POP3 is used mainly to download all your email to a local mailbox for reading. Usually it downloads all your email and then removes everything from your mailbox on the server. IMAP is used to store all your email on the server and then you connect with an IMAP client to the server to read your email. Messages in your mailbox don't get deleted until you delete them from your client. Everything is stored on the server and there usually isn't a local mailbox. However, both have overlapping features and can sometimes be configured to mimic each other. Reading your mail with POP3 without downloading (POP3 checks), and storing a local copy of your IMAP mailbox for caching purposes (offline viewing). -Jeremy Jeremy Fowler 801 W. 47th St, Suite 500 Kansas City, MO 64112 Phone: (816) 842-8222 Fax: (816) 842-3081 jfowler@westrope.com >>> "Brian Densmore" 04/04/02 09:25AM >>> From: Brian Densmore" Sent: Thursday, April 04, 2002 9:25 AM To: Subject: RE: Pop3 Priority: Normal Not to divert the topic, but this has been bugging me for a while. Why pop3? Or why IMAP? Which one to use and why? I really haven't seen any sane discussions on the subject. An enquiring mind wants to know, Brian