Subject: Re: [PATCH] docs: explain how to use `git imap-send --list` command to get a list of available folders

From: Junio C Hamano <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 22 Jul 2025 08:47:10 -0700

Aditya Garg <[email-masked]> writes:

> The output `git imap-send --list` command can be a bit confusing for new
> users since the IMAP LIST command output is very verbose. Help such users
> to analyse the same by using an example output.

The documentation added by 067a91b0 (imap-send: add ability to list
the available folders, 2025-06-20) is overly insufficient, so let's
queue this update on top of it.

But I am not sure if "very verbose" is a cause for worry.  I would
agree if the argument were that it is not very friendly to end-users
to throw raw IMAP protocol messages at them.  But it is what needs
to be fixed in the implementation, not papered over with
documentation.

Thanks.

> +GETTING A LIST OF AVAILABLE FOLDERS
> +-----------------------------------
> +
> +In order to send an email to a specific folder, you need to know the correct name of
> +intended folder in your mailbox. The names like "Junk", "Trash" etc. displayed by
> +various email clients need to be the actual names of the folders stored in the mail
> +server of your email provider.
> +
> +In order to get the correct folder name to be used with `git imap-send`, you can run
> +`git imap-send --list`. This will display a list of valid folder names. An example
> +of such an output when run on a Gmail account is:
> +
> +.........................
> +* LIST (\HasNoChildren) "/" "INBOX"
> +* LIST (\HasChildren \Noselect) "/" "[Gmail]"
> +* LIST (\All \HasNoChildren) "/" "[Gmail]/All Mail"
> +* LIST (\Drafts \HasNoChildren) "/" "[Gmail]/Drafts"
> +* LIST (\HasNoChildren \Important) "/" "[Gmail]/Important"
> +* LIST (\HasNoChildren \Sent) "/" "[Gmail]/Sent Mail"
> +* LIST (\HasNoChildren \Junk) "/" "[Gmail]/Spam"
> +* LIST (\Flagged \HasNoChildren) "/" "[Gmail]/Starred"
> +* LIST (\HasNoChildren \Trash) "/" "[Gmail]/Trash"
> +.........................
> +
> +Here, you can observe that the correct name for the "Junk" folder is `[Gmail]/Spam`
> +and for the "Trash" folder is `[Gmail]/Trash`. Similar logic can be used to determine
> +other folders as well.
> +
>  EXAMPLES
>  --------
>  Using tunnel mode: