Provided by: aerc_0.17.0-1ubuntu0.24.04.3_amd64 
NAME
aerc-accounts - account configuration file format for aerc(1)
SYNOPSIS
The accounts.conf file is used for configuring each mail account used for aerc. It is expected to be in
your XDG config home plus aerc, which defaults to ~/.config/aerc/accounts.conf. This file must be kept
secret, as it may include your account credentials. An alternate file can be specified via the
--accounts-conf command line argument, see aerc(1).
If accounts.conf does not exist, the :new-account configuration wizard will be executed automatically on
first startup.
This file is written in the ini format where each [section] is the name of an account you want to
configure, and the keys & values in that section specify details of that account's configuration. In
addition to the options documented here, specific transports for incoming and outgoing emails may have
additional configuration parameters, documented on their respective man pages.
CONFIGURATION
Note that many of these configuration options are written for you, such as source and outgoing, when you
run the account configuration wizard (:new-account).
archive = <folder>
Specifies a folder to use as the destination of the :archive command.
Default: Archive
check-mail = <duration>
Specifies an interval to check for new mail. Mail will be checked at startup, and every interval.
IMAP accounts will check for mail in all unselected folders, and the selected folder will continue to
receive PUSH mail notifications. Maildir/Notmuch folders must use check-mail-cmd in conjunction with
this option. See aerc-maildir(5) and aerc-notmuch(5) for more information.
Setting this option to 0 will disable check-mail
Example:
check-mail = 5m
Default: 0
copy-to = <folder>
Specifies a folder to copy sent mails to, usually Sent.
default = <folder>
Specifies the default folder to open in the message list when aerc configures this account.
Default: INBOX
folders = <folder1,folder2,folder3...>
Specifies the comma separated list of folders to display in the sidebar. Names prefixed with ~ are
interpreted as regular expressions.
By default, all folders are displayed.
folders-exclude = <folder1,folder2,folder3...>
Specifies the comma separated list of folders to exclude from the sidebar. Names prefixed with ~ are
interpreted as regular expressions. Note that this overrides anything from folders.
By default, no folders are excluded.
enable-folders-sort = true|false
If true, folders are sorted, first by specified folders (see folders-sort), then alphabetically.
Default: true
folders-sort = <folder1,folder2,folder3...>
Specifies a comma separated list of folders to be shown at the top of the list in the provided order.
Remaining folders will be sorted alphabetically.
folder-map = <file>
The folder map contains a one-to-one mapping of server folders to displayed folder names. The folder-
map file expects a <display-folder-name>=<server-folder-name>[*] mapping per line (similar key=value
syntax as for the query-map in notmuch). The mappings are applied as they appear in the folder-map.
Supported backends: imap, maildir.
Note that other account options such as archive, default, copy-to, postpone, folders, folders-
exclude, folders-sort need to be adjusted if one of those folders is affected by a folder mapping.
To apply the mapping to subfolders or folders with a similar prefix, append '*' to the server folder
name.
Examples:
Remap a single folder:
Spam = [Gmail]/Spam
Remap the folder and all of its subfolders:
G = [Gmail]*
Remove a prefix for all subfolders:
* = [Gmail]/*
Remap all subfolders and avoid a folder collision:
Archive/existing = Archive*
Archive = OldArchive*
from = <address>
The default value to use for the From header in new emails. This should be an RFC 5322-compatible
string, such as Your Name <you@example.org>.
aliases = <address1,address2,address3...>
All aliases of the current account. These will be used to fill in the From: field. Make sure that
your email server accepts this value, or for example use aerc-sendmail(5) in combination with
msmtp(1) and --read-envelope-from.
An alias can also use fnmatch-style wildcards in the address portion. These wildcards can be useful
for catch-all addresses. For example, the alias "Your Name" <*@you.com> would ensure that when
replying to emails addressed to hi@you.com and contact@you.com, the From: field is set to hi@you.com
and contact@you.com, respectively. The name from the alias, not from the matching address, is used.
headers = <header1,header2,header3...>
Specifies the comma separated list of headers to fetch with the message.
By default, all headers are fetched. If any headers are specified in this list, aerc will append it
to the following list of required headers:
• date
• subject
• from
• sender
• reply-to
• to
• cc
• bcc
• in-reply-to
• message-id
• references
headers-exclude = <header1,header2,header3...>
Specifies the comma separated list of headers to exclude from fetching. Note that this overrides
anything from headers.
By default, no headers are excluded.
outgoing = <uri>
Specifies the transport for sending outgoing emails on this account. It should be a connection
string, and the specific meaning of each component varies depending on the protocol in use. See each
protocol's man page for more details:
• aerc-sendmail(5)
• aerc-smtp(5)
outgoing-cred-cmd = <command>
Specifies an optional command that is run to get the outgoing account's password. See each protocol's
man page for more details.
outgoing-cred-cmd-cache = true|false
By default, the credentials returned by the command will be cached until aerc is shut down. If set to
false, outgoing-cred-cmd will be executed every time an email is to be sent.
Default: true
pgp-auto-sign = true|false
If true, all outgoing emails from this account will be signed (if a signing key is available).
Default: false
pgp-attach-key = true|false
If true, attach the public signing key to signed outgoing emails.
Default: false
pgp-error-level = none|warn|error
The level of error to display when opportunistic encryption cannot be performed. See pgp-
opportunistic-encryption.
Default: warn
pgp-key-id = <key-id>
Specify the key id to use when signing a message. Can be either short or long key id. If unset, aerc
will look up the key by email.
pgp-opportunistic-encrypt = true|false
If true, any outgoing email from this account will be encrypted when all recipients (including Cc and
Bcc field) have a public key available in the keyring. The level of error to display when a message
can't be encrypted can be configured with pgp-error-level.
Default: false
postpone = <folder>
Specifies the folder to save postponed messages to.
Default: Drafts
send-as-utc = true|false
Converts the timestamp of the Date header to UTC.
Default: false
send-with-hostname = true|false
Uses the local hostname in outgoing Message-Id headers instead of your email address domain name.
Default: false
source = <uri>
Specifies the source for reading incoming emails on this account. This key is required for all
accounts. It should be a connection string, and the specific meaning of each component varies
depending on the protocol in use. See each protocol's man page for more details:
• aerc-imap(5)
• aerc-jmap(5)
• aerc-maildir(5)
• aerc-notmuch(5)
source-cred-cmd = <command>
Specifies an optional command that is run to get the source account's password. See each protocol's
man page for more details.
signature-file = <path>
Specifies the file to read in order to obtain the signature to be added to emails sent from this
account.
Please note that by convention the Usenet signature style of two dashes, followed by a space ("-- ")
should be placed at the top of the signature to separate content and signature. Aerc will add that
delimiter if it is not already present.
signature-cmd = <command>
Specifies the command to execute with sh -c in order to obtain the signature to be added to emails
sent from this account. If the command fails then signature-file is used instead.
trusted-authres = <host1,host2,host3...>
Comma-separated list of trustworthy hostnames from which the Authentication Results header will be
displayed. Entries can be regular expressions. If you want to trust any host (e.g. for debugging),
use the wildcard *.
subject-re-pattern = <regexp>
When replying to a message, this is the regular expression that will be used to match the prefix of
the original message's subject that has to be removed, to create the subject line of the new message.
Typically, this will be used to avoid a repetition of the Re: prefix in the subject header. The
default will match known translations for the common Re:.
Default: (?i)^((AW|RE|SV|VS|ODP|R): ?)+
SEE ALSO
aerc(1) aerc-config(5) aerc-imap(5) aerc-jmap(5) aerc-maildir(5) aerc-notmuch(5) aerc-sendmail(5) aerc-
smtp(5)
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/.
2025-06-19 AERC-ACCOUNTS(5)