---
name: "doveadm-fetch"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "dovecot"
version: "2.4.5-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/doveadm-fetch"
---

# doveadm-fetch(1)

Fetch partial/full messages or message information

## NAME

**doveadm-fetch** - Fetch partial/full messages or message information

## SYNOPSIS

**doveadm** \[*GLOBAL OPTIONS*\] \[**-f** *formatter*\] **fetch** \[**-S** *socket\_path*\] **-A** *fields* *search\_query*

**doveadm** \[*GLOBAL OPTIONS*\] \[**-f** *formatter*\] **fetch** \[**-S** *socket\_path*\] **-F** *file* *fields* *search\_query*

**doveadm** \[*GLOBAL OPTIONS*\] \[**-f** *formatter*\] **fetch** \[**-S** *socket\_path*\] **--no-userdb-lookup** *fields* *search\_query*

**doveadm** \[*GLOBAL OPTIONS*\] \[**-f** *formatter*\] **fetch** \[**-S** *socket\_path*\] **-u** *user* *fields* *search\_query*

## DESCRIPTION

**doveadm fetch** can be used to fetch messages' contents and metadata. This can be useful for scripts and for debugging. If you want to fetch messages one at a time, see [doveadm-search(1)](/doveadm-search/1.md).

- •

  Please respect your users' privacy.

## GLOBAL OPTIONS

Global [doveadm(1)](/doveadm/1.md) *options*:

- **-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 **-o**.

- **-k**

  Preserve entire environment for doveadm, not just **import\_environment** setting.

- **-v**

  Enables verbosity, including progress counter.

- **-i** *instance-name*

  If using multiple Dovecot instances, choose the config file based on this instance name.

  See **instance\_name** setting for more information.

- **-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 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.

- **-f** *formatter*

  Specifies the *formatter* for formatting the output. Supported formatters are:

  **flow**

  prints each line with *key***=***value* pairs.

  **json**

  prints a JSON array of JSON objects.

  **pager**

  prints each *key*: *value* pair on its own line and separates records with form feed character (**^L**).

  **tab**

  prints a table header followed by tab separated value lines.

  **table**

  prints a table header followed by adjusted value lines.

This command uses by default the output formatter **pager**.

## 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)](/doveadm/1.md) 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.

- **--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)](/doveadm/1.md) 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

*fields*

One or more result field names to display, if the *search\_query* matches any messages. In order to specify multiple fields, enclose them in single or double quotes.

Supported *fields* are:

**binary** : Message body in decoded format.

**binary.\<section\>** : Part of the body decoded, e.g. binary.1

**body** : The body of a message.

**body.\<section\>** : Part of the body, e.g. body.1

**body.preview** : Short preview of the body.

**body.snippet** : Old alias for preview.

**date.received** : Date and time of final delivery, when the message was delivered to a user's mailbox for the first time.

The internal date and time of the source message, when the message was copied by the IMAP COPY command.

The date-time attribute when present, otherwise the current time, when the message was saved by the IMAP APPEND command.

**date.received.unixtime** : date.received as unix timestamp.

**date.saved** : Date and time when the message was saved to mailbox.

**date.saved.unixtime** : date.saved as unix timestamp.

**date.sent** : Date and time of the message's Date: header.

**date.sent.unixtime** : date.sent as unix timestamp.

**flags** : A message's IMAP flags, e.g. \\Seen

**guid** : A message's globally unique identifier.

**hdr** : The header of the message.

**hdr.\<name\>** : Named header from the message.

**imap.body** : IMAP BODY output of the message (see RFC 3501).

**imap.bodystructure** : IMAP BODYSTRUCTURE output of the message (see RFC 3501).

**imap.envelope** : IMAP ENVELOPE output of the message (see RFC 3501).

**mailbox** : Name of the mailbox, in which the message is stored. The name is in UTF-8.

**mailbox-guid** : The globally unique identifier of the mailbox, in which the message is located.

**modseq** : Modification sequence number for the mail.

**pop3.order** : A message's order number within a mailbox.

**pop3.uidl** : A message's unique (POP3) identifier within a mailbox.

**refcount** : Mail reference count, mdbox only.

**seq** : A message's sequence number in a mailbox.

**size.physical** : A message's physical size.

**size.virtual** : A message's virtual size, computed with CRLF line terminators.

**storageid** : Mailbox driver specific ID for the mail.

**text** : The entire message (header and body).

**text.utf8** : The entire message (header and body) — UTF-8 encoded.

**uid** : A message's unique (IMAP) identifier in a mailbox.

**user** : A message owner's login name.

*search\_query*

Fetch messages matching this search query. See doveadm-search-query(1) for details.

## EXAMPLE

This example based on the first example from [doveadm-search(1)](/doveadm-search/1.md). We are fetching the fields **mailbox** and **date.sent** from user bob's mailbox with the guid "3a94c928d66ebe4bda04000015811c6a" for the messages with the UIDs **8**, **25** and **45**.

```
doveadm fetch -u bob "mailbox date.sent" mailbox-guid 3a94c928d66ebe4bda04000015811c6a uid 8,25,45
```

```
mailbox: dovecot/pigeonhole/2.0
date.sent: 2010-01-19 01:17:41 (+0100)
^L
mailbox: dovecot/pigeonhole/2.0
date.sent: 2010-01-28 09:38:49 (+0100)
^L
mailbox: dovecot/pigeonhole/2.0
date.sent: 2010-03-28 18:41:14 (+0200)
```

## REPORTING BUGS

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

## SEE ALSO

[doveadm(1)](/doveadm/1.md)