DOVEADM-IMPORT(1)

💌 DOVEADM-IMPORT(1) — the Dovecot manual, but make it make sense

okay bestie, sit down, hydrate, because we're about to import so many mails. this is doveadm-import, part of the Dovecot fam (manual section 1, obvs). it's giving "moving your whole life into a new mailbox" energy and honestly? iconic. 🦋

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

the three forms, verbatim, no notes:

doveadm [GLOBAL OPTIONS] import [-S socket_path] [-U source_user] [-s]
-A source_mail_driver:source_mail_path

doveadm [GLOBAL OPTIONS] import [-S socket_path] [-U source_user] [-s]
-F file source_mail_driver:source_mail_path

doveadm [GLOBAL OPTIONS] import [-S socket_path] [-U source_user] [-s]
-u user source_mail_driver:source_mail_path

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🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

so here's the tea: this command pulls mails in from another mail storage — one you describe with source_mail_driver, source_mail_path, and any extra settings you pass along via -p — and drops them into one or more users' mailboxes. lowkey magical. ✨

every mailbox that comes over lands under the dest_parent mailbox you name. if dest_parent is empty (""), they land at root level instead. and search_query? that's your little filter, it decides which mailboxes or messages actually get imported. by default the whole import happens in the destination user's context — if you wanna switch that up, that's what -U is for. 💅

now the three forms, one by one:

1. form one — mails get imported for all users. everybody. the whole group chat.
2. form two — mails get imported for all users listed in the given file.
3. form three — mails get imported only for the given user(s). just them. main character.

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🌈 GLOBAL OPTIONS 🌈

these are the global doveadm(1) options, shared with the rest of the crew:

• -D — turns on verbosity and debug messages. the "tell me everything" setting. 🗣️
• -O — don't read any config file, just use defaults. the dovecot_storage_version setting defaults to the latest version, but you can override it with -o if you're feeling spicy.
• -k — preserves the entire environment for doveadm, not just the import_environment setting. full vibe retention. 🫶
• -v — enables verbosity, progress counter included. watch that number go up, so satisfying.
• -i instance-name — if you're running multiple Dovecot instances, pick which config file to use based on this instance name.

see the instance_name setting for more info.

• -c config-file — read config from the given config-file. by default it reads the config socket first, then falls back to /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf. you can also point this at the config socket of some instance running a compatible version. compatibility slay. 👑
• -o setting=value — overrides a config setting from /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf and from the userdb with the given value. wanna override multiple settings? just pass -o multiple times, she's flexible. 💖

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💅 OPTIONS 💅

• -A — if present, the command runs for all users. but listen: combining this with system users from userdb { driver = passwd } is not recommended, because that userdb also contains users with a lower UID than the one configured with the first_valid_uid setting. mess.

if you're using the SQL userdb module, double-check that the userdb_sql_iterate_query setting setting matches your database layout. yes, "setting setting." it's in the original, don't @ me. 🙈

and if you're on the LDAP userdb module, make sure 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. no cap, that's a real blocker. 😭

• -F file — run the command for all the users in file. it's like -A's cooler cousin, except instead of pulling the user list from the userdb, it reads them from the given file. the file contains one username per line. clean, simple, organized. 🎀
• --no-userdb-lookup — skip the userdb lookup entirely. use the USER environment variable to specify the username. DIY era. ✨
• -S socket_path — the argument is either an absolute path to a local UNIX domain socket, or a hostname and port (hostname:port) so you can connect to a remote host over a TCP socket.

this lets an administrator execute doveadm(1) mail commands through the given socket. remote control, but make it mail. 🔥

• -p setting=value — overrides the configuration setting for the source storage. (source! not dest! pay attention bestie.)
• -s — when present, dest_parent and all new mailboxes under it get subscribed to. subscribe, bell icon, all of it. 🔔
• -U username — when present, the source box is opened with the given username. this is the context switcher I mentioned earlier. 💜
• -u user/mask — run the command only for the given user. you can also use * and ? wildcards (e.g. -u *@example.org). wildcards are so underrated fr fr.

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🧚 ARGUMENTS 🧚

• dest_parent — the name of the destination mailbox, the one the mails get imported under. doveadm(1) will create the dest_parent mailbox if it doesn't exist yet. it's got you. 🫶
• search_query — copy messages matching this search query. see doveadm-search-query(7) for the details, that's where the full menu lives.
• source_mail_driver:source_mail_path — this argument specifies the mail_driver and mail_path settings for the source location. the -p parameter can optionally be used to specify additional settings. for example: maildir:/backup/20101126/jane.doe/Maildir or -p mail_alt_path=/nfsmount/john.doe/mdbox mdbox:/srv/mail/john.doe/mdbox. see how the -p sneaks in there? that's the pattern. ✨

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🍓 EXAMPLE 🍓

example one! this imports all mails from a backup under a backup-20101026 mailbox:

doveadm import -u jane.doe@example.org \
  mdbox:/backup/20101026/jane.doe/mdbox backup-20101026 all

example two! this one imports only messages from ⟨foo@example.org⟩ in the backup mdbox's INBOX into jane's INBOX:

doveadm import -u jane.doe@example.org \
  mdbox:~/mdbox-backup "" mailbox INBOX from foo@example.org

notice the ""? that's the empty dest_parent — root level, no nesting. she said "put it right at the top." 💅

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😭 REPORTING BUGS 😭

found a bug? report it — and please include your doveconf -n output — to the Dovecot Mailing List ⟨dovecot@dovecot.org⟩. info about reporting bugs lives at: ⟨https://dovecot.org/bugreport.html⟩

do it properly, we love a thorough bug report. 🫶

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👀 SEE ALSO 👀

doveadm(1), doveadm-search-query(7)

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and that's the whole page, bestie. this version is from source/version f979264, dated April 2026 💖 stay hydrated, back up your maildirs, and go import something. periodt. 🌈👑