Settings and FAQs about the IMAP Protocol Service

The IMAP protocol service is widely used in the network. This is a set of protocols for the mailbox system, which is used by many people. We also use POP3 and WebMail. These protocols have similar functions. What are the specific differences? First, let's take a look at the concept of IMAP. IMAP is short for Internet Message Access Protocol. As its name implies, it is a Protocol for retrieving information over the Internet. IMAP4 is the 4th version of the IMAP protocol, just as POP3 is the 3rd version of the POP protocol.

Differences from POP3

Many of my friends are very familiar with POP3. Let's start with POP3. POP3 provides a fast Mail Download service. You can use POP3 to download emails from your mailbox to your PC for offline reading. Once the email enters the PC's local hard disk, you can choose to delete the email from the server, and then remove the link from the Internet and read the downloaded email at any time.

The IMAP Protocol Service also provides a convenient Mail Download service that allows users to read offline, but IMAP can do more than that. First, the abstract browsing function provided by IMAP allows you to determine whether to download after reading the arrival time, topic, sender, size, and other information of all emails. Based on the abstract information, you can determine that some emails are useless to you. You can delete these emails directly on the server. If your IMAP client software fully supports IMAP4rev1 (for example, Netscape 4.5), you can also enjoy the optional attachment download service. If an email contains five attachments and only two of them are required, you can download only the two attachments, saving the remaining three times.

How? With this alone, I know that the IMAP protocol service is attractive enough? In fact, the key difference between IMAP and POP3 is that it supports offline reading and encourages users to store and organize emails on servers.

Comparison with WebMail

Many users prefer to send and receive emails online through the Web. One of the important reasons is that these users want to keep their emails on the server and create multiple folders through the WebMail service, then, you can manage your emails in archive mode. In this way, WebMail users can get their emails from the server immediately without any time or location.

IMAP also meets the needs of WebMail users. Like WebMail, IMAP allows you to create folders in any hierarchy on the server and move emails between folders flexibly. As long as your emails are stored on the server, you can get your emails online immediately at any time through an IMAP client.

However, the following advantages of IMAP are sufficient to attract WebMail users: All WebMail users must read ads on the page helplessly, you must spend valuable time and bandwidth to download images and modify characters on the page. IMAP faithfully serves only your E-mail service.

How to Use IMAP

There are not many client software that supports the IMAP protocol service. We recommend that you use OE and Netscape Messenger. The two software have their own characteristics. Netscape has many functions, but OE is simpler and faster, and has a Chinese version. Unfortunately, FoxMail, a favorite of domestic users, does not currently support IMAP protocol services. Other E-mail client software, which currently does not have complete support for IMAP4, is not recommended.

Set IMAP account of 21cn in OE:

1. Click the "tools/Accounts" menu.

2. In the displayed dialog box, click "Add/mail.

3. enter your name. The name will appear in the sender domain and click "Next ".

4. Enter your email address on 21cn and click "Next ".

5. Select IMAP as the mail receiving server type, fill in imap-ent.21cn.com in the mail receiving server bar, fill in smtp-ent.21cn.com in the mail server bar, and click Next.

6. Enter the name displayed in the OE folder list, click "Next", and complete the settings according to the wizard.

FAQs:

1. Can I use POP3, IMAP4, and WebMail together to access my mailbox?

Yes, but POP3 can only download emails without the deletion mark except the Trash and Sent folders. IMAP4 and WebMail can read all emails.

2. Why did I find two strange folders in WebMail after I used OE 5.0 to create an IMAP account?

By default, IE5 automatically creates two folders named "sent emails" and "draft" for you. The Chinese name cannot be correctly encoded in WebMail, so it cannot be correctly displayed. You can delete these two folders through the "Advanced Settings" function of the account in OE.