diff --git a/doc/man1/notmuch-dump.rst b/doc/man1/notmuch-dump.rst
index d56974ed..58570272 100644
--- a/doc/man1/notmuch-dump.rst
+++ b/doc/man1/notmuch-dump.rst
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ Supported options for **dump** include
             characters. Note also that tags with spaces will not be
             correctly restored with this format.
 
-    ``--include=(config|tags)``
+    ``--include=(config|properties|tags)``
 
     Control what kind of metadata is included in the output.
 
@@ -81,14 +81,22 @@ Supported options for **dump** include
 	starts with "#@ ", followed by a space separated key-value
 	pair.  Both key and value are hex encoded if needed.
 
+      **properties**
+
+	Output per-message (key,value) metadata.  Each line starts
+	with "#= ", followed by a message id, and a space separated
+	list of key=value pairs.  pair.  Ids, keys and values are hex
+	encoded if needed.
+
       **tags**
 
-	Output per-message metadata, namely tags. See *format* above
+	Output per-message boolean metadata, namely tags. See *format* above
 	for description of the output.
 
-      The default is to include both tags and configuration
-      information. As of version 2 of the dump format, there is a
-      header line of the following form
+      The default is to include all available types of data.  The
+      option can be specified multiple times to select some subset. As
+      of version 2 of the dump format, there is a header line of the
+      following form
 
       |
       |  #notmuch-dump <*format*>:<*version*> <*included*>
diff --git a/notmuch-client.h b/notmuch-client.h
index ebc092b8..9ce2aef1 100644
--- a/notmuch-client.h
+++ b/notmuch-client.h
@@ -449,8 +449,11 @@ typedef enum dump_formats {
 typedef enum dump_includes {
     DUMP_INCLUDE_TAGS = 1,
     DUMP_INCLUDE_CONFIG = 2,
+    DUMP_INCLUDE_PROPERTIES = 4
 } dump_include_t;
 
+#define DUMP_INCLUDE_DEFAULT (DUMP_INCLUDE_TAGS | DUMP_INCLUDE_CONFIG | DUMP_INCLUDE_PROPERTIES)
+
 #define NOTMUCH_DUMP_VERSION 2
 
 int
diff --git a/notmuch-dump.c b/notmuch-dump.c
index d80ed8b8..e7965cea 100644
--- a/notmuch-dump.c
+++ b/notmuch-dump.c
@@ -69,12 +69,77 @@ database_dump_config (notmuch_database_t *notmuch, gzFile output)
 static void
 print_dump_header (gzFile output, int output_format, int include)
 {
-    gzprintf (output, "#notmuch-dump %s:%d %s%s%s\n",
+    const char *sep = "";
+
+    gzprintf (output, "#notmuch-dump %s:%d ",
 	      (output_format == DUMP_FORMAT_SUP) ? "sup" : "batch-tag",
-	      NOTMUCH_DUMP_VERSION,
-	      (include & DUMP_INCLUDE_CONFIG) ? "config" : "",
-	      (include & DUMP_INCLUDE_TAGS) && (include & DUMP_INCLUDE_CONFIG) ? "," : "",
-	      (include & DUMP_INCLUDE_TAGS) ? "tags" : "");
+	      NOTMUCH_DUMP_VERSION);
+
+    if (include & DUMP_INCLUDE_CONFIG) {
+	gzputs (output, "config");
+	sep = ",";
+    }
+    if (include & DUMP_INCLUDE_PROPERTIES) {
+	gzprintf (output, "%sproperties", sep);
+	sep = ",";
+    }
+    if (include & DUMP_INCLUDE_TAGS) {
+	gzprintf (output, "%sproperties", sep);
+    }
+    gzputs (output, "\n");
+}
+
+static int
+dump_properties_message (void *ctx,
+			 notmuch_message_t *message,
+			 gzFile output,
+			 char **buffer_p, size_t *size_p)
+{
+    const char *message_id;
+    notmuch_message_properties_t *list;
+    notmuch_bool_t first = TRUE;
+
+    message_id = notmuch_message_get_message_id (message);
+
+    if (strchr (message_id, '\n')) {
+	fprintf (stderr, "Warning: skipping message id containing line break: \"%s\"\n", message_id);
+	return 0;
+    }
+
+    for (list = notmuch_message_get_properties (message, "", FALSE);
+	 notmuch_message_properties_valid (list); notmuch_message_properties_move_to_next (list)) {
+	const char *key, *val;
+
+	if (first) {
+	    if (hex_encode (ctx, message_id, buffer_p, size_p) != HEX_SUCCESS) {
+		fprintf (stderr, "Error: failed to hex-encode message-id %s\n", message_id);
+		return 1;
+	    }
+	    gzprintf (output, "#= %s", *buffer_p);
+	    first = FALSE;
+	}
+
+	key = notmuch_message_properties_key (list);
+	val = notmuch_message_properties_value (list);
+
+	if (hex_encode (ctx, key, buffer_p, size_p) != HEX_SUCCESS) {
+	    fprintf (stderr, "Error: failed to hex-encode key %s\n", key);
+	    return 1;
+	}
+	gzprintf (output, " %s", *buffer_p);
+
+	if (hex_encode (ctx, val, buffer_p, size_p) != HEX_SUCCESS) {
+	    fprintf (stderr, "Error: failed to hex-encode value %s\n", val);
+	    return 1;
+	}
+	gzprintf (output, "=%s", *buffer_p);
+    }
+    notmuch_message_properties_destroy (list);
+
+    if (! first)
+	gzprintf (output, "\n", *buffer_p);
+
+    return 0;
 }
 
 static int
@@ -159,7 +224,7 @@ database_dump_file (notmuch_database_t *notmuch, gzFile output,
 	    return EXIT_FAILURE;
     }
 
-    if (! (include & DUMP_INCLUDE_TAGS))
+    if (! (include & (DUMP_INCLUDE_TAGS | DUMP_INCLUDE_PROPERTIES)))
 	return EXIT_SUCCESS;
 
     if (! query_str)
@@ -189,6 +254,11 @@ database_dump_file (notmuch_database_t *notmuch, gzFile output,
 			       &buffer, &buffer_size))
 	    return EXIT_FAILURE;
 
+	if ((include & DUMP_INCLUDE_PROPERTIES) &&
+	    dump_properties_message (notmuch, message, output,
+				     &buffer, &buffer_size))
+	    return EXIT_FAILURE;
+
 	notmuch_message_destroy (message);
     }
 
@@ -312,6 +382,7 @@ notmuch_dump_command (notmuch_config_t *config, int argc, char *argv[])
 				  { 0, 0 } } },
 	{ NOTMUCH_OPT_KEYWORD_FLAGS, &include, "include", 'I',
 	  (notmuch_keyword_t []){ { "config", DUMP_INCLUDE_CONFIG },
+				  { "properties", DUMP_INCLUDE_PROPERTIES },
 				  { "tags", DUMP_INCLUDE_TAGS} } },
 	{ NOTMUCH_OPT_STRING, &output_file_name, "output", 'o', 0  },
 	{ NOTMUCH_OPT_BOOLEAN, &gzip_output, "gzip", 'z', 0 },
@@ -326,7 +397,7 @@ notmuch_dump_command (notmuch_config_t *config, int argc, char *argv[])
     notmuch_process_shared_options (argv[0]);
 
     if (include == 0)
-	include = DUMP_INCLUDE_CONFIG | DUMP_INCLUDE_TAGS;
+	include = DUMP_INCLUDE_CONFIG | DUMP_INCLUDE_TAGS | DUMP_INCLUDE_PROPERTIES;
 
     if (opt_index < argc) {
 	query_str = query_string_from_args (notmuch, argc - opt_index, argv + opt_index);
diff --git a/notmuch-new.c b/notmuch-new.c
index 799fec20..c55dea7b 100644
--- a/notmuch-new.c
+++ b/notmuch-new.c
@@ -1042,7 +1042,7 @@ notmuch_new_command (notmuch_config_t *config, int argc, char *argv[])
 	    }
 
 	    if (notmuch_database_dump (notmuch, backup_name, "",
-				       DUMP_FORMAT_BATCH_TAG, DUMP_INCLUDE_CONFIG | DUMP_INCLUDE_TAGS, TRUE)) {
+				       DUMP_FORMAT_BATCH_TAG, DUMP_INCLUDE_DEFAULT, TRUE)) {
 		fprintf (stderr, "Backup failed. Aborting upgrade.");
 		return EXIT_FAILURE;
 	    }
diff --git a/test/T610-message-property.sh b/test/T610-message-property.sh
index b5ddb7a4..a9b76de1 100755
--- a/test/T610-message-property.sh
+++ b/test/T610-message-property.sh
@@ -89,6 +89,17 @@ testkey2 = NULL
 EOF
 test_expect_equal_file EXPECTED OUTPUT
 
+test_begin_subtest "notmuch_message_remove_all_properties"
+cat c_head - c_tail <<'EOF' | test_C ${MAIL_DIR}
+EXPECT0(notmuch_message_remove_all_properties (message, NULL));
+print_properties (message, "", FALSE);
+EOF
+cat <<'EOF' >EXPECTED
+== stdout ==
+== stderr ==
+EOF
+test_expect_equal_file EXPECTED OUTPUT
+
 test_begin_subtest "notmuch_message_get_properties: empty list"
 cat c_head - c_tail <<'EOF' | test_C ${MAIL_DIR}
 {
@@ -188,4 +199,14 @@ cat <<'EOF' >EXPECTED
 EOF
 test_expect_equal_file EXPECTED OUTPUT
 
+test_begin_subtest "dump message properties"
+cat <<EOF > PROPERTIES
+#= 4EFC743A.3060609@april.org fancy%20key%20with%20%c3%a1cc%c3%a8nts=import%20value%20with%20= testkey1=alice testkey1=bob testkey1=testvalue1 testkey1=testvalue2 testkey3=alice3 testkey3=bob3 testkey3=testvalue3
+EOF
+cat c_head - c_tail <<'EOF' | test_C ${MAIL_DIR}
+EXPECT0(notmuch_message_add_property (message, "fancy key with áccènts", "import value with ="));
+EOF
+notmuch dump | grep '^#=' > OUTPUT
+test_expect_equal_file PROPERTIES OUTPUT
+
 test_done