What is the difference between IMAP and pop?

The IMAP full name is the Internet Mail Access Protocol, the interactive Mail Access Protocol, which is one of the standard protocols for similar mail access to POP3. The difference is that when IMAP is turned on, the messages you receive from the e-mail client remain on the server, and the actions on the client are fed back to the server, such as deleting the message, marking the read, and so on.

The message on the server also acts accordingly. So whether you log in to the mailbox from the browser or the client software login mailbox, see the message and the status is consistent.

Its primary role is that mail clients (such as MS Outlook Express) can obtain messages from mail servers, download messages, and so on through this protocol.

The current authoritative definition is RFC3501. The IMAP protocol runs on top of the TCP/IP protocol and uses a port of 143.

The main difference between it and the POP3 protocol is that the user can not download all the mail, and can directly operate the Mail on the server through the client.

Features of IMAP protocol

Similar to the POP3 protocol, IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) provides user-oriented mail collection services. The commonly used version is IMAP4. IMAP4 improves POP3, users can browse the headers to decide whether to collect, delete, and retrieve specific portions of a message, or to create or change a folder or mailbox on the server, which supports online and disconnected operations in addition to the offline operating mode of the POP3 protocol. It provides users with the choice of the ability to receive mail from the mail server, server-based information processing, and shared mailbox features. Unlike POP3, IMAP4 's offline mode does not automatically remove messages that have been removed from the mail server, and its online mode and disconnected mode are also more flexible and accessible as a "remote file server" for the mail server.

What is the difference between POP and IMAP?

If you have not yet decided to use POP or IMAP, we recommend that you use IMAP.

Unlike POPs, IMAP provides two-way communication between the network Gmail and the email client. This means that when you log on to Gmail using a Web browser, the actions you perform on the e-mail client and on the mobile device (for example, moving messages to the work folder) are automatically reflected in Gmail immediately (for example, the e-mail message already has a work tab the next time you log in).

In addition, IMAP provides a better way to access messages from multiple devices. If you are in your organization, on your phone, and then you check your e-mail at home, IMAP ensures that you can access new messages from any device at any time.

Finally, IMAP can provide a more stable usage experience as a whole. POPs are more likely to lose mail or download the same message more than once, and IMAP can avoid such situations by synchronizing between the mail client and the network Gmail.