Knowledge Base

POP or IMAP?

Good question.

Well, both are good and have their pros and cons.

POP3 (Post Office Protocol)

POP3 allows you to download copies of your email messages to your personal computer. Any changes you make will NOT be seen by anyone else who accesses the email account because you are only making changes to local copies. Messages sent, moved, or deleted from an email application using POP3 settings can only be viewed on that individual computer's folders. They cannot be viewed on other computers connecting to that E=mail account, including webmail. This option is most recommended for users who like to keep a backup of all their messages. The copies of the email messages on the server are normally unchanged, but it is very easy to unintentionally configure your POP3 program to delete those server copies whenever you download the emails or at a future time. This is a perfect solution for a user who has very limited time to be online but needs to spend lots of time reading emails. This is also a perfect solution for anyone who needs to archive permanent copies of their emails (e.g., before you terminate that email name or its hosting provider)

IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol)

IMAP allows you to read emails as they appear on the hosting server. Any changes you make (delete, reply, forward, move) are seen by anyone else who logs into webmail or IMAP. This is the perfect solution for those with mobile devices, such as phones or tablets, because it can be used for multiple users who need to access the same email account. This is also perfect for people who wish to always have their messages, including sent messages and message folders, saved on the server. Depending on program configuration, these messages may be temporarily saved on the computer for offline viewing. All messages and folders can be viewed from any computer connecting via IMAP, including webmail. This option is most recommended for users who connect to email accounts from many computers.

But IMAP will fill up your hosting space, and you will have to delete old emails to keep your hosting space clean.