How IMAP email works in Hosting
Not many people pay attention to the kind of email service they get from their web host. That is primarily because of the fact that not many webmasters are even familiar or aware with the difference between different kinds of email accounts that come with business website hosting. Email is an important part of not just hosting but also of any business. Sending and receiving emails, amongst other things, are essential parts of just about any business especially the ones on the web.
There are two basic kinds of email protocols that you get on all web hosting services and regardless of the fact that they differ completely, they do however have one basic function that is the same and that is they can both be used for sending and receiving emails. POP3 and IMAP are two of the most commonly used protocols for email in just about any cheapest web hosting and all others as well. While POP3 is just a medium through which the emails flow, it is IMAP that is the complete interactive mailing tool. This article presents and overview of IMAP and how it really works.
IMAP is an acronym for Internet Message Access Protocol. The basic purpose of this protocol in business hosting, just like any other protocol, is to send and receive emails. But there is a huge difference between IMAP and POP3. Let’s just have a look at how they are alike. IMAP, just like POP3, can be used to retrieve the emails from your server. It can also be used to send and forward emails. But in IMAP, the server, instead of sending you the original email, forwards you a copy of that email so you and your server both have the file. In case you lose your copy, you can always request the server for another copy. It works just as well in cheap hosting.
Each time you connect to your IMAP server, the intelligent system recognizes the difference between your computer and that of the server and that helps categorize the emails so that the data on your computer and the server is the same. As part of the best web hosting gadget, it keeps your emails safe for future reference but of course, this takes up space as well so if you want to save space then what you can do is delete the unimportant emails. In short, IMAP is definitely a better choice than POP3.