diff --git a/core/dovecot/conf/dovecot.conf b/core/dovecot/conf/dovecot.conf
index aa33a7bb..81811cdb 100644
--- a/core/dovecot/conf/dovecot.conf
+++ b/core/dovecot/conf/dovecot.conf
@@ -21,7 +21,10 @@ mail_access_groups = mail
 maildir_stat_dirs = yes
 mailbox_list_index = yes
 mail_vsize_bg_after_count = 100
-mail_plugins = $mail_plugins quota quota_clone zlib fts fts_xapian
+mail_plugins = $mail_plugins quota quota_clone zlib{{ ' ' }}
+  {%- if (FULL_TEXT_SEARCH or '').lower() not in ['off', 'false', '0'] -%}
+  fts fts_xapian
+  {%- endif %}
 default_vsz_limit = 2GB
 
 namespace inbox {
@@ -39,11 +42,13 @@ plugin {
   quota_vsizes = yes
   quota_clone_dict = proxy:/tmp/podop.socket:quota
 
+  {% if (FULL_TEXT_SEARCH or '').lower() not in ['off', 'false', '0'] %}
   fts = xapian
   fts_xapian = partial=2 full=30
   fts_autoindex = yes
   fts_enforced = yes
   fts_autoindex_exclude = \Trash
+  {% endif %}
 
   {% if COMPRESSION in [ 'gz', 'bz2' ] %}
   zlib_save = {{ COMPRESSION }}
diff --git a/docs/compose/.env b/docs/compose/.env
index 69c91d82..7f91c270 100644
--- a/docs/compose/.env
+++ b/docs/compose/.env
@@ -102,6 +102,9 @@ COMPRESSION=
 # change compression-level, default: 6 (value: 1-9)
 COMPRESSION_LEVEL=
 
+# IMAP full-text search is enabled by default. Set the following variable to off in order to disable the feature.
+# FULL_TEXT_SEARCH=off
+
 ###################################
 # Web settings
 ###################################
diff --git a/docs/configuration.rst b/docs/configuration.rst
index 20df3767..4b211925 100644
--- a/docs/configuration.rst
+++ b/docs/configuration.rst
@@ -87,6 +87,9 @@ later classify incoming mail based on the custom part.
 The ``DMARC_RUA`` and ``DMARC_RUF`` are DMARC protocol specific values. They hold
 the localpart for DMARC rua and ruf email addresses.
 
+Full-text search is enabled for IMAP is enabled by default. This feature can be disabled
+(e.g. for performance reasons) by setting the optional variable ``FULL_TEXT_SEARCH`` to ``off``.
+
 Web settings
 ------------
 
diff --git a/setup/flavors/compose/mailu.env b/setup/flavors/compose/mailu.env
index b3cef48d..560f7722 100644
--- a/setup/flavors/compose/mailu.env
+++ b/setup/flavors/compose/mailu.env
@@ -91,6 +91,9 @@ COMPRESSION={{ compression }}
 # change compression-level, default: 6 (value: 1-9)
 COMPRESSION_LEVEL={{ compression_level }}
 
+# IMAP full-text search is enabled by default. Set the following variable to off in order to disable the feature.
+# FULL_TEXT_SEARCH=off
+
 ###################################
 # Web settings
 ###################################
diff --git a/towncrier/newsfragments/1538.feature b/towncrier/newsfragments/1538.feature
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..cdefe766
--- /dev/null
+++ b/towncrier/newsfragments/1538.feature
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Introduce option to disable dovecot full-text-search by an enviroment variable.