If you are not sure which e-mail protocol, IMAP or POP, you want to use to setup your e-mail program refer to the following basic differences between these two protocols and choose the one that fits your needs.
The e-mail protocol is basically the procedure which your e-mail program will use to communicate with the server on which your e-mail messages are stored. Currently there are two ways to receive your mail from your email server: IMAP and POP. Following is a short comparison of major differences between these two protocols.
IMAP
The IMAP protocol, by default, allows the user to keep all messages on the server. It constantly synchronizes the e-mail program with the server and displays what messages are currently present. All the actions performed on the messages (reading, moving, deleting...) will be done directly on the server.
Because everything is kept on the server the user will be able to access the e-mail account from any computer in the world connected to the Internet and can will always find the same settings in their e-mail account.
Stored messages are counted towards the total disk space used. If you are getting "Disk Quota Exceeded" messages and feel you have cleared the space by deleting other files, this could be the cause.
POP3
The POP protocol, by default, is set to download all the messages from the e-mail server onto your computer. This means that all the actions performed on the messages (reading, moving, deleting...) will be performed on one's computer.
Because everything is kept on the users computer, the user will not be able to reopen messages from any location other than the computer where the messages have been downloaded.
Advantage: The user is not limited by the amount of free space. The limitation is the size of the hard drive on the personal computer.
Disadvantage: Once e-mail is downloaded it can be accessed only using the same computer.
There is an option to setup the POP protocol to save the copy of the messages on the server after downloading them on the computer. For more information look in the documentation for >setting up the e-mail client.
