View Workflow

View email content from search results or specific message paths.

Workflow Steps

1. Identify Target Email

Determine which email to view:

From search results: Use message path from mu find output
By message ID: Use mu find with msgid: query
By unique criteria: Search first, then view

2. Use mu view

View email content using mu:

# View by file path
mu view /path/to/email/file

# View from search with piping
mu find <query> --format=links | head -1 | xargs mu view

# View with specific format
mu view --format=plain /path/to/email
mu view --format=html /path/to/email

mu view Options:

--format=plain - Plain text output (default)
--format=html - HTML output
--summary - Show summary only
--terminate - Show only first part
No attachments inline - use Extract workflow for attachments

3. Extract Key Information

Parse and present:

Headers: From, To, Cc, Subject, Date
Body: Plain text or HTML content
Attachments: List of attached files (names and sizes)
Thread info: In-Reply-To, References for threading

4. Present to User

Format the email content clearly:

Show headers in structured format
Display body content appropriately (handle encodings)
List attachments separately
Highlight important information

5. Offer Follow-up Actions

Based on content, offer:

Extract attachments (→ Extract workflow)
View related emails in thread
Search for similar emails
Analyze sender patterns

Best Practices

Content Handling

Plain text preferred: More reliable parsing than HTML
Handle encodings: Emails may use quoted-printable, base64, etc.
MIME multipart: Many emails have both text and HTML parts
Large files: Some emails can be very large (2MB+) due to attachments

Privacy

Respect personal vs work boundaries
Redact sensitive info when summarizing
Be careful with email addresses and private data

Reading Raw Files

If mu view is unavailable or fails:

Use Read tool with offset/limit for large files
Parse headers manually (lines before first blank line)
Body starts after first blank line
Look for Content-Type headers for MIME structure

Examples

View most recent email from specific sender:

mu find from:alice@example.com --format=links | head -1 | xargs mu view

View specific email by message ID:

mu find msgid:abc123@example.com --format=links | xargs mu view

View email and extract headers:

mu view /home/vincent/desktop/mails/icloud/Inbox/cur/1234.msg --summary

View HTML email:

mu view --format=html /path/to/email

Understanding Email Structure

Headers (RFC 2822)

From: sender@example.com
To: recipient@example.com
Subject: Meeting Notes
Date: Mon, 15 Jan 2025 10:30:00 +0000
Message-ID: <unique-id@example.com>
In-Reply-To: <previous-msg-id@example.com>
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="boundary-string"

MIME Multipart Body

--boundary-string
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8

Plain text version of email

--boundary-string
Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8

<html>HTML version of email</html>

--boundary-string--

Common Encodings

quoted-printable: =C3=A9 for special characters
base64: Binary data encoded as text
UTF-8: Standard for international characters

Alternative: Direct File Reading

When mu is not available or for raw access:

# Read headers only (first ~50 lines usually enough)
head -50 /path/to/email/file

# Read full email (careful with large files)
cat /path/to/email/file

# Search within specific email
grep -i "keyword" /path/to/email/file

Using Claude Code tools:

Read tool with limit parameter for large files:
- First 50 lines for headers
- Offset to skip to body content

Error Handling

Common issues:

File too large: Use mu view instead of reading raw
Encoding issues: mu view handles encodings automatically
Attachments corrupted: Use Extract workflow with mu extract
HTML rendering: mu view –format=html or extract and open in browser

Integration with Search

Typical flow:

User requests to search (→ Search workflow)
Results show multiple matches
User asks to view specific email
View workflow shows full content
User may request to extract attachments (→ Extract workflow)