AERC-TUTORIAL(7)

# NAME

aerc-tutorial - tutorial for *aerc*(1)

# INTRODUCTION

Welcome to aerc! This tutorial will guide you through your first steps in using
the client. This tutorial is a man page - you can read it again later with
*:help* _tutorial_ from aerc, or *man aerc-tutorial* from your terminal.

First, let's introduce some basic keybindings. For convention, we'll use *<C-p>*
to represent _Ctrl+p_, which matches the convention used for writing keybindings
for aerc.

*<C-p>*, *<C-n>*
	Cycles to the previous or next tab

Try using these now to switch between your message list and the tutorial. In
your message list, we use vim-style keys to get around.

*k*, *j*
	Scrolls up and down between messages

*<C-u>*, *<C-d>*
	Scrolls half a page up or down

*g*, *G*
	Selects the first or last message, respectively

*K*, *J*
	Switches between folders in the sidebar

*<Enter>*
	Opens the selected message

You can also search the selected folder with */*, or filter with *\\ *. When
searching you can use *n* and *p* to jump to the next and previous result.
Filtering hides any non-matching message.

# THE MESSAGE VIEWER

Press *<Enter>* to open a message. By default, the message viewer will display
your message using *less*(1). This should also have familiar, vim-like
keybindings for scrolling around in your message.

Multipart messages (messages with attachments, or messages with several
alternative formats) show a part selector on the bottom of the message viewer.

*<C-k>*, *<C-j>*
	Cycle between parts of a multipart message

*q*
	Close the message viewer

To show HTML messages parts, the _text/html_ filter in your _aerc.conf_ file
(which is probably in _~/.config/aerc/_) requires *w3m* along with optional
dependencies for safer network isolation: *unshare* (from *util-linux*) or
*socksify* (from *dante-utils*).

You can also do many tasks you could do in the message list from here, like
replying to emails, deleting the email, or view the next and previous message
(*J* and *K*).

# COMPOSING MESSAGES

Return to the message list by pressing *q* to dismiss the message viewer. Once
there, let's compose a message.

*C*
	Compose a new message

*rr*
	Reply-all to a message

*rq*
	Reply-all to a message, and pre-fill the editor with a quoted version of the
	message being replied to

*Rr*
	Reply to a message

*Rq*
	Reply to a message, and pre-fill the editor with a quoted version of the
	message being replied to

For now, let's use *C* to compose a new message. The message composer
will appear. You should see To, From, and Subject lines, as well
as your editor. You can use *<Tab>* or *<C-j>* and *<C-k>* to cycle
between these fields (tab won't cycle between fields once you enter
the editor, but *<C-j>* and *<C-k>* will).

Let's send an email to yourself. Note that the To and From headers expect RFC
5322 addresses, e.g. *John Doe <john@example.org>*, or simply
*<john@example.org>*. Separate multiple recipients with commas. Go ahead and
fill out an email, then close the editor.

The message review screen is shown next. You have a chance now to revise the
email before it's sent. Press *y* to send the email if it looks good.

*Note*: when using the terminal in the message view, you can summon aerc's ex
command line by using *<C-x>*. *:* is sent to the editor.

# USING THE TERMINAL

aerc comes with an embedded terminal, which you've already used to view and edit
emails. We can also use this for other purposes, such as referencing a git
repository while reviewing a patch. From the message list, we can use the
following keybindings to open a terminal:

*<C-t>*
	Opens a new terminal tab, running your shell

*$*, *!*
	Prompts for a command to run, then opens a new terminal tab running that
	command

*|*
	Prompts for a command to run, then pipes the selected email into that
	command and displays the result on a new terminal tab

Try pressing *$* and entering _top_. You can also use the *:cd* command to
change aerc's working directory, and the directory in which new terminals run.
Use *:pwd* to see it again if you're not sure where you are.

# ADDITIONAL NOTES

## COMMANDS

Every keybinding is ultimately bound to an aerc command. You can also summon the
command line by pressing *:*, then entering one of these commands. See *aerc*(1)
or *:help* for a full list of commands.

## MESSAGE FILTERS

When displaying messages in the message viewer, aerc will pipe them through a
message filter first. This allows you to decode messages in non-plaintext
formats, add syntax highlighting, etc. aerc ships with a few default filters:

- _text/plain_ parts are piped through the _colorize_ built-in filter which
  handles URL, quotes and diff coloring.
- _text/calendar_ is processed to be human readable text
- _text/html_ (disabled by default) can be uncommented to pipe through the
  built-in _html_ filter.

## CUSTOMIZING AERC

Aerc is highly customizable. Review *aerc-config*(5) (or use *:help config*) to
learn more about how to add custom keybindings, install new message filters,
change its appearance and behavior, and so on.

# AUTHORS

Originally created by Drew DeVault and maintained by Robin Jarry who is assisted
by other open source contributors. For more information about aerc development,
see _https://sr.ht/~rjarry/aerc/_.
