Understanding POP and IMAP

There are basically two ways you can setup your email for receiving. One is called POP (Post Office Protocol) and other is called IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol). For sending email, there is one way called SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol).

When the Internet started, most people used one computer to access email, therefore you only needed POP which is suited for single device email. But new you are accessing email from PC, Tablet and Smartphone, you need an email system that is designed for multiple devices. That is IMAP.

Let me explain the basic difference between POP and IMAP. POP is like a mail box system where all email sent to you are stored in the server until you access it. When you access your mailbox, all email are copied in to your mail software. You can choose to delete email from the server when you get your email or keep copies on the server.

IMAP works little differently. All your email comes into your mailbox like POP. When you access your email, your email software reads the emails off the mailbox and display the contents of the mailbox. You can read them, reply or create an email but the email never deleted from the server until you delete them. Mail server will mark each email *Unread, *Read. *Deleted omg the server so that other mail like your smartphone access the mail, it knows the status of each email.

If you elect to use IMAP, so you should, you should make sure all your devices are set to use IMAP. Even if one of your devices are set to POP, you will loose the integrity of the mailbox. Almost all mail software now support POP and IMAP. So you do not have to worry about whether your software wold support POP and IMAP. Except, if you use Gmail as your mail software accessing your mailbox, remember Gmail only works as POP client.

I hope you know little more about Internet email system. If you have question, do not heist to contact me.

Ken Uchikura
ken.uchikura@pspinc.com

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PSPINC CEO Kenichi Uchikura's Blog

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