CERN Accelerating science

Two Different Ways to Handle your Mail

  Miguel Marquina IT/User Support

IMAP vs POP: the protocols

IMAP and POP are two mail protocols which allow users to access and handle electronic mail stored on a remote "mail server", IMAP being a superset of POP. They are based on different conceptual models, but as far as you, the users, are concerned, the main characteristics of their behaviour are that:

• POP "imports" your e-mail from the mail server to your computer, and from then on you handle your e-mail "locally",
• IMAP "leaves" your e-mail at the mail server and allows you to handle it "remotely".

The consequences of using either of these two models on your working habits are clear:

• If you are a "mobile" user; you work in your office, sometimes in a lab, also sometimes at home, then have professional trips from time to time. If you need access to your e-mail any time from any location, you want to find it always at a unique place (the mail server) and then handle it from the computer you are connected to at a given moment. You need an IMAP-compliant mail agent.

• If you work on a single computer and do not mind keeping all your e-mail on its hard disk, then you may happily use a POP-compliant mail agent (but be aware of the security backup issues).

IMAP vs POP at CERN

Given the characteristics of a typical CERN computer user, you may now understand why we have chosen IMAP as the recommended protocol for the MAIL Service. POP is also supported in order to help out users who fall into the second category above. Please notice that:

• pine and Netscape 4 are IMAP-compliant,
• Netscape 2 and 3 and Eudora are POP-compliant.