RFC 7377 · PROPOSED STANDARD · 2014

IMAP4 Multimailbox SEARCH Extension

Overview

RFC 7377, “IMAP4 Multimailbox SEARCH Extension”, is a Proposed Standard document published in October 2014 by B. Leiba, A. Melnikov. It updates RFC 4466. It obsoletes RFC 6237. The canonical text is published by the RFC Editor.

Abstract

The IMAP4 specification allows the searching of only the selected mailbox. A user often wants to search multiple mailboxes, and a client that wishes to support this must issue a series of SELECT and SEARCH commands, waiting for each to complete before moving on to the next. This extension allows a client to search multiple mailboxes with one command, limiting the delays caused by many round trips and not requiring disruption of the currently selected mailbox. This extension also uses MAILBOX, UIDVALIDITY, and TAG fields in ESEARCH responses, allowing a client to pipeline the searches if it chooses. This document updates RFC 4466 and obsoletes RFC 6237.

Abstract as published in the RFC, via rfc-editor.org.

What “Proposed Standard” means

An entry-level standards-track specification: stable, peer-reviewed and a solid basis for implementation, though it may still evolve before becoming an Internet Standard.

Read this RFC

The canonical text of RFC 7377 is hosted at rfc-editor.org. Available in TXT,HTML.

Relationships to other RFCs
This RFC obsoletes
RFC 6237
This RFC updates
RFC 4466
Other RFCs from 2014

Who Is Online

In total there are 213 users online: 0 registered, 204 guests and 9 bots.

Most users ever online was 5,555 on 17 Jul 2026, 3:23 am.

Bots: AhrefsBot Applebot Baiduspider Bingbot Googlebot Other Bot Other Crawler PetalBot SemrushBot

Users active in the past 15 minutes. Total registered members: 372