DOVEADM-MOVE(1)

💌 DOVEADM-MOVE — the Dovecot move girlies know 💌

okay bestie, this is doveadm-move from the Dovecot manual (section 1, the user-commands one). Buckle up, we're moving mail around and it's giving main character energy ✨

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✨ NAME ✨

doveadm-move — Move messages matching the given search query into another mailbox 🦋

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

doveadm [GLOBAL OPTIONS] move [-S socket_path] -A destination [user
source_user] search_query

doveadm [GLOBAL OPTIONS] move [-S socket_path] -F file destination [user
source_user] search_query

doveadm [GLOBAL OPTIONS] move [-S socket_path] --no-userdb-lookup
destination [user source_user] search_query

doveadm [GLOBAL OPTIONS] move [-S socket_path] -u user destination [user
source_user] search_query

doveadm [GLOBAL OPTIONS] copy [-S socket_path] -A destination [user
source_user] search_query

doveadm [GLOBAL OPTIONS] copy [-S socket_path] -F file destination [user
source_user] search_query

doveadm [GLOBAL OPTIONS] copy [-S socket_path] --no-userdb-lookup
destination [user source_user] search_query

doveadm [GLOBAL OPTIONS] copy [-S socket_path] -u user destination [user
source_user] search_query

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💅 DESCRIPTION 💅

doveadm move is literally here to move mails between mailboxes, for one user or a whole lil crowd of them. The search_query is the vibe check that decides which messages get yeeted into the destination mailbox. 🎀

doveadm copy behaves exactly the same as doveadm move — except the copied messages will not be expunged after copying. So they stay. They're not going anywhere. Iconic behaviour, honestly.

In the first form, doveadm(1) will iterate over all users found in the configured user_db (s), and move or copy each user's messages that match the given search_query into that user's destination mailbox. 💫

In the second form, doveadm(1) will iterate over all users found in the given file, and move or copy each user's messages matching the given search_query into the user's destination mailbox. 📄

In the third form, matching mails will be moved or copied only for the given user(s). Just the one. Just her. 🫶

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🌈 GLOBAL OPTIONS 🌈

These are the global doveadm(1) options, the ones that apply to everything, not just this command:

• -D — Enables verbosity and debug messages. She's talkative. She's telling you everything. 🗣️
• -O — Do not read any config file, just use defaults. The dovecot_storage_version setting defaults to the latest version, but you can override it with -o.
• -k — Preserve the entire environment for doveadm, not just the import_environment setting. Keep the whole vibe intact. ✨
• -v — Enables verbosity, including a progress counter. Progress bar bestie, we love to see it. 📈
• -i instance-name — If you're running multiple Dovecot instances, pick the config file based on this instance name. See the instance_name setting for more info.
• -c config-file — Read configuration from the given config-file. By default it first reads config socket, and then falls back to /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf. You can also point this at the config socket of some instance running a compatible version. 👀
• -o setting=value — Overrides the configuration setting from /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf and from the userdb with the given value. Want to override multiple settings? The -o option may be specified multiple times. Stack 'em. 🧚

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👑 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. fr fr, check it.

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. One name per line, no cap. 📝
• --no-userdb-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). Wildcards are so underrated honestly. 🌟

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🎀 ARGUMENTS 🎀

• destination — The name of the destination mailbox, into which the mails should be moved or copied. The destination mailbox must exist, otherwise this command will fail. No mailbox, no move, sorry babe. 💀
• search_query — Move/copy messages matching the given search query. See doveadm-search-query(7) for details.

For the move command, the mailbox parameter is REQUIRED. Non-negotiable.

For the move command, a message range limiter is REQUIRED. In other words, you must have at least one query parameter that limits the message range. If all messages are needed, the "all" query parameter can be used. Yes, "all" counts. She's valid. 🫶

• user source_user — The keyword user followed by a valid user name. When this argument is present, doveadm(1) will apply the search_query to the source_user's mail location.

Limitation: Currently the users, specified by -u user and user source_user, must share the same system UID and GID. Same UID, same GID, no exceptions bestie. 😭

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🦋 EXAMPLE 🦋

Move jane's messages — received in September 2011 — from her INBOX into her archive:

doveadm move -u jane Archive/2011/09 mailbox INBOX BEFORE \
  2011-10-01 SINCE 01-Sep-2011

Look at her go. Organized queen. 👑

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🔥 REPORTING BUGS 🔥

Found a bug? Report bugs, including doveconf -n output, to the Dovecot Mailing List ⟨dovecot@dovecot.org⟩. Info about reporting bugs is available at: ⟨https://dovecot.org/bugreport.html⟩

(Please include the doveconf -n output, they will ask, save yourself the round trip 💖)

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🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

• doveadm(1)

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and that's the whole page, bestie!! 💖✨ you understood all of it, i know you did, you're literally so smart 🫶

this lil gem is from Dovecot, source/version tag f979264, dated April 2026 — go forth and move some mail, mwah 💅🌸