New users should simply run "notmuch" to be guided through the process of configuring notmuch and creating a database of existing email messages. The "notmuch" command will also offer some sample search commands. Beyond the command-line interface, notmuch also offers a full-featured interface for reading and writing mail within emacs. To use this, each user should add the following line to the ~/.emacs file: (require 'notmuch) And then run emacs as "emacs -f notmuch" or invoke the command "M-x notmuch" from within emacs.