12 replies to this topic

[Chris Miller]

A while back we moved our company from standard POP3 email, to IMAP. There is one major difference:

POP3 - Sucks the mail off of your server and stores is locally, meaning it is up to you to keep it safe and accessible.

IMAP - Keeps mail on the server so that you can access it from anywhere. Any computer, webmail, etc will all show the same thing. No more losing emails, or not being able to access them while on vacation.

IMAP gives you MUCH more flexibility. For example, you can:

- "Download" your messages to your main computer, and still view those exact same messages on your laptop later while chilling out on the beach. Reason being, your computer downloads them, but never deletes them from the server so all computers see the same thing.

- If you delete a message, it deletes if from the server and this change is reflected on all computers that access the account. So we might have 4 computers here accessing sales@promopunch.com but if one employee deletes an email, it disappears from all computers.

The great thing about IMAP is that it is WIDELY supported. You can ask your host or ISP, but chances are it's ready to use. Just create a new account in your mail program and choose "IMAP" instead of "POP3". Use the same settings as you do with your POP3. The great thing is, once you create the IMAP account, you can drag all of your downloaded POP3 messages into it to "upload" them to the server. Now when you connect with other computers, or via webmail, they will be accessible!

I hope this is helpful to some of you. IMAP has been the best thing we have done for our business. We have helped others get setup with it too and I know they will agree that it has been a good thing.

Enjoy and feel free to post any questions you might have!

[plantia]

Chris,
I go to a website www.mail2web.com where I can see any new emails I have (personal). If I have already looked at them at home, they will not appear (pop 3), but if I am on another computer and go to the website to read new email, it is still there when I get home. I am guessing that the website is IMAP. Is this correct on how it works?

[Chris Miller]

Using a browser based "webmail" system like that is not really considered "IMAP" but it functions exactly the same way. It is simply a "viewer" for your mail, much like your computer at home would be if you set your email application up to use IMAP instead of POP3. It's not until you choose "delete" that the message is removed from the server.

So moving to IMAP is essentially like using webmail every place you go, but the mail appears conveniently in your mail program as it always has.

Maybe Jim can chime in on how it is different in his business.

[jacquez]

Chris,

I do not use outlook express but have web-based email on comcast and go daddy. I can accesss all my email from any location and computer. Are both of those IMAP?
Don't forget I am one of those "older" types and need to be spoon feed all technology.

[bigimpression]

Jacque...that's just webmail, but pretty much the same idea as IMAP:)

Edited by bigimpression, 21 July 2008 - 07:48 AM.

[jimknecht]

Night & day! IMAP is much superior & thanks Chris for setting us up.

Chris, we choose to not store the messages on the server for any extended amount of time. Having them there however is priceless as we used to transfer email around between different folks, now multiple folks can view the same email (if they have proper permissions). Once we are done with such emails, normally at the end of the day, we move the old emails to our local folders. i would be afraid of a server issue that could kill all my email otherwise.

[Chris Miller]

Jacque,

Since you don't access your mail from a mail client you get the same benefit as an IMAP user would. Your mail is stored on the server at all times, and only gets deleted when you choose to delete it. You use a web browser to access mail, instead of a mail client which physically downloads mail onto your computer's hard drive.

POP3 users have it bad because their mail client removes all of their mail from the server the minute they hit "Get Mail" on their mail application. So it cannot be viewed from any other computer after that because it is gone from the server.

[BOAB]

Quote

POP3 users have it bad because their mail client removes all of their mail from the server the minute they hit "Get Mail" on their mail application. So it cannot be viewed from any other computer after that because it is gone from the server.

You can set up your POP3 mail client to NOT delete the mail from the server. I do this when working at home on my laptop... that way if i get anything important over the weekend and check my mail, i can still retrieve it at work without having to forward it to myself.

IMAP is convenient if you need to share mails with multiple people. However, it should be noted that if you get a lot of attachments your mail folder will fill up quickly when using IMAP, especially with the cheaper godaddy type accounts! As Jim suggested, you need to periodically archive them locally.

David

[KelseyPromo]

Chris, I agree... IMAP is the way to go.

Last year we setup IMAP for all our email accounts. We use Gmail to pull in the mail via POP3 from our email server and then use IMAP to access Gmail from Thunderbird and also use IMAP to access Gmail from my MOTO Q smartphone.

The added advantage is that Gmail filters all the spam out befor it gets to Thunderbird.

I like using Gmail also because if I delete a message and later want it back, it's in the Gmail-ALL MAIL folder in Thunderbird.

[3Koi Maui]

I use POP3, but also have it set to only delete mail from the server after 3 days. That gives me a bit of a backup in case I either delete an email locally and need it back, or in case my local machine crashes and back doesn't work or will take too long to restore.

[tmci]

While it's not ideal in all situations, smaller businesses can look into the "branded" gmail offering from google. You get all of the features of gmail, but using your domain, your logo, etc. Their Spam filters are excellent, and they use IMAP.

I wouldn't attempt to use this in a large corporate environment, but for smaller companies, it's great.

[rcasner]

Using IMAP via Gmail sometimes shows the gmail address and not your proper domain email name as the from address. It is a known problem, mostly with MS Outlook. I had too many people inadvertently replying to my gmail address and not to my domain email. I am picky that my email looks professional with a proper domain name and not something@gmail.com. I looked everywhere and there is no known fix other than having gmail host your email.

I use TLN as my host and they do not have IMAP servers so at this point, although I would like to use IMAP, I am not able to ...unless someone knows another work around.

[LogoSteve]

rcasner said:

Using IMAP via Gmail sometimes shows the gmail address and not your proper domain email name as the from address. It is a known problem, mostly with MS Outlook. I had too many people inadvertently replying to my gmail address and not to my domain email. I am picky that my email looks professional with a proper domain name and not something@gmail.com. I looked everywhere and there is no known fix other than having gmail host your email.

I use TLN as my host and they do not have IMAP servers so at this point, although I would like to use IMAP, I am not able to ...unless someone knows another work around.

I have Steve@LogoSteve.com with Yahoo.
I can access my email anywhere, anytime
with any computer. And Yahoo has virus
protection and filters out the spam.
Cost is $35 per yr.

Steve Gaither