Differences and complementarities between SMTP and IMAP

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3. Application scenarios
It is widely used in the field of email transmission services, covering personal mailboxes, corporate mailboxes, and automated email notification systems. Enterprises can use SMTP to send important information and notifications to employee mailboxes.


2. IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol)
IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) plays a vital role in the email system. It is mainly used to receive emails and manage users' email mailboxes, allowing users to synchronize email data between email clients and email servers.


1. Working Principle
(1) Connection establishment: The client establishes a TCP/IP connection with the IMAP server. The default port is 143. If SSL encryption is used, the port is 993.
​ (2) User identity authentication: The client authenticates the server south africa telegram number database with the user name and password.
​ (3) Email synchronization: The client downloads email header information from the server. The user can choose to view, download or delete specific emails.
​ (4) Status update: The IMAP server updates the email status (read, unread, marked, etc.) in real time and synchronizes the updated content to all client devices.


2. Features
(1) Server-side storage of emails: Unlike POP3, the IMAP protocol supports server-side storage of emails, so users can access the same email content on different devices.
(2) Status synchronization: Supports email status synchronization, so users can see the same email status on different client devices.
(3) Flexible management: Allows users to create, delete, and manage email folders, making it easier to classify and organize emails. In addition, IMAP also supports SSL/TLS encryption to ensure the security of email transmission.


3. Application scenarios
Applicable to various scenarios of email management and access, such as daily management of corporate mailboxes and viewing and sorting of emails by individual users. Employees can use IMAP clients to connect to corporate mailbox servers to view, sort and search emails, thereby improving work efficiency.