Protocols that are commonly used in retrieving e-mails

Protocols that are commonly used in retrieving e-mails

Hi

the most common Email Protocols are: IMAP, MAPI,POP3, SMTP, and HTTP
Below is a brief definition for each one.

IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol):
When using this protocol, the received mails are kept in the internet server, and only a small data amount is transferred, its only when you want to read your email, this last will be transferred to you, this make this protocol suitable for low speed internet connections.

MAPI (messaging application programming interface)
MAPI is a non stander protocol developed by Microsoft; it works only with MS Outlook with Exchange servers.

POP3 (Post Office Protocol 3):
At the contrary of IMAP, when using POP, your emails are downloaded to you computer, you can always configure it to leave a copy of your emails in the servers, obviously, with this protocol, the amount data transferred to you computer is much bigger.

SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol):
As its name indicates, this protocol is used only to transfer (send) emails to the destination server.

HTTP Protocol:
At last, the HTTP protocol, which is not a pure email protocol, but still can be used to reach you email box, and it can be used both to send and receive massages, as example, when using Hotmail, you are using this protocol.

Thank you