Pop3 Vs. Imap--what's The Difference

[Kathy_P]

With the email service provided by my ISP, it's either POP3 or webmail, IMAP is not an option. But I do have the IMAP option through my account here, and I am wondering what the difference is between the two services. Does one use up more bandwidth than the other? Is one somehow more convenient? Is there a tutorial on this subject that I somehow missed? I use Thunderbird as my email client.

[stevevan]

IMAP stands for Internet Message Access Protocol. IMAP allows an email program to access messages as if the messages were locally on your computer. For example, email stored on an IMAP server could be read from a desktop, a workstation at your office, or a portable device while traveling, without the need to transfer messages or files back and forth between systems.

 

POP3 works best when you have only one computer, since it was designed to support messages that you have already "downloaded" to your computer and then deleted from the mail server.

 

Bandwidth, I would think, depends upon the quantity and size of the email messages. I've found that the main difference between the two is personal preference for most people, depending mostly upon their needs.