IMAP

About IMAP

When you receive an email, it sits in a file called your "INBOX" on your email provider's servers. If you wish to view this email you must access this file somehow. There are several ways of doing this: a web-based interface known as "WebMail", via a program such as Microsoft Outlook or Thunderbird running on your personal computer, or via a mobile device such as a Blackberry or iPhone. In order for the program or mobile device to talk to your email provider's servers and retrieve your email messages, your computer/device and their servers must communicate and "speak the same language" so that they can understand each other. There are really only two languages that email computers understand -- the "Internet Message Access Protocol" (IMAP) and the "Post Office Protocol" (POP3).

Pros and Cons of IMAP

IMAP (the "Internet Mail Access Protocol") is intended to be used in situations where you wish to keep all of your email on your email provider's servers so that you can check it anytime from any computer or device that is running an email program or App supporting IMAP. IMAP also works well in combination with WebMail so that you can also check your email from any computer that has a web browser and an Internet connection. This has the following advantages:

• Since the email stays on the provider's servers, you can check it from any computer with a web browser (WebMail) or with an IMAP-compatible email program or mobile App. This is great if you travel or work in several places.
• If your computer "dies" or gets a virus, your email will not be affected because it is stored on your email service provider's computers.

IMAP also has the following disadvantages:

• You must be connected to the Internet in order to access your new email (and any old email which you have not pre-downloaded for "offline access").
• If you have a lot of email, it may take up a lot of space on your email provider's servers (which may cost additional money).

POP service, which LuxSci also provides, has the opposite Pros and Cons. Read about POP email services.

To learn more about how IMAP works and the security issues involved in sending and receiving email, read

• Understanding Email Services: What are they and what do you need?
• The Case for Secure Email