lib/PublicInbox/NetWriter.pm | 14 ++++++--------
 xt/net_writer-imap.t         |  9 +++++++--

diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/NetWriter.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/NetWriter.pm
index 49ac02a6eedd6fae23cf6d3a5fbb3c93d1096233..06d69f2787a6d218e78bfadfbaae8b1661bae158 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/NetWriter.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/NetWriter.pm
@@ -53,17 +53,15 @@ 	$$delete_mic //= mic_for_folder($self, my $uri = $url) or return;
 	$$delete_mic->delete_message($uid);
 }
 
-sub imap_set_kw {
-	my ($self, $url, $uid, $kw) = @_;
-	my $mic = mic_for_folder($self, my $uri = $url) or return;
-	$mic->set_flag(kw2flags($kw), $uid);
+sub imap_add_kw {
+	my ($self, $mic, $uid, $kw) = @_;
+	$mic->store($uid, '+FLAGS.SILENT', '('.kw2flags($kw).')');
 	$mic; # caller must ->expunge
 }
 
-sub imap_unset_kw {
-	my ($self, $url, $uid, $kw) = @_;
-	my $mic = mic_for_folder($self, my $uri = $url) or return;
-	$mic->unset_flag(kw2flags($kw), $uid);
+sub imap_set_kw {
+	my ($self, $mic, $uid, $kw) = @_;
+	$mic->store($uid, 'FLAGS.SILENT', '('.kw2flags($kw).')');
 	$mic; # caller must ->expunge
 }
 
diff --git a/xt/net_writer-imap.t b/xt/net_writer-imap.t
index 007de35ea7155eb4e5ce87d4c6596b159ebd4db7..1298b958f683ba5d40404146e8162651736fc087 100644
--- a/xt/net_writer-imap.t
+++ b/xt/net_writer-imap.t
@@ -157,8 +157,13 @@ 		'no results before import');
 
 	lei_ok qw(import -F eml), $f, \'import local copy w/o keywords';
 
-	$nwr->imap_set_kw($folder_uri, $uid[0], [ 'seen' ])->expunge
-		or BAIL_OUT "expunge $@";
+	$mic = $nwr->mic_for_folder($folder_uri);
+	# dummy set to ensure second set_kw clobbers
+	$nwr->imap_set_kw($mic, $uid[0], [ qw(seen answered flagged) ]
+			)->expunge or BAIL_OUT "expunge $@";
+	$nwr->imap_set_kw($mic, $uid[0], [ 'seen' ]
+			)->expunge or BAIL_OUT "expunge $@";
+	$mic = undef;
 	@res = ();
 	$nwr->imap_each($folder_uri, $imap_slurp_all, \@res);
 	is_deeply(\@res, [ [ ['seen'], $exp ] ], 'seen flag set') or