Sandi, POP3 and IMAP differer in both how they work behind the scenes as well as how they appear within your email client of choice. POP3 allows you to request a download of your email messages from the server to your email client. Although you can set up your client to repeat this process at set intervals (most clients do this automatically) or to manually download your messages at any time, each request is handled separately and no further client-server communication is necessary for those messages already downloaded. By default, all clients will then send a signal to the server telling it to delete any messages that have been received by the client, but this can be changed within the client's options area. So basically, POP3 grabs up your email from the server and then the server is cleared when it's done. Note that Gmail's Spam folder and its contents are not included in these POP3 downloads. IMAP, on the other hand, establishes a constant connection between the email client and the server. Whe you fire up your email client, it immediately tries to let the server know that it's active and ready. The two of them then begin a process of 'comparing notes' to see what changes have been made to both since the last time they were connected. If there are any "new" messages on the server, those will be sent to the client. If there are any "old" messages that are now missing on the client (those you deleted), they will also be wiped from the server's collection. If you create a new folder within your client and move some messages to it, those changes will also be duplicated on the server. If you go into the online webmail interface (instead of your client) and make those changes, they'll also show up within your email client the next time you "Syncronize" your client with the server. So, by using IMAP, you're able to see and manipulate everything that is sitting on the email server while still using your own favorite email client (and vice versa). Note that I'm not sure whether or not Gmail's Spam folder and its contents are included since I only use POP3 for my Gmail accounts and have not tried their IMAP offering. Peace, Gman "The only dumb questions are the ones we fail to ask" ----- Original Message ----- From: "Sandi Beach" <sandib2@xxxxxxxxx> To: <pctechtalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Friday, September 26, 2008 11:58 AM Subject: -=PCTechTalk=- Re: Sandi's port settings > Lil, I printed off your instructions and then went looking to see what I > had > done. I had instructed gmail be forwarded to my dialup address so once I > don't have that, it won't work any more. I do have IMAP enabled. > So, I guess it is a good thing I copied off your instructions in order to > get all gmail accounts to come into Outlook Express once I am disconnected > from dialup. > Thank you so very much. > Sandi --------------------------------------------------------------- Please remember to trim your replies (including this sentence and everything below it) and adjust the subject line as necessary. To unsubscribe or change your email settings: //www.freelists.org/webpage/pctechtalk To access our Archives: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PCTechTalk/messages/ //www.freelists.org/archives/pctechtalk/ To contact only the PCTT Mod Squad, write to: pctechtalk-moderators@xxxxxxxxxxxxx To join the PCTableTalk off-topic group, send a blank email to: pctabletalk+subscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ---------------------------------------------------------------