On Fri, 17 Sep 2010 09:26:12 -0700, Daniel Goldin <danielgoldin@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Again, I'm not a programmer, so bear with me. When I open a "folder"
> after the "hello page," I see a list of mesaages with subjects, authors,
> dates, etc. It seems I am unable to operate on items in this list using
> functions such as the following:
> 
> (defun notmuch-show-tag-spam()
>   "mark message as spam"
>   (interactive)
>   (notmuch-show-add-tag "spam")
>   (notmuch-show-remove-tag "new"))
> 
> I get a "buffer is read only" error. However, I can operate on the
> messages themselves, when I move into a message buffer. 

The "notmuch-show-" functions only work in notmuch-show-mode, i.e. when
a message is being displayed.  The list of messages with subject,
authors, etc. are notmuch search results, that are being displayed in a
notmuch-search-mode buffer.  "notmuch-show-" functions only work in
notmuch-show-mode, and "notmuch-search-" functions only work in
notmuch-search-mode.

jamie.