What is the difference between pop3 and imap4?

Answer 1

The short answer is that IMAP can do everything that POP3 is capable of plus it allows you to create folders on our servers where your email is received and stored, as opposed to only on a client machine with POP3. Using IMAP, you create a single folder organization for storing your email, and any IMAP client (from any machine you use) will see that same structure. If you check email from several different machines, you see the same folder structure and messages from each machine. And, if you choose to have copies of your email on your home computer similar to POP3, IMAP allows you to synchronize your home computer with your email on our servers by pulling a copy of your email onto your local machine. Unlike POP3, your messages won't tend to get scattered among the various machines you use to check email.