change sender name in index page

[T.J. Higgins]

My dad and my brother have the same name, so sometimes I get their
messages confused. I'm looking for a way to display a different
string for the sender name in the index page, based on the sender's
email address. This is all within my primary inbox (so I can't use
folder-hook). I don't want to use a separate inbox for each sender.

I don't see a way with any of the hooks, or in the index_format, to do
it. Any suggestions would be most welcome.

My Mutt version is 1.4.2.2i.

Thank you,

[Shehu Dikko]

Post by T.J. Higgins
My dad and my brother have the same name, so sometimes I get their
messages confused. I'm looking for a way to display a different
string for the sender name in the index page, based on the sender's
email address. This is all within my primary inbox (so I can't use
folder-hook). I don't want to use a separate inbox for each sender.
I don't see a way with any of the hooks, or in the index_format, to do
it. Any suggestions would be most welcome.

Add the addresses to ~/.mutt-aliases with the names you want.

alias dad Dad Name <***@wherever.com>
alias brother Brother Name <***@wherever.com>

regards,

s h e h u

[Roger Bell_West]

Post by Shehu Dikko
Add the addresses to ~/.mutt-aliases with the names you want.

How's that going to change the _sender_ address?

[Shehu Dikko]

Post by Roger Bell_West

Post by Shehu Dikko
Add the addresses to ~/.mutt-aliases with the names you want.

How's that going to change the _sender_ address?

Have you tried it?

You said you wanted to change the displayed "sender name" in the index
page. Whatever name is in the alias file is what is displayed in the
index. It overrides what is contained in the "From:" header.

Look up aliases in the mutt manual to see how to source the alias file.

regards,

s h e h u

[Jorgen Grahn]

Post by Shehu Dikko

Post by Roger Bell_West

Post by Shehu Dikko
Add the addresses to ~/.mutt-aliases with the names you want.

How's that going to change the _sender_ address?

Have you tried it?
You said you wanted to change the displayed "sender name" in the index
page. Whatever name is in the alias file is what is displayed in the
index. It overrides what is contained in the "From:" header.

I can't repeat that behavior -- fortunately. I want to see what my
correspondent wrote, not my own interpretation.

Except if the sender just writes "From: <***@example.org>" and my
alias says "John Doe <***@example.org>" - then my aliases file
obviously carries more information than the mail did.

So for the OP, I guess my suggestion is to bring up this problem with
his family. Maybe one of them can add an initial?

That's what my brother and I did. We're both named J. Grahn, but we
never use the initials "JG" since we move partly in the same circles.

/Jorgen

[Shehu Dikko]

Post by Jorgen Grahn

Post by Shehu Dikko

Post by Roger Bell_West

Post by Shehu Dikko
Add the addresses to ~/.mutt-aliases with the names you want.

How's that going to change the _sender_ address?

Have you tried it?
You said you wanted to change the displayed "sender name" in the index
page. Whatever name is in the alias file is what is displayed in the
index. It overrides what is contained in the "From:" header.

I can't repeat that behavior -- fortunately. I want to see what my
correspondent wrote, not my own interpretation.
[....]

set reverse_alias=yes

regards,

s h e h u

[T.J. Higgins]

Post by Shehu Dikko
set reverse_alias=yes

This did the trick. Thank you Shehu! I had the correct setup in my
aliases file but was missing this bit.

Thanks also to everyone for their consideration and suggestions.

[Jorgen Grahn]

Post by Shehu Dikko

Post by Jorgen Grahn

Post by Shehu Dikko

Post by Roger Bell_West

Post by Shehu Dikko
Add the addresses to ~/.mutt-aliases with the names you want.

How's that going to change the _sender_ address?

Have you tried it?
You said you wanted to change the displayed "sender name" in the index
page. Whatever name is in the alias file is what is displayed in the
index. It overrides what is contained in the "From:" header.

I can't repeat that behavior -- fortunately. I want to see what my
correspondent wrote, not my own interpretation.
[....]

set reverse_alias=yes

Thanks; that explains it.

/Jorgen

[Chris Adams]

Post by T.J. Higgins
My dad and my brother have the same name, so sometimes I get their
messages confused. I'm looking for a way to display a different
string for the sender name in the index page, based on the sender's
email address. This is all within my primary inbox (so I can't use
folder-hook). I don't want to use a separate inbox for each sender.

Would different colors suffice? Something like:

color index green black '(=f fathermemail)'
color index blue black '(=f brotheremail)'