Editing Gnus (section)

== Features ==
Some Gnus features:
* a range of backends that support any or all of:
** reading email from the local filesystem, or over a network via [[IMAP]] or [[POP3]]
** reading web pages via an [[RSS]] feed
** treating a directory of files, either local or remote (via [[FTP]] or other method) as articles to browse 
** reading Usenet News, including the [[Gmane]] and Gwene mail-to-news archives of mailing lists
** searching local or remote [[Search engine indexing|indices]] of emails or news items, e.g. via Notmuch<ref name="notmuch">{{cite web
|url=http://gnus.org/manual/gnus_108.html#The-notmuch-Engine
|title=The Gnus Newsreader
|publisher=Free Software Foundation, Inc.
|year=2015
|access-date=2016-11-21
|first=Lars Magne
|last=Ingebrigtsen
}}</ref>
* simple or advanced mail splitting (automatic sorting of incoming mail to user-defined groups)
* incoming mail can be set to expire instead of just plain deletion
* custom posting styles (e.g. a different From address, .signature etc.) for each group
* virtual groups (e.g., directory on the computer can be read as a group)
* an advanced message scoring system
* user-defined hooks for almost any method (in emacs lisp)
* many of the parameters (e.g., expiration, posting style) can be specified individually for all of the groups
* integration with the Insidious Big Brother Database (BBDB) to handle contacts in a highly automated fashion.
* integration with other Emacs packages, such as the W3 web browser, [[LDAP]] lookup code, etc.

As part of Emacs, Gnus' features can be extended indefinitely through [[Emacs lisp]].

To quote the Gnus Manual:

:''"You know that Gnus gives you all the opportunity you'd ever want for shooting yourself in the foot. Some people call it flexibility. Gnus is also customizable to a great extent, which means that the user has a say on how Gnus behaves. Other newsreaders might unconditionally shoot you in your foot, but with Gnus, you have a choice!"'' [https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/gnus/Agent-Basics.html]

Note that the composition of HTML email messages (as users of more [[WYSIWYG]] editors may be used to) is not included by default; the lack of this "ability" is counted as a feature by Gnus' traditional user base.