POP3 or IMAP

How to determine if you should use POP3 or IMAP to access your emails using SmarterMail. CDE Software Systems hosting offers access to your SmartMail email account using IMAP or POP3. This page describes the differences.

POP3 or IMAP

POP3 and IMAP are two different email protocols used to Receive Emails.
Each has its own advantages and disadvantages.

POP3 downloads email from your website server and saves it to a single computer or device that has an email client like Outlook, Android, iPhone, Thunderbird, Windows, Apple Mac, etc. then deletes it from your website server. This method is best if you have a Basic Hosting Plan as it does not use up all your disc space available. So POP3 is most useful if you want to store all your email on your personal computer, tablet or phone and save website server disc space.

IMAP is the better option when you need to check your emails from multiple devices, such as a work laptop, a home computer, or a tablet, smartphone, or other mobile device. This is because it stores all your emails on your website server, not the device that accesses the emails.

You can also use both. You can have your base computer setup with POP3 and your phone setup with IMAP. When your on the road you can see emails sent to you since you last did a Send and Receive on your base computer. Both devices send email using SMTP which will work on both and not interfere with each other.

So here is the breakdown.

Devices are any internet connected device, computers, tablets, phones, etc., that have an email client program or app.

• On your primary device, set the incoming email server to POP3 port 110
• On your secondary devices, set the incoming email server to IMAP port 143
• On all devices, set the outgoing email server to SMTP port 25 or 8889

For clients wishing to use IMAP as their primary method of handling emails, addition disc space is available. Basic Hosting Plans include 1-6 GB depending on service level, and Premium Hosting Plans start with 20 GB, additional 1 GB Email Data Disk Space at $35 per year is available for Basic Hosting Plans. If you use our basic website hosting plan and use POP3 email, 500 MB is probably more than you will ever need. Please feel free to contact us for a free consultation about our hosting services. Mass Emailing Plans are also available.

For information on how to setup your email clients, Click Here

Additional information can be found here,
SmarterMail Enterprise 13.x Help Site