Testing IMAP - how to make sure messages will be kept if I delete account?

Question

I have always used POP, but right now I am testing an IMAP account (associated with what appears to be a quite efficient spam filtering mail service). I have NO experience at all with IMAP. And I need to clarify something before I start to experiment fully.
In order to test that IMAP account, I will forward to it mail of one of my main accounts during the next ten days, so it will be a real live test.
And here comes my question mark: suppose I decide, after ten days, not to continue and to cancel that IMAP account. What will then happen to the mail I have received on that account? I assume that all the mail in the IMAP Account folder will be canceled, right? If I move in the meantime mail received on that IMAP account in some folder outside the IMAP folder in Mail, will all the messages moved there be kept, or could they be deleted too?
Same question for outgoing mail sent through that IMAP account and server: will all the mail be kept, provided I move it out of the Sent Items section in the IMAP folder and put it at some other place?
Thank you for clarifications! It is obviously vital for me not to lose incoming and outgoing mail, even if I finally decide not to keep that account.
iMac G4 20'' & iBook G4 12''   Mac OS X (10.4.9)  

Answer 1

Hi
IMAP accounts differ from POP accounts in that mail is held primarily on the server. Mail clients, like Apple Mail, will download copies of them, but will stay in sync with the server, so if you "delete" mail from what appears to be a "server-based" folder in Mail, it will be likewise removed from the server. You can, of course, create purely local folders/mailboxes and move your messages into these, in which case they will be totally unaffected by changes in your mail account. When you create a new mailbox, Mail will ask you whether you want to create it locally ("On My Mac") or within an existing IMAP account (in which case it will exist on the server).
But because of this local download of mail, even if you cancel your IMAP account, you will actually still have copies of everything in Apple Mail. It's not until you delete the account itself from within Mail's preferences that the local email will be removed.
Matt