what is the concept of archiving?

what is the concept of archiving?

[Linus Arver]

Hello,

I am curious about the following interactive functions --- they all deal
with archiving messages:

	notmuch-tree-archive-thread
	notmuch-show-archive-thread
	notmuch-show-archive-message
	notmuch-tree-archive-message
	notmuch-search-archive-thread
	notmuch-show-advance-and-archive
	notmuch-show-stash-mlarchive-link
	notmuch-show-archive-thread-then-next
	notmuch-show-archive-thread-then-exit
	notmuch-tree-archive-message-then-next
	notmuch-show-stash-mlarchive-link-and-go
	notmuch-show-archive-message-then-next-or-exit
	notmuch-show-archive-message-then-next-or-next-thread

Unfortunately, I cannot find enough information online about what any of
these functions do, or what the concept of "archiving" means. From
reading some of the sources in notmuch-tree.el I found out that
archiving a message results in "applying the tag changes in
`notmuch-archive-tags' to it" but I am not sure what this means.

I found out that the key bindings are in that same file, which assigns
"a" to notmuch-tree-archive-message-then-next; when I press "a" in my
inbox view (all messages tagged "inbox"), it appears to just remove the
"inbox" tag. I have some questions:

(1) What is the point of archiving (what problem does it solve)?

(2) Do any other things happen to such archived messages, apart from the
tag being removed?

(3) How do I un-archive these messages, if I press the "a" key by
accident?

Thanks,
Linus

Re: what is the concept of archiving?

[Jani Nikula]

On Thu, Nov 9, 2017 at 11:56 AM, Linus Arver <linusarver@gmail.com> wrote:
> Unfortunately, I cannot find enough information online about what any of
> these functions do, or what the concept of "archiving" means. From
> reading some of the sources in notmuch-tree.el I found out that
> archiving a message results in "applying the tag changes in
> `notmuch-archive-tags' to it" but I am not sure what this means.

Archiving, by default, simply means removing the inbox tag, either
from a single message or from all messages in a thread. You can use
notmuch-archive-tags to configure the tag change actions if you like.

> I found out that the key bindings are in that same file, which assigns
> "a" to notmuch-tree-archive-message-then-next; when I press "a" in my
> inbox view (all messages tagged "inbox"), it appears to just remove the
> "inbox" tag. I have some questions:
>
> (1) What is the point of archiving (what problem does it solve)?

Remove the messages from your inbox search. (At least I prefer to keep
this distinct from removing the unread tag; I archive tons of messages
without reading, and I have some messages with inbox tag that I've
already read.)

> (2) Do any other things happen to such archived messages, apart from the
> tag being removed?

No. Optionally, you can configure notmuch-archive-tags to remove more
or other tags, or add tags.

> (3) How do I un-archive these messages, if I press the "a" key by
> accident?

Find the message, hit "k k a". ("k" enters a submenu for doing
customizable tagging operations quickly, "k k" does the reverse
operation.)

BR,
Jani.

Re: what is the concept of archiving?

[Linus Arver]

Jani Nikula <jani@nikula.org> writes:

> On Thu, Nov 9, 2017 at 11:56 AM, Linus Arver <linusarver@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Unfortunately, I cannot find enough information online about what any of
>> these functions do, or what the concept of "archiving" means. From
>> reading some of the sources in notmuch-tree.el I found out that
>> archiving a message results in "applying the tag changes in
>> `notmuch-archive-tags' to it" but I am not sure what this means.
>
> Archiving, by default, simply means removing the inbox tag, either
> from a single message or from all messages in a thread. You can use
> notmuch-archive-tags to configure the tag change actions if you like.
>
>> I found out that the key bindings are in that same file, which assigns
>> "a" to notmuch-tree-archive-message-then-next; when I press "a" in my
>> inbox view (all messages tagged "inbox"), it appears to just remove the
>> "inbox" tag. I have some questions:
>>
>> (1) What is the point of archiving (what problem does it solve)?
>
> Remove the messages from your inbox search. (At least I prefer to keep
> this distinct from removing the unread tag; I archive tons of messages
> without reading, and I have some messages with inbox tag that I've
> already read.)
>
>> (2) Do any other things happen to such archived messages, apart from the
>> tag being removed?
>
> No. Optionally, you can configure notmuch-archive-tags to remove more
> or other tags, or add tags.
>
>> (3) How do I un-archive these messages, if I press the "a" key by
>> accident?
>
> Find the message, hit "k k a". ("k" enters a submenu for doing
> customizable tagging operations quickly, "k k" does the reverse
> operation.)
>
> BR,
> Jani.

That was very helpful, thanks.

--
Best,
Linus