getmail(1)

NAME
getmail - retrieve messages from one or more POP3, IMAP4, or SDPS mailboxes and deliver to a maildir, mboxrd-format mbox file, or external MDA

SYNOPSIS
getmail [OPTION] ...

DESCRIPTION

getmail can retrieve messages from POP3, IMAP4, and SDPS mailboxes. SSL-wrapped POP3 and IMAP are also supported. Single-user and domain (multi-drop) mailboxes are supported.

getmail has built-in support for delivering to maildirs, mboxrd-format mbox files, and external MDAs.

OPTIONS

--version
    show program's version number and exit

-h, --help
    show a short usage summary and exit

-gDIR, --getmaildir=DIR
    look in DIR for config/data files

-rFILE, --rcfile=FILE
    load configuration from FILE (may be given multiple times)

--dump
    dump configuration and exit (debugging)

--trace
    print extended trace information (extremely verbose)

-iFOLDER, --idle=FOLDER
    maintain connection and listen for new messages in FOLDER. This flag will only work if a single rc file is given, and will only work on IMAP connections where the server supports IMAP4 IDLE (RFC 2177).

The following options override any in the configuration file(s).

-v, --verbose
    operate more verbosely (can be given multiple times)

-q, --quiet
    do not print informational messages

-d, --delete
    delete messages from server after retrieving

-l, --dont-delete
    do not delete messages from server after retrieving

-a, --all
    retrieve all messages

-n, --new
    retrieve only unread messages

AUTHOR
Written by Charles Cazabon and others.

REPORTING BUGS
Report bugs to <https://github.com/getmail6/getmail6/issues>

IMPORTANT: include the output of getmail [options] --dump with any bug report.

COPYRIGHT
Copyright © 1998-2026 Charles Cazabon and others.
This is free software; see the file COPYING for copying conditions. There is NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

SEE ALSO
The full documentation for getmail is maintained in HTML and plaintext formats. See the included files for details.