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POP and IMAP, and practicality of Thunderbird

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arinlares
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POP and IMAP, and practicality of Thunderbird

I was trying to set up Thunderbird, so that I don't need to use my internet browser to check/send emails, as my internet connection is a bit buggy where I am, when I was confronted with these two protocals: POP and IMAP, I believe they are.

I know not every email service supports these (Yahoo, for instance, makes you pay to use these protocols). But, if I were to use Thunderbird, or any email client, to send emails that can be read via any service, what should I do? Is Thunderbird more or less convenient for non-business users?

spg SCOTT
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I find Thunderbird very

I find Thunderbird very practical, for my use anyway...especially with the portable version.

As for IMAP and POP...

I prefer IMAP because changes that are made within TB are reflected on the webmail side, which is a plus for me as I have to use the webmail interface at school for instance...
This means that I don't have loads of unread emails in webmail, when, infact I have read them all...

The only thing I use the POP for is the scanning of emails by my antivirus, which works well, with the use of a webmail addon - another good feature of TB, addons Smile

-Scott-

“There is a computer disease that anybody who works with computers knows about. It's a very serious disease and it interferes completely with the work. The trouble with computers is that you 'play' with them!”Richard Feynman

arinlares
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So, if I send an email using

So, if I send an email using either one, they'll get it? I don't really know much about this.

Hey! Where'd it go?

ottosykora
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to be precise no

BUT:

IMAP and POP3 , both are protocols to retrieve mail from a mailbox account on a mailserver. There is no way to send a mail with either of them.

The mail is sent in both cases with SMTP protocol, the outgoing server has to be defined separately in every mai lclient software.

But ok this is the technical explanation.

For you as standard mail user, it depends on if your *incoming * mail server supports pop, imap or both. Details will tell you the provider of the server.
The simple old type of protocol is the pop, here when reading mails, they are basically downloaded to your local mail folder and there the mails will stay.

IMAP, the mails basically remain on the server, you see the folder tree in kind of virtual fashion each time you connect to the server. But sure, you can copy all mails to local folder too, it is just matter of setup.

If you are begginer in that, try pop first and see how it works for you. Then you still can change to IMAP or have it even run in parallel later.

Otto Sykora
Basel, Switzerland

Darkbee
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IMAP can be better...

IMAP can be better if you travel a lot, use different computers to access your email, or sometimes have to access your email via a webmail interface (which may or may not be possible with your email provider).

Because IMAP leaves email on the mail server, even after you've read it (but not deleted it), you can still read it from other computers or a possible webmail interface. If you use POP3, it gets downloaded to whatever computer you use and deleted from the mail server, leaving you no way of reading the emails from anywhere else other than that particular computer.

Of course if you don't travel, or always have your computer with you then I guess this particular "advantage" of IMAP over POP3 is moot. Another reason some people prefer IMAP over POP3 is because of backup. If all your email is left on the mail server, typically it will get backed up by the email provider (although you should check with them that this is true). This means that you don't have to worry (as much) about backing up important email. Of course, as with any electronic data it's always wise to keep multiple backups, and not rely on any one particular service/media to keep you safe.

An advantage of POP3 over IMAP is that because email gets downloaded to your computer directly and then removed from the mail server, it no longer takes up space on the mail service. Most email providers have some kind of quota and depending on your volume of emails received, you can quite rapidly fill up your quota. Using POP3 eliminates/alleviates this problem.

Just my two cents worth.

arinlares
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It is decided.

I'm going with IMAP, as I now know the difference between the two. Now, to get Thunderbird to work with Gmail... I found an official Google document for that.

Hey! Where'd it go?

digitxp
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Great!

For some reason, my IMAP in gmail doesn't show all mail, spam, or trash though...

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spg SCOTT
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Does for me...

Does for me...:?

“There is a computer disease that anybody who works with computers knows about. It's a very serious disease and it interferes completely with the work. The trouble with computers is that you 'play' with them!”Richard Feynman

digitxp
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MB Count

How much space does your mail take up? Mine only takes about 600 MB.

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spg SCOTT
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Do you mean what google

Do you mean what google says?

If so, it says 279 MB

In TB, the Google mail has a '+' next to it and that shows the standard gmail folders

“There is a computer disease that anybody who works with computers knows about. It's a very serious disease and it interferes completely with the work. The trouble with computers is that you 'play' with them!”Richard Feynman

digitxp
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hm...

I have that too... maybe it's a file size limit.

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