News sites for the last couple of days have been excited that gmail is now offering access to their email via IMAP (instead of the poopy POP3 connection). I'm overjoyed.
They created updated help documents on their website and even made a youtube video detailing how to go about setting it up for IMAP. First, you log in, then you go to the settings, then you're supposed to click a link labeled "Fowarding and POP/IMAP". Problem is, my settings only say "Forwarding and POP" with no mention of IMAP either in the link or in the settings page once I go to it.
Has anyone gotten IMAP to work on their gmail accounts this week?
posted
I read that they're rolling it out over several days or so. Not everyone will get IMAP at the same time.
Posts: 9945 | Registered: Sep 2002
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posted
Okay, not to sound like a complete noob, but what exactly is IMAP, and how is it different than POP?
Posts: 1789 | Registered: Jul 2003
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IMAP and POP are both protocols for accessing email. The neat thing with IMAP is that it facilitates accessing email from several different devices.
Here's an example. Using POP, I would check my email on my phone, which would mark it as read. Under some POP settings, downloading an email to one device deletes the mail from the server. I usually opt to leave it ON the server so that, if I have a long reply to send, I can reply using my computer instead of my phone. However, when I go to the computer, mail that I read on my phone is still marked as unread on the PC.
IMAP is much neater. If I read it on the phone, it's marked as 'read' on the server and on all devices that access my mail over IMAP. If I delete the mail on the pc, it's deleted from the server (and when my phone syncs up with the server, it's deleted from my phone too).
But wait! That's not all!
Using IMAP, I can create folders for my emails that are stored on the server. "Work" "Personal" "Vacation plan", etc.... Again, if I move an email to a folder on one device, it's changed universally. Additionally, those folders are accessible from all devices.
Overall, IMAP is (imho) a much more modern and intelligent approach to email, particularly for those like me, who access email from their phone, their work computer, and their home computer.
Posts: 1099 | Registered: Apr 2005
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