POP or IMAP?

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J

JTQ

May 7, 2005
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One of ours is "hotmail.com", as opposed to hotmail.co.uk.

No other of those we have with, live.co.uk, gmail, & protonmail collect remotely as much "Junk mail", with most near zero get through.

IMO it makes it unusable as a normal email provider. Only routinely visited just to clear the junk. Its existence was only to facilitate loading Windows.
 
otherclive

otherclive

Nov 11, 2009
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JTQ said:
One of ours is "hotmail.com", as opposed to hotmail.co.uk.

No other of those we have with, live.co.uk, gmail, & protonmail collect remotely as much "Junk mail", with most near zero get through.

IMO it makes it unusable as a normal email provider. Only routinely visited just to clear the junk. Its existence was only to facilitate loading Windows.
Click to expand...
I agree, I’m gradually migrating to Gmail, and Yahoo, both of which are virtually junk free. It’s my early morning job with a tea and biscuit, and the pooch alongside.
 
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Buckman

Buckman

Jul 18, 2017
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otherclive

otherclive

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S

Sam Vimes

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Sep 7, 2020
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Not sure. I've only tried it once on my phone but thought it wasn't much better than Gmail so uninstalled it.

I don't see why you couldn't use it on more than one device with the same account.
 
W

Woodentop

Oct 8, 2006
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Buckman said:
I thin k MS charges annually about £70 for 365? I have no objection to paying a one off, but not an annual subscription
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It cold be argued that users have brought it upon themselves because they never do updates etc - but that is nothing new as it used to happen with W95!!
 
otherclive

otherclive

Nov 11, 2009
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Sam Vimes said:
Not sure. I've only tried it once on my phone but thought it wasn't much better than Gmail so uninstalled it.

I don't see why you couldn't use it on more than one device with the same account.
Click to expand...
Thanks, I think I will stay on GMail and Yahoo and continue migrating from Hotmail/Outlook.
 
S

Sam Vimes

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Sep 7, 2020
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Because the paint has dried and I had nothing else to watch I just installed eMclient of both my WIndows Laptop and Android phone and it synchronised both. A quick look at the plans seem to indicate that for Android and iOS its free regardless of the plan you actually buy. Confusing I must admit.

I made my excuses and left (uninstalled) :)

Of course many people just use a web browser to access their email and don't need a dedicated email client. This is ok if you're comfortable with IMAP.
 
Buckman

Buckman

Jul 18, 2017
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I think I will stick with POP. At present I am gradually sorting out Thunderbird taking my time by transferring folders on Outlook to Thunderbird one at a time after clearing out the folder on Outlook of emails dating back several years.
 
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S

Sam Vimes

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Sep 7, 2020
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Good to hear that you've got or are getting sorted out. Thunderbird is ok just very different from Outlook in appearance and what to click on.

I use Thunderbird on my phone alongside Gmail and find it very good on that.
 
Guzzilazz

Guzzilazz

Sep 26, 2018
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Buckman said:
I think I will stick with POP. At present I am gradually sorting out Thunderbird taking my time by transferring folders on Outlook to Thunderbird one at a time after clearing out the folder on Outlook of emails dating back several years.
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POP (Post Office Protocol) is a protocol from the stone age (i.e. MS-DOS) and as I recall pre-dates even http. IMAP is much more recent and better at coping with the much greater range of requirements such as dealing with multiple devices accessing the same email account -e.g. PC, laptop, tablet and phone.

I have 3 personal email accounts (my main one with a personal unique domain name, a hotmail one, and a gmail) plus a shared gmail account for a sports club service for which I am responsible.

The difference with POP is that the individual email items are downloaded to you local mailbox and removed from the server. IMAP is a server based store which synchronises with any of the signed in devices. So, with a POP mail, you login to your email on a PC, that mail disappears from the server so is not available to any of the other devices connected to the account. IMAP has a mirror copy of the mailbox on each of the devices which means that the item is still available to the other devices unless one of the devices actually deletes the item.

I manage my 4 mailboxes through Outlook (again a user since Office version 4,3). My desktop PC runs a mail washing software which deals with spam - moving it to the spam folder on each account - and also manages Archiving.

One of the things people need to realise is that if you just let mail pile up in your mailbox, it gets bigger and bigger, and loading takes longer and longer (my wife has AOL mail that includes messages that are 20 years old).

So, with archiving I set it to run daily, and delete items in most folders when the item is older than a month. HOWEVER... there are some emails you don't want to delete, so I set up a Subfolder in Inbox called Saved Email, and have now divided that down with specific folders for (e.g.) Insurance, car, car insurance, holidays, etc,etc,etc.

My main mailbox is 191MB... of which "saved" is around 33MB and the remainder is roughly what 3 months mail looks like.

Hope this helps...
 
S

Sam Vimes

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Sep 7, 2020
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Most POP services and clients have an option to leave messages on the server to allow access from different machines. My preferences is to not have this and download to my workstation to remove a potential security risk of someone else accessing my email account.

The only time I use IMAP is on my phone and laptop which is useful when travelling. When home and I fire up the workstation all emails get dumped onto that. The only problem is that sent emails from the phone/laptop don't get downloaded but I don't have a problem with that.
 
J

JTQ

May 7, 2005
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With POP set deleting emails from the remote server and then leaving them in the machine that plucked them, it then would present you with having to be extra careful in your backup practices.
 
S

Sam Vimes

Moderator
Sep 7, 2020
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No need to be extra careful as its just part of my normal backup procedure. I use external hard drives for that purpose.
 
Buckman

Buckman

Jul 18, 2017
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Guzzilazz said:
POP (Post Office Protocol) is a protocol from the stone age (i.e. MS-DOS) and as I recall pre-dates even http. IMAP is much more recent and better at coping with the much greater range of requirements such as dealing with multiple devices accessing the same email account -e.g. PC, laptop, tablet and phone.

I have 3 personal email accounts (my main one with a personal unique domain name, a hotmail one, and a gmail) plus a shared gmail account for a sports club service for which I am responsible.

The difference with POP is that the individual email items are downloaded to you local mailbox and removed from the server. IMAP is a server based store which synchronises with any of the signed in devices. So, with a POP mail, you login to your email on a PC, that mail disappears from the server so is not available to any of the other devices connected to the account. IMAP has a mirror copy of the mailbox on each of the devices which means that the item is still available to the other devices unless one of the devices actually deletes the item.

I manage my 4 mailboxes through Outlook (again a user since Office version 4,3). My desktop PC runs a mail washing software which deals with spam - moving it to the spam folder on each account - and also manages Archiving.

One of the things people need to realise is that if you just let mail pile up in your mailbox, it gets bigger and bigger, and loading takes longer and longer (my wife has AOL mail that includes messages that are 20 years old).

So, with archiving I set it to run daily, and delete items in most folders when the item is older than a month. HOWEVER... there are some emails you don't want to delete, so I set up a Subfolder in Inbox called Saved Email, and have now divided that down with specific folders for (e.g.) Insurance, car, car insurance, holidays, etc,etc,etc.

My main mailbox is 191MB... of which "saved" is around 33MB and the remainder is roughly what 3 months mail looks like.

Hope this helps...
Click to expand...
Thanks for the advice and input. As mentioned in an earlier post, I have no intention of having email on my phone or any banking details. which is why POP probably is the best option for me. I only have one account and do not see any reason to have any other accounts. After all, for over 40 years of my life I successful managed without emails, text or the need to carry a phone with me. (y) :worried:
 
J

JTQ

May 7, 2005
4,040
1,774
20,935
Sam Vimes said:
No need to be extra careful as its just part of my normal backup procedure. I use external hard drives for that purpose.
Click to expand...
As I am, but having been called in our circle, several times to help others with their PC issues, I am aware most of these don't have that disciplined approach.
 
GUMPY

GUMPY

Dec 27, 2022
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Guzzilazz said:
POP (Post Office Protocol) is a protocol from the stone age (i.e. MS-DOS) and as I recall pre-dates even http.
Click to expand...
Stone age protocol was SMTP, sadly I remember when POP3 was the new kid on the block and we all thought how wonderful it was compared to SMTP.
 
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