Sorting and Threading Messages in the Index View

By default, the messages in your index view are shown in date order, but you can sort on any number of criteria, including date, sender, recipient, message size, and subject, among others. To sort messages, press `o' and select your criterion. A capital letter indicates reverse sort, so if you press `z' for size, the messages will be presented in size order from small to large, but if you press `Z' they will be sorted from large to small.

The most useful view, in my opinion, is the threaded view (press `t' or `T'), which groups messages into conversations and manages to keep track even when message subjects change through the course of a conversation. Mutt's display of threaded messages is unrivalled in other software and I miss it everywhere else.¹ A bit later, we'll look at limiting the messages you see in this view, which is another powerful way of looking at some of the messages in your inbox (see section 2.8.3).