11.3.3.7. Special Options

These options are occasionally useful for overriding defaults often found in the .fetchmailrc file.
  • -a — Fetchmail downloads all messages from the remote email server, whether new or previously viewed. By default, Fetchmail only downloads new messages.
  • -k — Fetchmail leaves the messages on the remote email server after downloading them. This option overrides the default behavior of deleting messages after downloading them.
  • -l <max-number-bytes> — Fetchmail does not download any messages over a particular size and leaves them on the remote email server.
  • --quit — Quits the Fetchmail daemon process.
More commands and .fetchmailrc options can be found in the fetchmail man page.