.TH "DOVEADM-FORCE-RESYNC" "1" "May 2026" "e5ac02a" "Dovecot"
.SH "NAME"
\fBdoveadm-force-resync\fR - Repair broken mailboxes
.SH "SYNOPSIS"
.P
\fBdoveadm\fR \[lB]\fIGLOBAL OPTIONS\fR\[rB] \fBforce-resync\fR \[lB]\fB-S\fR \fIsocket_path\fR\[rB] \fB-A\fR \fImailbox\fR
.P
\fBdoveadm\fR \[lB]\fIGLOBAL OPTIONS\fR\[rB] \fBforce-resync\fR \[lB]\fB-S\fR \fIsocket_path\fR\[rB] \fB-F\fR \fIfile\fR \fImailbox\fR
.P
\fBdoveadm\fR \[lB]\fIGLOBAL OPTIONS\fR\[rB] \fBforce-resync\fR \[lB]\fB-S\fR \fIsocket_path\fR\[rB] \fB--no-userdb-lookup\fR \fImailbox\fR
.P
\fBdoveadm\fR \[lB]\fIGLOBAL OPTIONS\fR\[rB] \fBforce-resync\fR \[lB]\fB-S\fR \fIsocket_path\fR\[rB] \fB-u\fR \fIuser\fR \fImailbox\fR
.SH "DESCRIPTION"
.P
Under certain circumstances it may happen, that dovecot(1) is unable to automatically solve problems with mailboxes. In such situations the \fBforce-resync\fR command may be helpful. It tries to fix all problems. For sdbox and mdbox mailboxes the storage files will be also checked.
.SH "GLOBAL OPTIONS"
.P
Global doveadm(1) \fIoptions\fR:
.P
\fB-D\fR
.RS 0
.RS 4
.P
Enables \fIverbosity\fR and debug messages.
.RE 0

.RE 0

.P
\fB-O\fR
.RS 0
.RS 4
.P
Do not read any config file, just use defaults. The \fBdovecot_storage_version\fR setting defaults to the latest version, but can be overridden with \fB-o\fR.
.RE 0

.RE 0

.P
\fB-k\fR
.RS 0
.RS 4
.P
Preserve entire environment for doveadm, not just \fBimport_environment\fR setting.
.RE 0

.RE 0

.P
\fB-v\fR
.RS 0
.RS 4
.P
Enables verbosity, including progress counter.
.RE 0

.RE 0

.P
\fB-i\fR \fIinstance-name\fR
.RS 0
.RS 4
.P
If using multiple Dovecot instances, choose the config file based on this instance name.
.P
See \fBinstance_name\fR setting for more information.
.RE 0

.RE 0

.P
\fB-c\fR \fIconfig-file\fR
.RS 0
.RS 4
.P
Read configuration from the given \fIconfig-file\fR. By default it first reads config socket, and then falls back to \fI/etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf\fR. You can also point this to config socket of some instance running compatible version.
.RE 0

.RE 0

.P
\fB-o\fR \fIsetting\fR\fB=\fR\fIvalue\fR
.RS 0
.RS 4
.P
Overrides the configuration \fIsetting\fR from \fI/etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf\fR and from the userdb with the given \fIvalue\fR. In order to override multiple settings, the \fB-o\fR option may be specified multiple times.
.RE 0

.RE 0

.SH "OPTIONS"
.P
\fB-A\fR
.RS 0
.RS 4
.P
If the \fB-A\fR option is present, the \fIcommand\fR will be performed for all users. Using this option in combination with system users from \fBuserdb { driver = passwd }\fR is not recommended, because it contains also users with a lower UID than the one configured with the \fBfirst_valid_uid\fR setting.
.P
When the SQL userdb module is used, make sure that the \fBuserdb_sql_iterate_query\fR setting setting matches your database layout.
.P
When using the LDAP userdb module, make sure that the \fBuserdb_fields\fR setting and \fBuserdb_ldap_iterate_fields\fR setting settings match your LDAP schema. Otherwise doveadm(1) will be unable to iterate over all users.
.RE 0

.RE 0

.P
\fB-F\fR \fIfile\fR
.RS 0
.RS 4
.P
Execute the \fIcommand\fR for all the users in the \fIfile\fR. This is similar to the \fB-A\fR option, but instead of getting the list of users from the userdb, they are read from the given \fIfile\fR. The \fIfile\fR contains one username per line.
.RE 0

.RE 0

.P
\fB--no-userdb-lookup\fR
.RS 0
.RS 4
.P
Do not perform userdb lookup. Use the \fBUSER\fR environment variable to specify the username.
.RE 0

.RE 0

.P
\fB-S\fR \fIsocket_path\fR
.RS 0
.RS 4
.P
The option's argument is either an absolute path to a local UNIX domain socket, or a hostname and port (\fIhostname\fR:\fIport\fR), in order to connect a remote host via a TCP socket.
.P
This allows an administrator to execute doveadm(1) mail commands through the given socket.
.RE 0

.RE 0

.P
\fB-u\fR \fIuser/mask\fR
.RS 0
.RS 4
.P
Run the \fIcommand\fR only for the given \fIuser\fR. It's also possible to use '\fB*\fR' and '\fB?\fR' wildcards (e.g. -u *@example.org).
.RE 0

.RE 0

.SH "ARGUMENTS"
.P
\fImailbox\fR
.RS 0
.RS 4
.P
The name of the mailbox to fix. With mdbox all of the mailboxes are fixed, so you can use for example INBOX as the name.
.RE 0

.RE 0

.SH "EXAMPLE"
.P
Fix bob's INBOX:
.P
.RS 2
.nf
doveadm force-resync -u bob INBOX
.fi
.RE
.SH "REPORTING BUGS"
.P
Report bugs, including \fIdoveconf -n\fR output, to the Dovecot Mailing List \fI\(ladovecot@dovecot.org\(ra\fR. Information about reporting bugs is available at: \fI\(lahttps://dovecot.org/bugreport.html\(ra\fR
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.P
doveadm(1)