Why should I use IMAP? What is the difference between POP and IMAP?

POP is a very simple protocol that only allows downloading of messages from your Inbox to your local computer. Generally, once transferred, the email is then on your local computer and is removed from the server.

IMAP is a much more advanced protocol that allows you to see all your folders and quickly view subjects and message bodies of emails, but delay downloading of larger emails (such as those with attachments) to a later time if you want. IMAP also allows you to synchronise mail folders between your home machine and the web, so that you see the same folders and messages wherever and however you access your email.

	IMAP	POP
Flexibility	Can view just message headers, and then choose which messages to download	Have to download all messages at once
	Can delete/move a message without having to download it	Have to download all messages
	Can download just text body of a message	Have to download entire message (including any large attachments)
Synchronisation	Can view messages in all folders	Can only download messages from Inbox
	Any changes made via web interface or email software (eg move message, add flags, etc) appears in the other automatically	Once downloaded, changes only made on local email software
	Can access messages both at home/work, and on the road through the web interface	Once downloaded, can only access messages at home/work
Safety	All messages kept on mail.earthgrid.com servers, including realtime replication to a backup server, and nightly incremental backups of all emails to yet another server kept for 1 week	Once downloaded, copy only exists on your local computer, if it crashes, email is lost