The Differences Between POP3, IMAP & SMTP

Posted: June 22nd, 2012 | Author: Immanuel |  |12 Comments »

The terms of POP3, IMAP & SMTP are often heard when setting up mail client configuration in computer or SmartPhone, even now many of mobile phones with a low entry price was already equipped with email facilities.

But do you know what are they meant by POP3, IMAP & SMTP? In this article I will try to describe what the three terms above.

POP3 (Post Office Protocol version 3) is a protocol used to retrieve electronic mail (email) from the email server. POP3 protocol was created because of the design of the electronic mail system that requires the server to accommodate email for a while until it’s taken by an eligible recipient.

IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) is a standard protocol for accessing / retrieving e-mail from the server. IMAP allows users to choose e-mail message that he will take, make a folder on the server, search for specific e-mail messages, even deleted e-mail messages on server. This ability is much better than POP (Post Office Protocol) which only allows to retrieve/ download all the messages without exception.

SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) is a commonly used protocol for sending electronic mail on the Internet. This protocol is used to transmit data from computer sending email to the recipient mail server.

Look at table below for the comparison between POP3 and IMAP

Descriptions	POP 3	IMAP
Email can be left on the Server	“leave message” setting have to be enabled	Automatic
Email with its attachments directly downloaded to local PC	Automatic	“Download all header and attachment” setting have to be enabled
Folder created in Outlook automatically appear in Webmail and the opposite	No	Yes
Read new message	Fast	Delay about 1-5 seconds
Rule/ Filter made in Outlook/ client automatically apply in Webmail	No	Only rule from Webmail applicable for Outlook
Email Backup	Email backup done manually unless “leave message on server” setting enable.	Automatically email backup
Delete email	Deleted email go straight into “Deleted Folder”	Deleted email will be marked streak on its header. To remove it permanently done “Purge Deleted Messages”

From the comparison above you can see how IMAP do better than POP3 for synchronizing folders and Rule to Webmail.

For you using the mobile phone, I think  it is better to use IMAP protocol, because by using the IMAP protocol you can set whether the email is received along with any attachment or just the header.

Okay, it is enough for the lesson,  I hope you can differentiate between POP3, IMAP and SMTP now.

See you…