diff --git a/man/mu.1 b/man/mu.1
index 105694861..c41ecd11f 100644
--- a/man/mu.1
+++ b/man/mu.1
@@ -111,13 +111,14 @@ for extract MIME-parts (such as attachments) from messages. See
 
 .SH COLORS
 
-Some \fBmu\fR sub-commands support colorized output. If you don't want this,
-you can use the \fI--nocolor\fR/ option to disable it. Even then, colors will
-only be shown when output goes to a sufficiently capable terminal (this roughly
-mirrors the \fI--color=auto\fR of the GNU-version of the \fBls\fR-command).
-
-Instead of the \fI--color\fR/, you can also set the \fBMU_NOCOLOR\fR
-environment variable to non-empty to disable colors.
+Some \fBmu\fR sub-commands support colorized output using the \fB--color\fR option. This option mimics the 
+behaviour of same option in the GNU-version of \fBls\fR-command : 
+With \fI"--color=auto"\fR, output is colorized only when stardard output is 
+connected to a terminal. 
+\fI--color=never\fR doesn't print colorized output in any case, 
+and \fI--color=always\fR will always print colors.
+
+The default value is \fI--color=always\fR.
 
 Currently, \fBmu find\fR, \fBmu view\fR, \fBmu cfind\fR and \fBmu extract\fR
 support colors.
diff --git a/mu/mu-config.c b/mu/mu-config.c
index 5af1ccb72..e48f22a08 100644
--- a/mu/mu-config.c
+++ b/mu/mu-config.c
@@ -76,14 +76,23 @@ set_group_mu_defaults (void)
 		g_free(MU_CONFIG.muhome);
 		MU_CONFIG.muhome = exp;
 	}
+}
 
-	/* check for the MU_NOCOLOR env var; but in any case don't
-	 * use colors unless we're writing to a tty */
-	if (g_getenv (MU_NOCOLOR) != NULL)
-		MU_CONFIG.nocolor = TRUE;
-
-	if (!isatty(fileno(stdout)) || !isatty(fileno(stderr)))
+static gboolean 
+config_options_set_color (const gchar  *option_name, 
+						const gchar  *value, 
+						gpointer data, 
+						GError **error)
+{
+	if( g_strcmp0( value, "never") == 0) 
 		MU_CONFIG.nocolor = TRUE;
+	else if( g_strcmp0( value, "auto") == 0)
+		MU_CONFIG.nocolor = (!isatty(fileno(stdout)) || !isatty(fileno(stderr)));
+	else if( g_strcmp0( value, "always") == 0) 
+		MU_CONFIG.nocolor = FALSE;
+	else
+		return FALSE;
+	return TRUE;
 }
 
 static GOptionGroup*
@@ -101,8 +110,8 @@ config_options_group_mu (void)
 		 "specify an alternative mu directory", "<dir>"},
 		{"log-stderr", 0, 0, G_OPTION_ARG_NONE, &MU_CONFIG.log_stderr,
 		 "log to standard error (false)", NULL},
-		{"nocolor", 0, 0, G_OPTION_ARG_NONE, &MU_CONFIG.nocolor,
-		 "don't use ANSI-colors in output (false)", NULL},
+		{"color", 0, 0, G_OPTION_ARG_CALLBACK, &config_options_set_color,
+		 "colorize output (never|auto|always)", "<mode>"},
 		{"verbose", 'v', 0, G_OPTION_ARG_NONE, &MU_CONFIG.verbose,
 		 "verbose output (false)", NULL},
 
diff --git a/mu/mu-config.h b/mu/mu-config.h
index a45072a52..f14ad73a6 100644
--- a/mu/mu-config.h
+++ b/mu/mu-config.h
@@ -102,8 +102,8 @@ struct _MuConfig {
 	gboolean	 version;	/* request mu version */
 	gboolean	 log_stderr;	/* log to stderr (not logfile) */
 	gchar**		 params;	/* parameters (for querying) */
-	gboolean	 nocolor;        /* don't use use ansi-colors
-					 * in some output */
+	gboolean	nocolor; /* don't use use ansi-colors
+						  * in some output */
 	gboolean	 verbose;	/* verbose output */
 
 	/* options for indexing */