---
name: "doveadm"
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"
---

# doveadm(1)

Dovecot's administration utility

## NAME

**doveadm** - Dovecot's administration utility

## SYNOPSIS

**doveadm** \[**-DOkv**\] \[**-i** *instance-name*\] \[**-c** *config-file*\] \[**-o** *key***=***value* \[ .. \]\] \[**-f** *formatter*\] *command* \[*command\_options*\] \[*command\_arguments*\]

## DESCRIPTION

**doveadm** is the Dovecot administration tool. It can be used to manage various parts of Dovecot, as well as access users' mailboxes.

Execute **doveadm help**, for a command usage listing.

## 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.

## COMMANDS

These commands work directly with Dovecot's master process.

### doveadm reload

Force [dovecot(1)](/dovecot/1.md) to reload the configuration.

### doveadm stop

Stop [dovecot(1)](/dovecot/1.md) and all its child processes.

## ADDITIONAL MASTER COMMANDS

### doveadm config

[doveconf(1)](/doveconf/1.md), Dump Dovecot configuration.

### doveadm exec

[doveadm-exec(1)](/doveadm-exec/1.md), Easily execute commands from Dovecot's libexec\_dir.

### doveadm instance

[doveadm-instance(1)](/doveadm-instance/1.md), Manage the list of running Dovecot instances.

### doveadm kick

[doveadm-kick(1)](/doveadm-kick/1.md), Disconnect users by user name and/or IP address.

### doveadm log

[doveadm-log(1)](/doveadm-log/1.md), Locate, test or reopen Dovecot's log files.

### doveadm penalty

[doveadm-penalty(1)](/doveadm-penalty/1.md), Show current penalties.

### doveadm proxy

[doveadm-proxy(1)](/doveadm-proxy/1.md), Handle Dovecot proxy connections.

### doveadm who

[doveadm-who(1)](/doveadm-who/1.md), Show who is logged into the Dovecot server.

## AUTHENTICATION COMMANDS

### doveadm auth

[doveadm-auth(1)](/doveadm-auth/1.md), Test authentication for a user.

### doveadm pw

[doveadm-pw(1)](/doveadm-pw/1.md), Dovecot's password hash generator.

### doveadm user

[doveadm-user(1)](/doveadm-user/1.md), Perform a user lookup in Dovecot's userdbs

## MAILBOX COMMANDS

### doveadm acl

[doveadm-acl(1)](/doveadm-acl/1.md), Manage Access Control List (ACL).

### doveadm altmove

[doveadm-altmove(1)](/doveadm-altmove/1.md), Move matching mails to the alternative storage.

### doveadm backup

[doveadm-sync(1)](/doveadm-sync/1.md), Dovecot's one-way mailbox synchronization utility.

### doveadm copy

[doveadm-move(1)](/doveadm-move/1.md), Copy/move messages matching the given search query into another mailbox.

### doveadm deduplicate

[doveadm-deduplicate(1)](/doveadm-deduplicate/1.md), Expunge duplicate messages.

### doveadm dump

[doveadm-dump(1)](/doveadm-dump/1.md), Dump the content of Dovecot's binary mailbox index/log.

### doveadm expunge

[doveadm-expunge(1)](/doveadm-expunge/1.md), Expunge messages matching given search query.

### doveadm fetch

[doveadm-fetch(1)](/doveadm-fetch/1.md), Fetch messages matching given search query.

### doveadm flags

[doveadm-flags(1)](/doveadm-flags/1.md), Add, remove or replace messages' flags.

### doveadm force-resync

[doveadm-force-resync(1)](/doveadm-force-resync/1.md), Repair broken mailboxes, in case Dovecot doesn't automatically do that.

### doveadm fs

[doveadm-fs(1)](/doveadm-fs/1.md), Interact with the abstract mail storage filesystem.

### doveadm fts

[doveadm-fts(1)](/doveadm-fts/1.md), Manipulate the Full Text Search (FTS) index.

### doveadm import

[doveadm-import(1)](/doveadm-import/1.md), Import messages matching given search query.

### doveadm index

[doveadm-index(1)](/doveadm-index/1.md), Index messages in a given mailbox.

### doveadm mail fs

[doveadm-mail-fs(1)](/doveadm-mail-fs/1.md), Interact with the abstract mail storage filesystem in a user context.

### doveadm mailbox

[doveadm-mailbox(1)](/doveadm-mailbox/1.md), Various commands related to handling mailboxes.

### doveadm mailbox cryptokey

[doveadm-mailbox-cryptokey(1)](/doveadm-mailbox-cryptokey/1.md), Mail crypt plugin management.

### doveadm move

[doveadm-move(1)](/doveadm-move/1.md), Move messages matching the given search query into another mailbox.

### doveadm purge

[doveadm-purge(1)](/doveadm-purge/1.md), Remove messages with refcount=0 from mdbox files.

### doveadm quota

[doveadm-quota(1)](/doveadm-quota/1.md), Initialize/recalculate or show current quota usage.

### doveadm rebuild

[doveadm-rebuild(1)](/doveadm-rebuild/1.md), Rebuild index metadata from message data.

### doveadm save

[doveadm-save(1)](/doveadm-save/1.md), Save email to users' mailboxes.

### doveadm search

[doveadm-search(1)](/doveadm-search/1.md), Show a list of mailbox GUIDs and message UIDs matching given search query.

### doveadm stats

[doveadm-stats(1)](/doveadm-stats/1.md), Inspect or reset stats.

### doveadm sync

[doveadm-sync(1)](/doveadm-sync/1.md), Dovecot's two-way mailbox synchronization utility.

## EXIT STATUS

**doveadm** will exit with one of the following values:

**0**

Selected command was executed successful.

**64**

Command line usage error.

**65**

Data format error or operation is not possible.

**67**

User does not exist.

**68**

Input file, address or other resource does not exist.

**73**

Cannot create output file.

**75**

There was some temporary error, check logs.

**76**

Protocol error during remote host connection.

**77**

Permission error.

**78**

Configuration error.

**127**

Unknown error.

## ENVIRONMENT

**USER**

This environment variable is used to determine the *user* if a command accepts a *user* but none was specified.

## FILES

*/etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf*

Dovecot's main configuration file.

*/etc/dovecot/conf.d/10-mail.conf*

Mailbox locations and namespaces.

*/etc/dovecot/conf.d/90-plugin.conf*

Plugin specific settings.

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