It would seem that certain conversions in $index_format overwrite each other, so one cannot tell what flags are involved decisively. Eg, a tagged message doesn't show the to_char, and nor does an important-flagged message. All three of these compete for one character space (the tag wins every time). I've not checked what other conflicts occur (ie using `%S' and `%T' separately instead of `%Z', or what have you). It doesn't seem to matter if you give it more field width. Was this a design decision...is there any way around it... Thanks... -- Scott