diff --git a/lib/message-property.cc b/lib/message-property.cc
index d72c74c3..35eaf3c6 100644
--- a/lib/message-property.cc
+++ b/lib/message-property.cc
@@ -85,8 +85,9 @@ notmuch_message_remove_property (notmuch_message_t *message, const char *key, co
     return _notmuch_message_modify_property (message, key, value, true);
 }
 
+static
 notmuch_status_t
-notmuch_message_remove_all_properties (notmuch_message_t *message, const char *key)
+_notmuch_message_remove_all_properties (notmuch_message_t *message, const char *key, bool prefix)
 {
     notmuch_status_t status;
     const char * term_prefix;
@@ -97,7 +98,8 @@ notmuch_message_remove_all_properties (notmuch_message_t *message, const char *k
 
     _notmuch_message_invalidate_metadata (message, "property");
     if (key)
-	term_prefix = talloc_asprintf (message, "%s%s=", _find_prefix ("property"), key);
+	term_prefix = talloc_asprintf (message, "%s%s%s", _find_prefix ("property"), key,
+				       prefix ? "" : "=");
     else
 	term_prefix = _find_prefix ("property");
 
@@ -107,6 +109,18 @@ notmuch_message_remove_all_properties (notmuch_message_t *message, const char *k
     return NOTMUCH_STATUS_SUCCESS;
 }
 
+notmuch_status_t
+notmuch_message_remove_all_properties (notmuch_message_t *message, const char *key)
+{
+    return _notmuch_message_remove_all_properties (message, key, false);
+}
+
+notmuch_status_t
+notmuch_message_remove_all_properties_with_prefix (notmuch_message_t *message, const char *prefix)
+{
+    return _notmuch_message_remove_all_properties (message, prefix, true);
+}
+
 notmuch_message_properties_t *
 notmuch_message_get_properties (notmuch_message_t *message, const char *key, notmuch_bool_t exact)
 {
diff --git a/lib/notmuch.h b/lib/notmuch.h
index 669e01b1..89afb6d9 100644
--- a/lib/notmuch.h
+++ b/lib/notmuch.h
@@ -1823,6 +1823,22 @@ notmuch_message_remove_property (notmuch_message_t *message, const char *key, co
 notmuch_status_t
 notmuch_message_remove_all_properties (notmuch_message_t *message, const char *key);
 
+/**
+ * Remove all (prefix*,value) pairs from the given message
+ *
+ * @param[in,out] message  message to operate on.
+ * @param[in]     prefix   delete properties with keys that start with prefix.
+ *			   If NULL, delete all properties
+ * @returns
+ * - NOTMUCH_STATUS_READ_ONLY_DATABASE: Database was opened in
+ *   read-only mode so message cannot be modified.
+ * - NOTMUCH_STATUS_SUCCESS: No error occured.
+ *
+ * @since libnotmuch 5.1 (notmuch 0.26)
+ */
+notmuch_status_t
+notmuch_message_remove_all_properties_with_prefix (notmuch_message_t *message, const char *prefix);
+
 /**
  * Opaque message property iterator
  */