DOVEAD-FLAGS

Section: Dovecot (1)
Updated: February 2026
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NAME

dovead-flags- Add, remove or replace messages' flags  

SYNOPSIS

doveadm [lB]GLOBAL OPTIONS[rB] flags [lB]-S socket_path[rB] -A command flags search_query doveadm [lB]GLOBAL OPTIONS[rB] flags [lB]-S socket_path[rB] -F file command flags search_query doveadm [lB]GLOBAL OPTIONS[rB] flags [lB]-S socket_path[rB] -n-userd-lookup command flags search_query doveadm [lB]GLOBAL OPTIONS[rB] flags [lB]-S socket_path[rB] -u user command flags search_query  

DESCRIPTION

This command is used to manipulate flags of messages.  

GLOBAL OPTIONS

Global doveadm(1) -D

Enables verbosity and debug messages.

-O

Do not read any config file, just use defaults. The dovecot_storage_version setting defaults to the latest version, but can be overridden with

-k

Preserve entire environment for doveadm, not just import_environment setting.

-v

Enables verbosity, including progress counter.

-i instanc-name

If using multiple Dovecot instances, choose the config file based on this instance name. See instance_name setting for more information.

-c confi-file

Read configuration from the given confi-file. By default it first reads config socket, and then falls back to /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf. You can also point this to config socket of some instance running compatible version.

-o setting=value

Overrides the configuration setting from /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf and from the userdb with the given value. In order to override multiple settings, the -o option may be specified multiple times.

 

OPTIONS

-A

If the -A option is present, the command will be performed for all users. Using this option in combination with system users from userdb { driver = passwd } is not recommended, because it contains also users with a lower UID than the one configured with the first_valid_uid setting. When the SQL userdb module is used, make sure that the userdb_sql_iterate_query setting setting matches your database layout. When using the LDAP userdb module, make sure that the userdb_fields setting and userdb_ldap_iterate_fields setting settings match your LDAP schema. Otherwise doveadm(1) will be unable to iterate over all users.

-F file

Execute the command for all the users in the file. This is similar to the -A option, but instead of getting the list of users from the userdb, they are read from the given file. The file contains one username per line.

-n-userd-lookup

Do not perform userdb lookup. Use the USER environment variable to specify the username.

-S socket_path

The option's argument is either an absolute path to a local UNIX domain socket, or a hostname and port (hostname:port), in order to connect a remote host via a TCP socket. This allows an administrator to execute doveadm(1) mail commands through the given socket.

-u user/mask

Run the command only for the given user. It's also possible to use '*' and '?' wildcards (e.g.-u *@example.org).

 

ARGUMENTS

flags

Message flags as described in RFC 3501, section 2.3.2 (Flags Message Attribute): One or multiple flags and/or keywords can be specified.

search_query

Manipulate the flags of messages matching the given search query. See dovead-searc-query(7) for details.

 

COMMANDS

 

flags add

doveadm [lB]GLOBAL OPTIONS[rB] flags add [lB]-u user | -A | -F file | -n-userd-lookup[rB] [lB]-S socket_path[rB] flags search_query This command is used to extend the current set of flags with the given flags.  

flags remove

doveadm [lB]GLOBAL OPTIONS[rB] flags remove [lB]-u user | -A | -F file | -n-userd-lookup[rB] [lB]-S socket_path[rB] flags search_query In order to remove the given flags from the current set of flags, use this command.  

flags replace

doveadm [lB]GLOBAL OPTIONS[rB] flags replace [lB]-u user | -A | -F file | -n-userd-lookup[rB] [lB]-S socket_path[rB] flags search_query This command is used to replace ALL current flags with the given flags.  

EXAMPLE

List and manipulate the message flags of the message with uid 81563:

doveadm fetch-u bob 'uid flags' mailbox dovecot uid 81563

uid: 81563
flags: [rs]Answered [rs]Seen NonJunk

doveadm flags remove-u bob NonJunk mailbox dovecot uid 81563
doveadm flags add-u bob '[rs]Flagged $Forwarded' mailbox dovecot uid 81563

 

REPORTING BUGS

Report bugs, including doveconf-n output, to the Dovecot Mailing List ladovecot@dovecot.orgra. Information about reporting bugs is available at: https://dovecot.org/bugreport.html  

SEE ALSO

doveadm(1)

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Index

NAME

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

GLOBAL OPTIONS

OPTIONS

ARGUMENTS

COMMANDS

flags add

flags remove

flags replace

EXAMPLE

REPORTING BUGS

SEE ALSO