How does pop, imap, smtp and exchange work?

If you use email hosting then you are probably familiar with the different mail protocols.You have pop, imap, smtp and exchange but what exactly does this mean?

In this blogpost we are going to discuss what these protocols do and what the advantages and disadvantages are.

POP

POP stands for Post Office Protocol and it is a protocol that allows you to retrieve mail from the server.The protocol is so called because it is similar to going to the post office.

You then go to the post office and request your mail and then leave again, the same thing is done by the server.

The server connects to the server and then the server checks to see if there are any new messages for you.

If you have new mail then you will see it appear in your inbox.After you have retrieved the messages it will be removed from the server and stored locally.

This way you only connect to the server for a very short time so you can also read your mail offline.Also on the server your mailbox will be much less likely to get full.

A disadvantage is that it can sometimes take a while before you actually see a mail in your inbox.Often this will not take very long, generally this is up to half an hour.

POP is fortunately easy to set up in your preferred mail program.You can use pop.mijnhostingpartner.nl with port 110.

POP is recommended if you want the mail on 1 computer because it is stored locally.If you want this on multiple devices then you can use IMAP.

IMAP

IMAP stands for Internet Message Access Protocol and is suitable if you want to access the mail on multiple devices.With the IMAP protocol you connect to the server and the data from the server is then displayed in your inbox.

If you use this protocol you are actually constantly connected to the server.The advantage of this is that you actually almost always receive your mail immediately when you are connected to the server.

Especially if you use multiple devices this is the best solution you can use.For example, if you take a laptop to your customers you can just reply to your mail.

Another advantage is that if you create a folder within your mailbox that it is also available on other devices.Everything is the same on each mailbox because this is further synchronized with the mailbox.

A disadvantage is that if you have no internet connection you also have no access to your mailbox.Also, your mailbox will fill up faster, luckily you can adjust the size of your mailbox on our hosting.

SMTP

Not only collecting but also sending messages is just as important.Nowadays the SMTP protocol is used for this.

SMTP stands for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol and is used to send mails from your mail program.This protocol has been around for quite some time and therefore without extra security there is a chance your mails will be unsecured or seen as spam.

To make this more secure you can, for example, enable your connection over TLS, you can set this up in your mail program.In Outlook, select StartTLS when setting up your mail account.

For the outgoing server you can use port 587 instead of 25.

If you have done this you will be able to send your mails a lot safer, however, there is still a chance your mails will end up in the spam folder.You can activate DKIM for this purpose.

DKIM stands for Domain Keys Identified Mail and adds an extra check when sending mails.An extra signature is added so the receiving party can see that the mail really comes from you.

Exchange

Exchange is a piece of software from Microsoft and is made to synchronize all your mail software on all your devices.This is made possible by making Outlook available in an online environment.

This environment will continue to work on any device you have Exchange set up on.Not only your mail is synchronized here but also your calendar, appointments and your contacts.

If you want optimal mail for your business then it is also advisable to use exchange.The only disadvantage is that there are additional costs involved.

Fortunately this is not much and for a 5GB mailbox you pay 3.99 ex VAT per month.Exchange is supported on almost every mail program so you don't have to worry about this.

If you have any questions you can always check if there is a chat employee present.If no one is available you can create a ticket using our ticket system.Contact via Facebook or Twitter is also possible.