.TH "DOVEADM" "1" "March 2025" "78ffb79" "Dovecot"
.SH "NAME"
\fBdoveadm\fR - Dovecot's administration utility
.SH "SYNOPSIS"
.P
\fBdoveadm\fR \[lB]\fB-DOkv\fR\[rB] \[lB]\fB-i\fR \fIinstance-name\fR\[rB] \[lB]\fB-c\fR \fIconfig-file\fR\[rB] \[lB]\fB-o\fR \fIkey\fR\fB=\fR\fIvalue\fR \[lB] .. \[rB]\[rB] \[lB]\fB-f\fR \fIformatter\fR\[rB] \fIcommand\fR \[lB]\fIcommand_options\fR\[rB] \[lB]\fIcommand_arguments\fR\[rB]
.SH "DESCRIPTION"
.P
\fBdoveadm\fR is the Dovecot administration tool. It can be used to manage various parts of Dovecot, as well as access users' mailboxes.
.P
Execute \fBdoveadm help\fR, for a command usage listing.
.SH "GLOBAL OPTIONS"
.P
Global doveadm(1) 
.P
\fB-D\fR
.RS 0
.RS 4
.P
Enables \fIverbosity\fR and debug messages.
.RE 0

.RE 0

.P
\fB-O\fR
.RS 0
.RS 4
.P
Do not read any config file, just use defaults. The \fBdovecot_storage_version\fR setting defaults to the latest version, but can be overridden with 
.RE 0

.RE 0

.P
\fB-k\fR
.RS 0
.RS 4
.P
Preserve entire environment for doveadm, not just \fBimport_environment\fR setting.
.RE 0

.RE 0

.P
\fB-v\fR
.RS 0
.RS 4
.P
Enables verbosity, including progress counter.
.RE 0

.RE 0

.P
\fB-i\fR \fIinstance-name\fR
.RS 0
.RS 4
.P
If using multiple Dovecot instances, choose the config file based on this instance name.
.P
See \fBinstance_name\fR setting for more information.
.RE 0

.RE 0

.P
\fB-c\fR \fIconfig-file\fR
.RS 0
.RS 4
.P
Read configuration from the given \fIconfig-file\fR. By default it first reads config socket, and then falls back to \fI/etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf\fR. You can also point this to config socket of some instance running compatible version.
.RE 0

.RE 0

.P
\fB-o\fR \fIsetting\fR\fB=\fR\fIvalue\fR
.RS 0
.RS 4
.P
Overrides the configuration \fIsetting\fR from \fI/etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf\fR and from the userdb with the given \fIvalue\fR. In order to override multiple settings, the \fB-o\fR option may be specified multiple times.
.RE 0

.RE 0

.P
\fB-f\fR \fIformatter\fR
.RS 0
.RS 4
.P
Specifies the \fIformatter\fR for formatting the output. Supported formatters are:
.P
\fBflow\fR
.RS 4
.P
prints each line with \fIkey\fR\fB=\fR\fIvalue\fR pairs.
.RE 0

.P
\fBpager\fR
.RS 4
.P
prints each \fIkey\fR: \fIvalue\fR pair on its own line and separates records with form feed character (\fB^L\fR).
.RE 0

.P
\fBtab\fR
.RS 4
.P
prints a table header followed by tab separated value lines.
.RE 0

.P
\fBtable\fR
.RS 4
.P
prints a table header followed by adjusted value lines.
.RE 0

.RE 0

.RE 0

.SH "COMMANDS"
.P
These commands work directly with Dovecot's master process.
.SS "doveadm reload"
.P
Force dovecot(1) to reload the configuration.
.SS "doveadm stop"
.P
Stop dovecot(1) and all its child processes.
.SH "ADDITIONAL MASTER COMMANDS"
.SS "doveadm config"
.P
doveconf(1), Dump Dovecot configuration.
.SS "doveadm exec"
.P
doveadm-exec(1), Easily execute commands from Dovecot's libexec_dir.
.SS "doveadm instance"
.P
doveadm-instance(1), Manage the list of running Dovecot instances.
.SS "doveadm kick"
.P
doveadm-kick(1), Disconnect users by user name and/or IP address.
.SS "doveadm log"
.P
doveadm-log(1), Locate, test or reopen Dovecot's log files.
.SS "doveadm penalty"
.P
doveadm-penalty(1), Show current penalties.
.SS "doveadm proxy"
.P
doveadm-proxy(1), Handle Dovecot proxy connections.
.SS "doveadm who"
.P
doveadm-who(1), Show who is logged into the Dovecot server.
.SH "AUTHENTICATION COMMANDS"
.SS "doveadm auth"
.P
doveadm-auth(1), Test authentication for a user.
.SS "doveadm pw"
.P
doveadm-pw(1), Dovecot's password hash generator.
.SS "doveadm user"
.P
doveadm-user(1), Perform a user lookup in Dovecot's userdbs
.SH "MAILBOX COMMANDS"
.SS "doveadm acl"
.P
doveadm-acl(1), Manage Access Control List (ACL).
.SS "doveadm altmove"
.P
doveadm-altmove(1), Move matching mails to the alternative storage.
.SS "doveadm backup"
.P
doveadm-sync(1), Dovecot's one-way mailbox synchronization utility.
.SS "doveadm copy"
.P
doveadm-move(1), Copy/move messages matching the given search query into another mailbox.
.SS "doveadm deduplicate"
.P
doveadm-deduplicate(1), Expunge duplicate messages.
.SS "doveadm dump"
.P
doveadm-dump(1), Dump the content of Dovecot's binary mailbox index/log.
.SS "doveadm expunge"
.P
doveadm-expunge(1), Expunge messages matching given search query.
.SS "doveadm fetch"
.P
doveadm-fetch(1), Fetch messages matching given search query.
.SS "doveadm flags"
.P
doveadm-flags(1), Add, remove or replace messages' flags.
.SS "doveadm force-resync"
.P
doveadm-force-resync(1), Repair broken mailboxes, in case Dovecot doesn't automatically do that.
.SS "doveadm fs"
.P
doveadm-fs(1), Interact with the abstract mail storage filesystem.
.SS "doveadm fts"
.P
doveadm-fts(1), Manipulate the Full Text Search (FTS) index.
.SS "doveadm import"
.P
doveadm-import(1), Import messages matching given search query.
.SS "doveadm index"
.P
doveadm-index(1), Index messages in a given mailbox.
.SS "doveadm mail fs"
.P
doveadm-mail-fs(1), Interact with the abstract mail storage filesystem in a user context.
.SS "doveadm mailbox"
.P
doveadm-mailbox(1), Various commands related to handling mailboxes.
.SS "doveadm mailbox cryptokey"
.P
doveadm-mailbox-cryptokey(1), Mail crypt plugin management.
.SS "doveadm move"
.P
doveadm-move(1), Move messages matching the given search query into another mailbox.
.SS "doveadm purge"
.P
doveadm-purge(1), Remove messages with refcount=0 from mdbox files.
.SS "doveadm quota"
.P
doveadm-quota(1), Initialize/recalculate or show current quota usage.
.SS "doveadm rebuild"
.P
doveadm-rebuild(1), Rebuild index metadata from message data.
.SS "doveadm save"
.P
doveadm-save(1), Save email to users' mailboxes.
.SS "doveadm search"
.P
doveadm-search(1), Show a list of mailbox GUIDs and message UIDs matching given search query.
.SS "doveadm stats"
.P
doveadm-stats(1), Inspect or reset stats.
.SS "doveadm sync"
.P
doveadm-sync(1), Dovecot's two-way mailbox synchronization utility.
.SH "EXIT STATUS"
.P
\fBdoveadm\fR will exit with one of the following values:
.P
\fB0\fR
.RS 0
.RS 4
.P
Selected command was executed successful.
.RE 0

.RE 0

.P
\fB64\fR
.RS 0
.RS 4
.P
Command line usage error.
.RE 0

.RE 0

.P
\fB65\fR
.RS 0
.RS 4
.P
Data format error or operation is not possible.
.RE 0

.RE 0

.P
\fB67\fR
.RS 0
.RS 4
.P
User does not exist.
.RE 0

.RE 0

.P
\fB68\fR
.RS 0
.RS 4
.P
Input file, address or other resource does not exist.
.RE 0

.RE 0

.P
\fB73\fR
.RS 0
.RS 4
.P
Cannot create output file.
.RE 0

.RE 0

.P
\fB75\fR
.RS 0
.RS 4
.P
There was some temporary error, check logs.
.RE 0

.RE 0

.P
\fB76\fR
.RS 0
.RS 4
.P
Protocol error during remote host connection.
.RE 0

.RE 0

.P
\fB77\fR
.RS 0
.RS 4
.P
Permission error.
.RE 0

.RE 0

.P
\fB78\fR
.RS 0
.RS 4
.P
Configuration error.
.RE 0

.RE 0

.P
\fB127\fR
.RS 0
.RS 4
.P
Unknown error.
.RE 0

.RE 0

.SH "ENVIRONMENT"
.P
\fBUSER\fR
.RS 0
.RS 4
.P
This environment variable is used to determine the \fIuser\fR if a command accepts a \fIuser\fR but none was specified.
.RE 0

.RE 0

.SH "FILES"
.P
\fI/etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf\fR
.RS 0
.RS 4
.P
Dovecot's main configuration file.
.RE 0

.RE 0

.P
\fI/etc/dovecot/conf.d/10-mail.conf\fR
.RS 0
.RS 4
.P
Mailbox locations and namespaces.
.RE 0

.RE 0

.P
\fI/etc/dovecot/conf.d/90-plugin.conf\fR
.RS 0
.RS 4
.P
Plugin specific settings.
.RE 0

.RE 0

.SH "REPORTING BUGS"
.P
Report bugs, including \fIdoveconf -n\fR output, to the Dovecot Mailing List \fI\(ladovecot@dovecot.org\(ra\fR. Information about reporting bugs is available at: https://dovecot.org/bugreport.html
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.P
doveadm-help(1)