IMAP and POP

I've been searching around but still have questions about these

So, the major difference is that IMAP is newer and keeps the email client and the email server data synced?

So if I use IMAP, and I download my emails..but then delete those emails on my computer...would that delete the emails on the email server?

Which one should I use if I just want to back up all my emails onto my computer? Like, I'm not going to use windows mail to check email, I'm just going to use it to download a copy of all of emails on my computer.

Thanks in advance,
Freelancer

 

the main difference is that with imap, you access/manage your emails on the server, whereas with pop, you download them to your computer.

imap allows you to synchronize your desktop client with the server. any changes you make in the desktop client (e.g., deleting emails) will be propagated to the server, and vice versa. with pop, communication goes in only one direction (server --> client). it's like you're working with files on your machine. nothing you do on your machine is going to have an effect on the master file on the server.

you can back up your emails with imap clients as well.

i personally don't have any reason to use pop.

 

So if I delete emails on my email client through IMAP...it'll delete those emails from my email server? :/