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I’d like to use Mutt (or NeoMutt, if that makes a difference) to view maildirs in read-only mode.

I know that I can use the -R command-line argument to start Mutt in read-only mode, or press the % key to toggle between read-only and read-write mode, but this setting seems to reset every time I open a different folder. Can I force it to stay read-only all the time? I wouldn’t want to accidentally modify the mailbox just because I forgot to hit % after opening a folder.

Also, I don’t want to use a filesystem-based approach, e.g. chmoding all of the files and directories to be read-only, since they will indeed be modified by other tools – but simply reading them should not change them in any way.

To reproduce, start mutt -R in the default mailbox. When using the default status bar, there will be a % sign at the left, marking the mailbox to be opened read-only. Then use c to open another (or even the same) folder. The % sign is gone.

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1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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There's an configuration option for that. Add following line to your config:

set read_only = yes

Docs: mutt, neomutt

read_only
    Type: boolean
    Default: no

    If set , all folders are opened in read-only mode.
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  • Oh dear, that was too easy. I swear I’ve googled for it extensively before! Thanks.
    – scy won't contribute anymore
    Commented Jun 14, 2020 at 9:38

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