unexpunge - Cyrus IMAP documentation

       The Cyrus Team, Nic Bernstein (Onlight), Jeroen van Meeuwen (Kolab Systems)

       1993–2025, The Cyrus Team

3.10.2                                            Jun 27, 2025                                      UNEXPUNGE(8)

       The  unexpunge  program  is  used to list or restore messages which have been deleted from a mailbox, but
       still reside in the Cyrus IMAP mail spool.

       This utility is only useful when the server is  configured  with  expunge_mode  set  to  delayed  in  its
       configuration file.

       unexpunge reads its configuration options out of the imapd.conf(5) file unless specified otherwise by -C.

unexpunge-luser/john@example.orgListthemessagesthatareexpungedandcouldberestoredformailboxuser/john@example.org.unexpunge-uuser/john@example.org278787278788Unexpungetwoofthesemessages.mbexamineuser/john@example.orgExaminethemailboxforthetworestoredmessages.unexpunge-u-duser.johnsmith46908UnexpungeaselectmessagebasedonitsUID,clearingthe\Deletedflag.unexpunge-auser.johnsmit.TrashUnexpungeallmessagesinauser'sTrash,butleavethemflagged\Deleted.unexpunge-a-fFlaggeduser.johnsmith.TrashThesame,butsettinguserflag\Flaggedtofacilitatelaterbulkoperations.unexpunge-t24h-d-fFlaggeduser.johnsmithUnexpungemessagesmatchingonlyagiventimeperiod.unexpunge-t24h-d-fFlaggeduser/johnsmithThesamecommand,supportingtheunixhierarchysep:yesoptioninimapd.conf(5).

       /etc/imapd.conf

       unexpunge - Cyrus IMAP documentation

       Recover messages the user has (accidentally) deleted.

-Cconfig-file
              Use the specified configuration file config-file rather than the default imapd.conf(5).

       -l,--list
              List  the  expunged  messages  in  the  specified  mailbox  which  are  available for restoration.
              Optionally, only list the messages in the mailbox matching the UIDs in the space-separated list at
              the end of the command invocation.

       -ttime-interval,--within-time-interval=time-interval
              Unexpunge messages which were expunged within the last time-interval  seconds.   Use  one  of  the
              trailing modifiers -- m (minutes), h (hours), d (days) or w (weeks) -- to specify a different time
              unit.

       -a,--all
              Restore all of the expunged messages in the specified mailbox.

       -u,--uids
              Restore  only  messages  matching  the  UIDs,  in a space-separated list at the end of the command
              invocation, in the specified mailbox.

       -d,--unset-deleted
              Unset the \Deleted flag on any restored messages.

       -fflagname,--set-flag=flagname
              Set the user flag \flagname on the messages restored, making it easier for the user(s) to find the
              restored messages and operate on them (in a batch).

       -v,--verbose
              Enable verbose output/logging.

imapd.conf(5)

unexpunge [ -Cconfig-file ] -lmailbox [ uid... ]
          unexpunge [ -Cconfig-file ] -ttime-interval [ -d ] [ -v ] [ -fflagname ] mailboxunexpunge [ -Cconfig-file ] -a [ -d ] [ -v ] [ -fflagname ] mailboxunexpunge [ -Cconfig-file ] -u [ -d ] [ -v ] [ -fflagname ] mailboxuid...