Internet Message Access Protocol
lastmod 2020-12-21created 2020-12-213 edits
The Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) is an application-layer Internet protocol used to retrieve email from a remote server over a TCP/IP connection. Because IMAP supports both online and offline modes, unlike with POP3, email messages can be left on the server and deleted later. This has the advantage that different email clients in different computer environments can retrieve the same email.
Email messages are sent to the server and stored in the recipient's mailbox. Using a mail client such as Microsoft Outlook or Mozilla Thunderbird, the user can view a message's basic headers (subject, sender name, email address, etc.) and decide whether to download the message body. However, compared with POP3, IMAP has the disadvantage of higher communication traffic with the mail server.