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

# doveadm-sieve(1)

Commands related to handling Sieve scripts

## NAME

**doveadm-sieve** - Commands related to handling Sieve scripts

## SYNOPSIS

**doveadm** \[*GLOBAL OPTIONS*\] *sieve\_cmd* \[*options*\] \[*arguments*\]

## DESCRIPTION

The **doveadm sieve** commands are part of Pigeonhole ([pigeonhole(7)](/pigeonhole/7.md)), which adds Sieve (RFC 5228) and ManageSieve (RFC 5804) support to Dovecot ([dovecot(1)](/dovecot/1.md)).

The **doveadm sieve** commands can be used to manage Sieve filtering.

## 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.

## 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

*scriptname*

Is the name of a *Sieve script*, as visible to ManageSieve clients.

For Sieve scripts that are stored on disk, this is the filename without the ".sieve" extension.

## COMMANDS

### sieve put

**doveadm** \[*GLOBAL OPTIONS*\] sieve put \[**-A** \| **-u** *user* \| **-F** *file* \| **--no-userdb-lookup**\] \[**-S** *socket\_path*\] \[**-a**\] *scriptname*

This command puts one new Sieve script in the script storage. The script is read from standard input. If the script compiles successfully, it is stored under the provided *scriptname .* If the **-a** option is present, the Sieve script is subsequently marked as the active script for execution at delivery.

### sieve get

**doveadm** \[*GLOBAL OPTIONS*\] sieve get \[**-A** \| **-u** *user* \| **-F** *file* \| **--no-userdb-lookup**\] \[**-S** *socket\_path*\] *scriptname*

This command retrieves the Sieve script named *scriptname*.

### sieve delete

**doveadm** \[*GLOBAL OPTIONS*\] sieve delete \[**-A** \| **-u** *user* \| **-F** *file* \| **--no-userdb-lookup**\] \[**-S** *socket\_path*\] \[**-a**\] *scriptname* ...

This command deletes one or more Sieve scripts. The deleted script may not be the active script, unless the **-a** option is present.

### sieve list

**doveadm** \[*GLOBAL OPTIONS*\] sieve list \[**-A** \| **-u** *user* \| **-F** *file* \| **--no-userdb-lookup**\] \[**-S** *socket\_path*\]

List existing Sieve scripts, and their active state.

### sieve rename

**doveadm** \[*GLOBAL OPTIONS*\] sieve rename \[**-A** \| **-u** *user* \| **-F** *file* \| **--no-userdb-lookup**\] \[**-S** *socket\_path*\] *old\_name* *new\_name*

The **sieve rename** command is used to rename the Sieve script *old\_name* to *new\_name*.

### sieve activate

**doveadm** \[*GLOBAL OPTIONS*\] sieve activate \[**-A** \| **-u** *user* \| **-F** *file* \| **--no-userdb-lookup**\] \[**-S** *socket\_path*\] *scriptname*

This command marks the Sieve script named *scriptname* as the active script for execution at delivery.

### sieve deactivate

**doveadm** \[*GLOBAL OPTIONS*\] sieve deactivate \[**-A** \| **-u** *user* \| **-F** *file* \| **--no-userdb-lookup**\] \[**-S** *socket\_path*\] *scriptname*

This command deactivates Sieve processing.

## 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), [dovecot-lda(1)](/dovecot-lda/1.md), [pigeonhole(7)](/pigeonhole/7.md)