Which is better: POP or IMAP?

I am planning to buy an iPhone soon and am contemplating how to set up my email.
The "genius" (and I use that term loosely) at the Apple Store said only IMAP accounts work well with iPhones. The only one he could think of was Gmail, which I've used and don't particularly care for. I have a POP account and am unsure what the advantages/disadvantages are of using that with an iPhone?
And if I decide to use a desktop email client on my Mac, do I need to use Apple Mail? Or can I use Entourage 2004 (which, BTW, seems to support only POP accounts; it doesn't play with Gmail's IMAP).
Before I make my purchase, I want to know what I'm getting into with regard to mail.
Thanks.

Chuck the Designer,
The discussion of POP vs. IMAP is kind of like do you prefer have a Post Office Box, or a secretary to help sort/keep track of your email.
This article discusses it as well:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=51729
With IMAP the status of the messages is the same however you access it. If you reply to a message on the iPhone, it shows as having been replied to on web-based email, and on your computer. If you read a message on one, it shows as read on the others as well.
If you have folders on the IMAP server, and move a message to one of those folders, it is in that folder on the other mail clients you access it with.
POP3 was not designed for being accessed from multiple computers, and can have issues like POP locks if you check it at the same time from more than one device. For example leave your computer on checking email, and then check at the same time from the iPhone. This article discusses that issue:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=307009
If you do not leave messages on the server on all your mail clients, for example your computer and the iPhone, messages received on one, won't be available in other mail clients. To save on storage space, some email providers remove messages when they have been downloaded once from the server, and that will not work when accessing email from both your computer and the iPhone.
As for providers that offer IMAP -
GMail offers both POP3 and IMAP
.Mac offers both POP3 and IMAP
Yahoo offers POP3 for paid email customers, but offers free Push-IMAP for use on the iPhone
AOL offers free IMAP accounts
The four above have settings preconfigured as IMAP on the iPhone with 1.1.3. GMail preconfigures using POP3 with earlier versions of the iPhone software.
Microsoft Exchange servers have IMAP service, but is often disabled by the server admin. This article discusses what needs to be configured on the corporate mail server to work with the iPhone securely:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=307313
A web search for IMAP email providers brings up a bunch of other options for free and paid IMAP mailbox options. Many ISPs offer both, but sometimes have to be asked about IMAP support.
Hope this helps,
Nathan C.

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Email settings: POP vs. IMAP...Which is better?

I use my iPhone for work, like many of us do. I came from a balckberry, so I am use to getting my emails instantly..... I will say that is about the only thing I miss.....
I can set up my work email as either a pop or imap. Which is better? Do they both fetch? I wish the iPhone offered push email (I'm sure I am not the only one).
thoughts, comments, ideas, sloutions???/

The only reason push access is supported with every email account accessed with a Blackberry is because every email account is routed through RIM's dedicated email delivery service for the Blackberry which includes some features not available otherwise.
Different from a Blackberry, the iPhone's Mail app communicates direct with the incoming mail server for an email account - no different from accessing the account with an email client on your computer. The email account must support Push access with the iPhone's Mail app, and that is with an Exchange account, a MobileMe account, and with a Yahoo account created with the Yahoo account preset. A Gmail account can be accessed as an Exchange account with the iPhone's Mail app.

Which is better white ipad or black ipad?

I want to get the new ipad and I have gone to the store and seen both the black and the white one. But sometimes there are limits to what you can do. I want to know how they compare.
Of course I know color is my preference. But from someone who has used either. Which is better for viewing movies and photos? I would assume black, but then I have read a few that said the white makes everything pop and look better. They advertised the white more, but then in some ads show the iphoto on the black one ?
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Why is "POP or IMAP" grayed out in setting up a new email account in Outlook 2013?

Can anyone share with me how to make it avail? Thanks.

Hi,
Do you mean the "POP or IMAP" bullet is grayed out?
If this is the case, please open your registry editor and check if the following registry values exist and the value data is set to 1:
Key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Outlook\Options
Name: DisableIMAP
Key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Outlook\Options
Name: DisablePOP3
If this is the case, change the value data of the two values to 0 and then test the issue again.
Please let me know the result.
Regards,
Steve Fan
TechNet Community Support
It's recommended to download and install
Configuration Analyzer Tool (OffCAT), which is developed by Microsoft Support teams. Once the tool is installed, you can run it at any time to scan for hundreds of known issues in Office
programs.
Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help, and unmark the answers if they provide no help. If you have feedback for TechNet Support, contact
[email protected]

Both Pop AND IMAP Gmail accounts in Mail?

OK this is bugging me. Suddenly I noticed several email duplicates from my only Gmail account, that I check on my Mac in Mail. When checking accounts in Preferences, I see now TWO Gmail accounts enabled, one POP, another IMAP. I can't remember which one is the older one that I've been using for years. I guess it's the IMAP account, since I've been keeping copies of my emails in my Mac and my Gmail "all mail" folder online.
I think it happened when Safari 5.1 asked to syncronize and/or use "x" automatically with iChat, Mail, Calendar, etc., and added the POP. My question is, which one of those accounts is safe to delete or disable in Mail? Can it be done just like that? In the Gmail settings I see both POP and IMAP are enabled. Should I just disable POP and voilá?
Thanks.
rolando

As you may have learnt by now POP downloads the mail to your computer and depending on your settings may also delete from server. So the mail on your computer is the only copy you have. IMAP accounts can be deleted and added later but POP are not that simple.
I suggest turn off POP, use IMAP, continue using IMAP for a while and then delete POP.
There are excellent guides in the discussions here, just search for 'switching from POP to IMAP'

Moving user from POP to IMAP

Hello
I'm switching all of my mail users from POP to IMAP. In most cases, I set up their IMAP setting in there mail client. Then I drag there POP messages (stored on their local machines) to the IMAP account. That has worked for most users. I have three users with a lot of local mail messages - about 10 gb. When I try to drag the mail folder over in Apple Mail, it starts to copy them. After a while, it just stops. The messages never get over to the IMAP server. (Their names are on the door, so I can't tell them to trim down their messages.)
My next thought was to convert the messages from Mail.app, copy them into the mailstore on the IMAP server, then reconstruct the mailbox. I have an app, Emailchemy, that converts Mail.app to following formats:
RFC-2822 mailboxes ("mbox" format or "UNIX-style")
Folders of individual RFC-2822 email files (.txt or .eml files)
Comma-separated value files (.csv files)
Maildir (qmail)
Maildir++ (Courier IMAP)
In a test account, I'v tried converting a single message to RFC-2822 format. After I reconstruct the mailbox, I see the header info, but the body of the message is blank.
Is there something that I am missing? Is there a better way to move those messages.
Thanks,
Henry
MacBook Pro 2.0 GHz 1 GB RAM Mac OS X (10.4.6)

I've switched many users from Eudora - pop and Mail - pop to imap.
it's very easy. - just change the client setting.
we chose Thunderbird because it worked the same on both PC and MAC, and came with just enough options to make everyone happy.
if all the users are set to either pop/imap combo then only the clients have to make any significant changes.
having the pop option is great if you want your users to flush their mailbox and keep a local copy while you do updates.
I frown upon alternate imap boxes other than defaults. if the user needs more mailboxes they can create them on their local machine. That way we don't have to deal with long reconstructs for an individual user. -lots of small files in those maildirs.

Converting my Mail from POP to IMAP

I am considering converting my ISP email account in Apple Mail from POP to IMAP. I had never given this much (any) thought until I recently got an iPhone and noticed that the email account that it setup for my ISP email (Charter) was an IMAP one. This has created a little bit of a conflict and has sometimes resulted in my inbox or get mail on my desktop Apple Mail being "locked up" for a while when I have just previously read the mail on my iPhone. (I get the message on my iMac that my ISP email is currently in use by another mail client). I had never run into this problem before and I've read that it does happen and happens more often when you have both POP and IMAP clients trying to access the same mail server.
One question is do I just go into the accounts settings on Mail on my iMac and change the incoming and outgoing servers to the appropriated IMAP ones? Or should I create a whole new account in Mail and use the IMAP settings from the start? What will happen to the folders and subfolders I already have in my Mail program? Going forward with IMAP, will I be able to download the emails from the server like I have always done and categorize them into folders using Mail?
This is all kind of confusing right now. Thanks.
Steve M.

You're welcome.
Is there any harm in leaving my desktop Mail as is (POP account) and just realizing that I may experience an occasional "lock out"?
There is no harm with doing so, but I'm not sure why you would want to.
How do I release the email account from my iPhone?
There is no option for this.
I already have my data settings on the iPhone to "fetch" every hour--not to push. But does this apply to the IMAP account on the iPhone?
Push access for received messages applies to an email account that supports Push access. The following email accounts support Push access for received messages:
MobileMe
Exchange
A Yahoo account created with the Yahoo account preset.
"If" I decided to convert my desktop Mail account to IMAP, could I not just "add" the new account? Would I necessarily have to delete the POP account?
You don't have to delete the POP account, but you would want to make it inactive or disable the account with the Mail app - Mail > Settings > Accounts > Select the Account > Under the Advanced tab for the account settings deselect Enable this account.
If you want access to the locally stored messages in the POP account's Inbox and Sent mailbox with the iPhone's Mail app, you want want to copy the messages to a server stored mailbox or mailboxes after creating the account as an IMAP account.
Can I setup the account as POP on my iPhone and just keep it all POP? Or is this dependent on Charter's policies?
This depends on Charter, but I don't see why you wouldn't be able to access the account as a POP account with the iPhone's Mail app as well, but this will not get rid of the "locked out" problem on occasion.
A POP account is from the early dark ages of email account access with an email client on a computer when the overwhelming majority at the time had access to a single computer only - before there were laptops and laptops became mainstream, and before there were handheld cell phones much less cell phones in the smart phone category. Until the iPhone, phones in the smart phone category were primarily targeted and sold to the business/enterprise market, not to the consumer market. The iPhone changed all that - just look at all the copies and different phones in the smart phone category that surfaced after the original
Although it is possible to access a POP account with more than one email client, a POP account is designed to be accessed with a single email client only and includes a number of limitations that are not a problem with an IMAP account, which is specifically designed to be accessed with more than one email client.
There is no "locked out" problem with an IMAP account. You can store the account's Drafts, Sent, Trash, and Junk mailboxes on the server with the Mail app on your Mac, and the account's Drafts, Sent, and Trash mailboxes on the server with the iPhone's Mail app. The account's Junk mailbox stored on the server with the Mail app on your Mac will be available automatically when accessing the account with the iPhone's Mail app along with all other server stored mailboxes created for the account with the Mail app on your Mac or via webmail access for the account using a browser. You can transfer received and sent messages to additional server stored mailboxes by category with the Mail app on your Mac and with the iPhone's Mail app which will be reflected automatically with each email client. All server stored mailboxes are kept synchronized with the server automatically with each email client used to access the account. Sent a message with the iPhone's Mail app and the message will be available in the account's Sent mailbox with the Mail app on your Mac automatically and vice-versa. Read a new message with the Mail app on your Mac and the message will be marked as read automatically when accessing the account's Inbox mailbox with the Mail app on your Mac and vice-versa. Transfer a received message to a user created server stored mailbox with iPhone's Mail app and the message will be available in that server stored mailbox automatically when accessing the server stored mailbox with the Mail app on your Mac and vice-versa.
I keep the Mail app on my Mac launched and running 24/7 checking my IMAP account for new messages. I have the account's Junk mailbox stored on the server with the Mail app on my Mac, which is available automatically when accessing the account with the iPhone's Mail app and the same with my iPad 2. Any received message that is marked as junk and moved to the account's Junk mailbox stored on the server with the Mail app on my Mac is reflected automatically with the account's Inbox mailbox and Junk mailbox with the iPhone's Mail app and with the iPad's Mail app. The junk mail filter with the Mail app on my Mac is serving as the junk mail filter for the account with my iPhone and iPad as well - remotely since all server stored mailboxes with an IMAP account are kept synchronized with the server with each email client used to access the account.
NONE of this is available with a POP account.
If you have the option to access your email account as an IMAP account and you access the account with an email client on more than one computer or device, to me it is a no-brainer which way to go - IMAP, which is specially designed for this.

Converting from POP to IMAP on Mail

I have had an ISP email account for a long time with Charter and have used it as a POP account with Apple Mail. It's worked fine for me. I've developed the habit of saving lots of old email in Mail in the Mailboxes (some kept in my Inbox and Sent box) and most catalogged into folders I've created in the On my Mac area.
I've recently gotten an iPhone and the Charter email setup on it results in an IMAP account. I've run into the "locked" inbox problem when I've recently accessed my mail with my iPhone and then try to access my mail on my iMac using Mail. I understand that it is probably better not to mix protocols and that I should use all POP or all IMAP. I've recently found out that Charter offers the IMAP protocol for desktop email access. They probably have for a long time but I just had no reason to look into it.
Anyway, I've pretty much decided to save my current Inbox and Sent box into On My Mac folders, then delete my Charter POP accont in Mail and create a new Charter IMAP account in Mail and then continue to use my Charter IMAP account on my iPhone. Does this sound reasonable?
I have a question about saving email from the IMAP account on my iMac as I have been doing with my POP acount. I know that the IMAP email will remain on the Charter server (up to some storage limit) but I want to continue to save and categorize at least some of my most important email in folders in Mail. Does the On My Mac concept still apply when using an IMAP account as opposed to a POP account? Will Mail basically look the same? What if anything about the way Mail looks to me will be different when using the IMAP protocol?
I suppose my use of web based Yahoo mail has exposed me to many of the differences between POP and IMAP. I believe that my Yahoo account is most similar to IMAP--correct?
I'm learning a lot more than I knew before about this email protocol business. I think I "almost" have it figured out.
Thanks,
Steve M.

Thanks Jeffrey. I thought I had about decided to convert desktop and iPhone to IMAP for Charter account but now I'm not too sure. OK, this is kind of a family "community" email account right now my wife is accessing it from a Macbook Pro and I'm accessing it from an iMac and we're both using Apple Mail with the account setup as a POP. We have Mail set to leave messages on the server for something like a week or maybe the next longest setting. I just want to be able to have a look at the email messages on my iPhone and maybe reply to one occasionally. I'm thinking now that trying to setup the account as POP on the iPhone may be the way to go. We alway end up saving and filing away lots of email messages on the iMac and the laptop. I know with Yahoo and Gmail there is a practically unlimited amount of online storage but with Charter I think there is a 1 GB cap. I am beginning to fear that with IMAP we may run up against that cap.
Thanks,
Steve M.

Email Proxy server for POP -to- IMAP bridge

Hi Guys
I have an email client which can fetch mails from an IMAP server, POP is not supported by the client.
[I cant change my email client :-)). so no suggestions on that]
My problem is that i need to fetch Yahoo Mails into my email client And Yahoo supports only POP, no IMAP.
My action of plan is to setup a email proxy server in-between, like YPOPs.
[YPOPs fetches mails from yahoo on POP but doest not expose any IMAP interface].
My email proxy server will fetch mails from Yahoo Mail on POP and will expose an IMAP interface to my email client application.
My email client can connect to this email proxy server and fetch mails on IMAP.
I wanted to ask u guys, abt ur ideas. If any of u faced any similar problem?
And i want to know if Java Mailing API can help in this?
Please guys do share ur views at least. If im able to devise a working solution, definitely i'll share.
Thanks alot

Hi bshannon
No i havnt paid for Yahoo Plus. I know Yahoo doesnt give service to free accounts.
Yahoo server to be configured for Yahoo plus is - mail.plus.pop.yahoo.com
But using YPOPs or Zimbra i am able to even access my free accounts. To me It implies - that yahoo has kept some mail server open for free accounts too.
I tried mail.pop.yahoo.com - it doesnt works.
Actually i tried the fetchmail on linux. There the problem is:
1) That i have millions of yahoo accounts. In fetchmail i need to configure account details in .fetchmailconf and
moreover i dont know how much space i'll need on my server to dump the mails of millions of users.
2) In future my users might need to reply to the mails too, i.e. reversing the whole flow. fetchmail can only fetch mails. it cant send mails.
I dont know UW IMAP.. i'll check. Thx anyway :-)

MS OutlookExpress: Can't connect to POP or IMAP

Hi,
I successfully configured Convergence and login with specified user with full functionality (send, receive).
Problem is that I can't connect to mail server using MS OutlookExpress (POP or IMAP).
Answers are:
POP3: Unable to logon to the server using Secure Password Authentication. Account: 'mail.observer.rs', Server: 'mail.observer.rs', Protocol: POP3, Server Response: '.', Port: 110, Secure(SSL): No, Error Number: 0x800CCC18
IMAP: Not authorized to log in as specified user
Configuration:
Account: mail.observer.rs (1)
Server: mail.observer.rs
User name: mihailo.milosavljevic
Protocol: IMAP
Port: 143
Secure(SSL): 0
Code: 800cccd1
Telnet tests on these ports are successful also.
I think that problem might by on storing passwords (PLAIN or crypt.) but I can't resolve it.
# imsimta version
Sun Java(tm) System Messaging Server 7u2-7.02 64bit (built Apr 16 2009)
libimta.so 7u2-7.02 64bit (built 02:28:03, Apr 16 2009)
Using /opt/sun/comms/messaging64/config/imta.cnf (compiled)
SunOS ns2 5.10 Generic_139556-08 i86pc i386 i86pc

Mihailo.B.Milosavljevic wrote:
There is a bug in MERCURY package where ACL filter use plural names of services pops, imaps instead of pop and imap.The use of pops/imaps is entirely valid. The mailallowedserviceaccess: attribute is documented here:
http://docs.sun.com/app/docs/doc/819-2657/6n4ub3hm2?a=view
These are the service names for IMAPS port (993) and POPS port (995). The back-end store processes don't recognise these service names however which an make using the mercury package -- well "tricky".
Regards,
Shane.

Blackberry move from POP to IMAP

Hello and thank you in advance...
A company I consult has FINALLY moved from POP3 email to IMAP. They are hosting with Network Solutions and NS just added the service to their account for an up-charge. The server information isn't changing at all, just the protocol.
When we reconfigure Outlook to use IMAP, will we also have to reconfigure all the Blackberrys or will they simply pickup the IMAP protocol from the server automatically?
In the past when I have set up Blackberrys I don't remember there being a distinction between POP and IMAP in the setup--if I remember correctly, POP/IMAP was always the same selection.
Thank you,
dpbklyn

Hi and Welcome to the Forums!
You are correct that the configuration for either POP or IMAP can be transparent to the end user. It depends on what BIS "finds" when it inquires of the server (using the email address)...if it finds only POP, it configures for POP. Likewise if it finds only IMAP. If it finds both, it typically goes with the highest capability protocol (IMAP). However, we've seen posts from some who swear that it is configuring them for POP when their server is configured for both -- typically, we then recommend that they set up a second server so that BIS can be directed (via Advanced Integration) to the specific server providing the desired protocol.
It may be that you will need to remove the BIS configurations and re-create them in BIS so that BIS shifts to the new protocol. Further, you may find that, if you shut off POP and don't do anything with BIS, it may stop functioning until the BIS conduit is recreated. Your challenge will be the on-device Messages database...when you remove the configuration, that is of course wiped out. After you re-create the configuration, a restore may or may not allow those historical messages to be re-populated to the same BIS conduit on the device.
I guess what I'd suggest is doing nothing on the devices and seeing what happens...if you have to delete and re-create the BIS conduits for the BB's, then you will have to deal with the potential loss of the on-device Messages database (or it may work just fine...there's truly no way for us to know for sure).
Good luck!
Occam's Razor nearly always applies when troubleshooting technology issues!
If anyone has been helpful to you, please show your appreciation by clicking the button inside of their post. Please click here and read, along with the threads to which it links, for helpful information to guide you as you proceed. I always recommend that you treat your BlackBerry like any other computing device, including using a regular backup schedule...click here for an article with instructions.
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Since moving from POP to Imap, my send mail are shown twice

HI,
I have an hotmail account which I changed from Pop to Imap. Receiving, deleting and archiving mail work fine. But the send box in TB shows my mails twice. However mails which I send from outlook on line are shown only once.
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Which is better for performance Azure SQL Database or SQL Server in Azure VM?

Hi,
We are building an ASP.NET app that will be running on Microsoft Cloud which I think is the new name for Windows Azure. We're expecting this app to have many simultaneous users and want to make sure that we provide excellent performance to end users.
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Regards,
Fanny Liu
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Which is better: POP or IMAP?

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