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Solution

POP3 stands for “Post Office Protocol” version 3 and is a way to download e-mails from mailboxes. It can display, download and delete mails.

Your mailserver is continuously connected to the Internet and receives e-mails for you. These mails are stored in a mailbox. You connect to that mailbox through a mail client like Thunderbird or MS Outlook and download the e-mails to your PC or smartphone. Normally POP3 deletes all messages that have been downloaded from the mailbox afterwards.

The advantage of POP3 is its simplicity where you do not need toworry about folder configurations on the server. As all mails are downloaded to your computer you will only need a small online mailbox, and that mailbox cannot overflow when you download mails regularly. You may never need to expand it either. POP3 makes you independent from technical failures at the provider, and you will keep all your mails should the provider quit his business or turn servers of for other reasons.

The disadvantage is, that e-mails can only be managed on a single system. You can keep a copy of downloaded mails on the server, but in comparison to IMAP where all users always see the latest version of edited and sent mails, POP3 only allows other clients to download the same and maybe outdated version again.

Overview of frequently asked questions