POP3 vs IMAP4 – Part 2 of 2
This is a continuation of a two-part series on the differences between POP3 and IMAP4. For those that didn't catch yesterday article on POP3, click here.
IMAP4 – What is it?
IMAP4 stands for Internet Mail Access Protocol v4 or Internet Message Access Protocol v4 (amongst other names along similar lines).
How does it work?
IMAP4 is similar to POP3 in as much as you configure an email client to connect to a mail server to collect your mail, but the one key difference with IMAP4 is that the messages are kept on the server, not downloaded and kept on your PC (or smartphone) unless you choose to delete the message at which point the message will be deleted from the server.
From a server perspective, an IMAP mailbox will usually be fuller than a POP3 mailbox as most people using POP3 will download their emails and only new ones will be waiting for collection. With IMAP4 mailboxes, then entire undeleted contents of the mailbox will live on the server and thus more space will be taken up as a result.
Because the messages are stored on a server, you can organise the mailbox and add Folders / Subfolders and move mail between folders. Any email client configured for IMAP will be able to see / view the folders and the contents of the folders. With POP3 – you simply have a folder (the Inbox) and you cannot create other folders / subfolders.
IMAP4 Problems:
Email clients using IMAP can usually view a particular number of days-worth of emails e.g., the last 7 days (which is user configurable) and to maintain the view, the client needs to keep an active connection open to the server, increasing traffic to / from the mail server. POP3 typically has a short connection time sufficient to connect, check for messages, download any that are new / available, delete if required and then disconnect.
IMAP4 clients can run searches through the contents of a mailbox and for large mailboxes, this can cause an undue load on the server. POP3 clients are not able to search the mailbox on the server, only locally on the PC, thus don’t cause a server many headaches.
IMAP4 Benefits:
With the emails stored safely on a server, you don’t have to worry about backing up your emails.
If your PC decides to stop working permanently, gets a nasty virus infection which messes with your Operating System or the hard disk dies, you can simply replace the PC with a new one, rebuild the PC, or replace the hard disk with a new one then rebuild the PC and then re-configure the email client and all your mail will be safe. With POP3, if you lose your PC / laptop, the HDD dies or a virus eats up your files, you had better have a backup of your emails or they are gone for good.
If you've any question, problem, suggestion and feedback than please comment below.
Have a nice day!
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