Email: Which protocol should I use?
Depending on your needs, you can choose to use POP or IMAP.
POP stands for Post Office Protocol and is a simple set of instructions that let your computer retrieve messages from the BOL mail server. After authenticating the request with the user's password, the POP protocol asks the server if there is any new mail, and if your mailbox on the server has messages, then POP usually downloads them to your computer and deletes them off the server. IMAP stands for Internet Mail Access Protocol and allows a "client" email program to access a message stored at a remote location as if they were on the local computer. Email stored on an IMAP server can be manipulated from a desktop computer at home, a workstation at the office, or a notebook computer while traveling, without the need to transfer messages or files back and forth between these computers. Generally, you want to use POP if you access your mail from one computer , and IMAP if you need to manipulate your mail from more than one computer, say an office and a home computer. Below is a table to help you understand which service fits you better. |