Backup email IMAP OR POP what difference? [closed]

IMAP is a protocol for accessing electronic messages, commonly used in webmail or with some client correctly configured. It has an interesting feature that messages are stored on the server and the protocol allows them to be managed by providing access to folders and messages. Message searches are performed directly on the server and you can still share message storage space between multiple mailboxes. A disadvantage lies in the fact that it is always necessary to access the server to access the messages, as they are not downloaded. Another is that the storage space and thus, how many messages can be saved, depends on the server, since the emails are not stored locally.

POP3 is an older protocol and is used in remote access to an email box. This protocol allows the transfer of e-mails from the remote box to local storage on a computer. Each time an agent wants to fetch e-mails from the remote mailbox, it must connect to the server, authenticate and transfer messages one-by-one, which usually causes the message to be erased from the server. After this process, the connection to the server is undone and the user can read or perform any action with their emails locally.

MailStore Home is a backup tool for the email box. It works with both the IMAP protocol and with POP3. Locaweb has a tutorial for using this software for the backup of the email box here . The use of the IMAP protocol, given its conception of keeping files on the server unless an explicit delete command is given by the user, by itself, is safer in any case.

IMAP and POP are two communication protocols commonly used for e-mail exchange.

In the IMAP protocol, the application that uses it, connects to the e-mail server and synchronizes the messages in real time, making it possible to receive messages (emails) without having to reconnect or give a flush on the connection. This protocol is the most used nowadays, since it is increasingly common for users to access their mailbox from VARIOUS different places. (Using webmail, apps, smartphones etc).

In the POP protocol, the application that uses it, connects to the mail server, downloads all messages, and closes the connection. So it is not possible to receive messages in real time, since only a "copy" of the emails of the server was created and the application is working with these copies offline. The POP protocol is a bit older and is increasingly being disabled. (Obviously there are still applications that use it - it depends a lot on business rules.)

Now it's up to you to decide how you want to connect to your email server.

If you want to know more information about this subject. There are plenty of articles on the internet about this. But as you commented on locaweb, I suggest you read this this