Information required to configure POP3/IMAP Client

Information required to configure POP3/IMAP Client

You will need to collect following details from your E-Mail/Hosting Service provider irrespective of which e-mail client you want to configure (e.g. Outlook Express, Microsoft Office Outlook, Mozilla Thunderbird etc.)

Your e-mail address

Incoming mail (POP3, IMAP) Server Host Address

This is the address of incoming mail server associated with your domain through which you will fetch your incoming mail. Incoming server is the place where e-mail arrive and gets stored in your mailbox. You can access your mailbox through various services such as POP3/IMAP/POP3S/IMAPS/Webmail.

Service through which you want to access your mailbox

Post Office Protocol v3 (POP3 – 110) port

Post Office Protocol (POP3) is the service through which you can fetch your e-mails using any POP3 compatible e-mail client. The POP3 server listens on TCP port 110 by default, however you need to check with your e-mail service provider if POP3 is running on any other custom port. POP3 is the plain text protocol where communication between client and POP3 Server including authentication process is carried through plain text only. To know more about POP3 please visit POP3 Client-Server Communication.

Post Office Protocol Secure v3 (POP3S – 995) port

Secure Post Office Protocol (POP3S) is the service through which you can fetch your e-mail using any POP3S compatible e-mail client. The POP3S server listens on TCP port 995 by default, however you need to check with your e-mail service provider if POP3S is running on any other custom port. POP3S is a secure protocol where all the traffic between client and POP3S server is encrypted using the SSL certificate.

Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP – 143) port

Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) is the service through you can access your e-mail on remote mail server. In IMAP unlike POP3 no mails are downloaded physically permanently but the local cache of mails/folder structure on remote server is shown to the user which can be downloaded on demand. An IMAP server listens on TCP port 143 by default, however you need to check with your e-mail service provider if an IMAP service listening on any other custom port.

Internet Message Access Protocol Secure (IMAPS – 993) port

Secure Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAPS) is the service through you can access your email on remote mail server. In IMAPS unlike POP3S no mails are downloaded permanently but the local cache of mails/folder structure on remote server is shown to the user which can be downloaded on demand. An IMAPS server listens on TCP port 993 by default, however you need to check with your e-mail service provider if an IMAP service listening on any other custom port.

Outgoing mail (SMTP) Server Host Address

This is the address of outgoing mail server associated with your domain through which you can send mail either through SMTP or SMTPS. Here it must be noted that unlike Incoming mail server you are not forced to use the Outgoing mail server provided by your e-mail service provider but you can also use different outgoing mail server either provided by your ISP or some other provider, provided that the server allows relaying for your domain.

Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP – 25) port

 A SMTP is the service through which you can send e-mail which by default listens on TCP port 25, however no a days to reduce spam many Internet Service Providers are blocking communication on default SMTP port, so to tackle this issues many hosting service providers are providing alternate TCP port (like 26 and 587 etc.) to access SMTP server on. A SMTP is also a plain text protocol where all traffic between client and server flows in plain text mode only.

Simple Mail Transfer Protocol Secured (SMTPS – 465) port

 A SMTPS is the service through which you can send e-mail which by default listens on TCP port 465, however you need to check with your e-mail service provider if a SMTPS server is listening on any other custom port. A SMTPS is also a SSL encrypted protocol where all traffic between client and server flows in encrypted mode.

Your e-mail account’s user name and password

Username and password to access your mailbox

Whether your outgoing server requires authentication (SMTP Authentication is required)

To reduce spam now a days all SMTP/SMTPS servers requires user to authenticate before sending mail.