On 2 Jan 2001, 20:38, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> Can anyone please clarify pros and cons of POP & IMAP4 over each other?
IMAP is designed to allow you to store and work with your messages on
the IMAP server rather than your own disk drive. You can set up a
hierarchy of folders on the IMAP server as you do now with a POP3 email
client residing on your disk drive. The advantage is that you can
access and work with your mail from several computers or locations,
since the base of operations is there on the remote IMAP server rather
than your local disk drive.
POP3 is designed to download all your messages to a personal computer
or network account and you then store and work with your messages,
locally.
For further insight, let me reference this article by About.com's Email
Guide, Heinz Tschabitscher:
http://email.about.com/internet/email/library/weekly/aa052200a.htm
> Which protocol is best for normal user? if it is POP then where IMAP4 is
> suitable?
It comes down to a matter of personal preference and situation. If you
commute from computer to computer, i.e. home and work, and at each
location it is important for you to be able to work with your email
messages, including referencing messages, then perhaps IMAP might serve
you best. You just need a client on each computer capable of working
with IMAP.
In my case, I have no desire to leave my messages in a remote location.
I want to download my messages and delete them off the server. I
think that is more secure and it is from my local computer that I can
most efficiently work with my email. POP3 clients give you far more
features to work with email than IMAP clients. IMAP may have some
desirable features, but ultimately it is more limiting than POP3.
Alan
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
