. If you are not sure what folders there are, you can set Pattern to * and retrieve everything. Once you know the name for each folder, you can set specific rules to get only the ones you want.

Note that mbsync is sensitive to empty lines. You got to keep each "block" together.

Fetch your mail by mbsync <account>, e.g. mbsync gmail or mbsync psu. You can set a corn job (linux) or launchd job (macOS) to run it periodically.

manual

l

toggle display of summary buffer on the top

I have two email address, this way I can chose which address I send mails from. Hit C-c C-j in message mode to chose.

;; default template
(setq wl-smtp-connection-type 'starttls
      wl-smtp-posting-port 587
      wl-smtp-authenticate-type "plain"
      wl-smtp-posting-user "casouri"
      wl-smtp-posting-server "smtp.gmail.com"
      wl-local-domain "gmail.com"
      wl-message-id-domain "smtp.gmail.com")
;; multi address
(setq wl-user-mail-address-list '("[email protected]" "[email protected]"))
(setq wl-template-alist
      '(("GMAIL"
         (wl-from . "Yuan Fu <[email protected]>")
         (wl-smtp-posting-user . "casouri")
         (wl-smtp-posting-server . "smtp.gmail.com")
         (wl-smtp-authenticate-type ."plain")
         (wl-smtp-connection-type . 'starttls)
         (wl-smtp-posting-port . 587)
         (wl-local-domain . "gmail.com")
         (wl-message-id-domain . "smtp.gmail.com")
         ("From" . wl-from))
        ("PSU"
         (wl-from . "Yuan Fu <[email protected]>")
         (wl-smtp-posting-user . "[email protected]")
         (wl-smtp-authenticate-type ."login")
         (wl-smtp-posting-server . "smtp.office365.com")
         (wl-smtp-connection-type . 'starttls)
         (wl-smtp-posting-port . 587)
         ("From" . wl-from))))

You got to set the default config. By default WL doesn't apply any template. Templates are kind of like color themes in Emacs, all they do is override.

Note that I set wl-smtp-authenticate-type to "login" in Outlook mail (Penn State uses Outlook).

Hit w to start a Draft buffer and go into message mode.

Bindings:

C-c C-j

switch between from addresses

C-c C-k

kill draft

C-c TAB

add attachment

C-c C-c

send and exit

C-c C-z

save and exit

C-c C-w

signature

C-c C-t

start editing text

C-c C-f

cc and friends

For example:

;; Use the same address to reply
(setq wl-draft-config-alist
      '(((string-match "psu" wl-draft-parent-folder)
         (template . "PSU"))
        ((string-match "gmail" wl-draft-parent-folder)
         (template . "GMAIL"))))

This makes sure I always reply with the address to which the mail was send.

BTW, if it doesn't appear to work, it's because it applies when the mail is sent, as the docstring of wl-draft-config-alist says:

The configuration is applied when ‘wl-draft-config-exec’ is called, or applied automatically before sending message.

The format of wl-draft-config-alist is:

'(("regexp of the header" or elisp expression
  ("Field" . value(elisp expression))
   (variable . value(elisp expression))
   (sub-function . value(elisp expression))
   function
   …)
  ("regexp of the header" or elisp expression
   ("Field" . value(elisp expression))
   …))

Per default, there are 13 following sub-functions.

'header:      Inserts the specified string at the bottom of the header.
'header-top:  Inserts the specified string at the top of the header.
'header-file: Inserts the specified file at the bottom of the header.
'x-face:      Inserts ‘X-Face:’ field with the content of the specified file.
'top:         Inserts the specified string at the top of the body.
'top-file:    Inserts the specified file at the top of the body.
'body:        Replaces the body with the specified string.
              Specifying nil deletes the entire body string.
'body-file:   Replaces the body with the content of the specified file.
'bottom:      Inserts the specified string at the bottom of the body.
'bottom-file: Inserts the specified file at the top of the body.
'part-top:  Inserts the specified string at the top of the current part.
'part-bottom: Inserts the specified string at the bottom of the current part.
'template:    Applies the specified template.
              (refer to the next subsection)

More in [[http://wanderlust.github.io/wl-docs/wl.html#Dynamical-Message-Re_002darrangement][the manual]

bbdb-v3 supports Wanderlust directly. Get it from savannah.

Emacs Wiki has a tutorial for bbdb-v3 setup for Wanderlust. Emacs-fu also got a detailed tutorial, but his setup is for bbdb-v2. I'll mention the different parts below.

I copied most part from emacs-fu with slight changes:

;; before load
(setq bbdb-file (concat moon-star-dir "utility/email/bbdb"))

;; after load
(require 'bbdb-wl)
(bbdb-initialize 'wl)
(setq
 bbdb-wl-folder-regexp    ;; get addresses only from these folders
 "^\.inbox$\\|^.sent")
(setq
 bbdb-offer-save 1                        ;; 1 means save-without-asking

 bbdb-use-pop-up t                        ;; allow popups for addresses
 bbdb-electric-p t                        ;; be disposable with SPC
 bbdb-popup-target-lines  1               ;; very small

 bbdb-dwim-net-address-allow-redundancy t ;; always use full name
 bbdb-quiet-about-name-mismatches 2       ;; show name-mismatches 2 secs

 bbdb-always-add-address t                ;; add new addresses to existing...
 ;; ...contacts automatically
 bbdb-canonicalize-redundant-nets-p t     ;; [email protected] => [email protected]

 bbdb-completion-type nil                 ;; complete on anything

 bbdb-complete-name-allow-cycling t       ;; cycle through matches
 ;; this only works partially

 bbbd-message-caching-enabled t           ;; be fast
 bbdb-use-alternate-names t               ;; use AKA


 bbdb-elided-display t                    ;; single-line addresses

 ;; auto-create addresses from mail
 bbdb/mail-auto-create-p 'bbdb-ignore-some-messages-hook

 ;; don't ask about fake addresses
 ;; NOTE: there can be only one entry per header (such as To, From)
 ;; http://flex.ee.uec.ac.jp/texi/bbdb/bbdb_11.html
 bbdb-ignore-some-messages-alist
 '(( "From" . "no.?reply\\|DAEMON\\|daemon\\|facebookmail\\|twitter")))

And in .wl:

(require 'bbdb)

To make it work for bbdb-v3:

(require 'bbdb-wl)
(bbdb-initialize 'wl)

There is also this tutorial on how to import mac contacts into bbdb, I just don't bother.

You can use the built in address book, I don't.

Hit C-c C-a to go into address manager, in address manager:

c

add CC: mark

t

add To: mark

b

add Bcc: mark

u

cancel the marker

a

add entry

e

edit entry

d

delete entry

In summary mode use @ to add/remove/change sender to/from/in address book.

manual

Once you entered password, run elmo-passwd-alis-save to save password in=~/.elmo/passwd=. The password is encrypted so don't worry.

Download x-face-e21.el from http://www.jpl.org/ftp/pub/elisp/.

(autoload 'x-face-decode-message-header "x-face-e21")
(setq wl-highlight-x-face-function 'x-face-decode-message-header)

As long as wl-x-face-file exists, WL automatically insert X-Face into header. You can control this behavior by wl-auto-insert-x-face.