Mail Protocols

Many people have questions about mail protocols. This article will attempt to explain two of the most common protocols.

Post Office Protocol version 3 (POP3) and Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) are two most prevalent Internet standard protocols for e-mail retrieval. Both are supported by virtually all modern e-mail applications.

POP3

POP3 is an application layer Internet standard protocol used to retrieve e-mail from a remote server to a local client over an Internet connection. Nearly all individual Internet service provider (ISP) e-mail accounts are accessed via POP3. In contemporary usage, the less precise term POP almost always means POP3 in the context of e-mail protocols.

Although most e-mail applications (such as Outlook Express, Netscape Mail, and Mozilla) have an option to leave mail on the server, e-mail applications using POP3 generally connect, retrieve all messages, store them on the user's PC as new messages, delete them from the server, and then disconnect.

Since POP3 transfers the entire pending queue of new mail messages, any attachments are downloaded before proceeding on to subsequent messages.

When using POP3, we highly recommended that you do NOT leave mail on the server. If you need to leave messages on the server, you should enable the account properties to remove them from server after a set period of time. The following are instructions for viewing/changing this setting. (Please refer to your product's help feature for additional information.)

Outlook Express

  1. Select the "Tools" menu item and then "Accounts..."
  2. In the "Internet Properties" window, click on the "Mail" tab.
  3. Highlight your ISP mail account entry and then click on the "Properties" button on the right.
  4. Click on the "Advanced" tab.
  5. Delivery options associated with leaving mail on the server are displayed at the bottom of the window.
  6. Change as necessary and click on the "OK" button to update.

Mozilla and Thunderbird

  1. Select the "Edit" menu itme and then "Mail & Newsgroup Account Settings..."
  2. Highlight "Server Settings" under the corresponding POP3 account in the left hand pane.
  3. Delivery options associated with leaving mail on the server are displayed here.
  4. Change as necessary and click on the "OK" button to update.

IMAP

IMAP is an application layer Internet protocol used for accessing e-mail on a remote server from a local client. E-mail applications using IMAP generally leave messages on the server until the user explicitly deletes them. This allows the user to access the same mailbox from multiple computers.

IMAP allows users to access new messages instantly on their computers, since the mail is stored on the server. With POP3, users have to either download the email to their computer or access it via the web. Both ways take longer than IMAP, and you have to either download any new mail or "refresh" the page to see the new messages.

Web Mail

Web mail allows you access to your Battle Foundry e-mail where you may find an Internet connection. Since you may be using a public computer, it does not make sense to download your new messages. By using the IMAP mail protocol, web mail allows you to read and delete new messages.


Additional Mail Topics: