# IMAP v. POP

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imap-v-pop/49085>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 9, 2001, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imap-v-pop/49085 "2001-01-09T00:51:16Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Chickenhead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7cd45c/32.png) [@Chickenhead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chickenhead)\
**Post date:** [January 9, 2001, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imap-v-pop/49085/1 "2001-01-09T00:51:16Z")

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My university uses IMAP for e-mail. When I’m on my computer, I access my e-mail with Netscape messenger. Great. But I’m going to Europe this semester.

The university has a web-based mail portal that is unbelievably terrible. It is just bad. Terrible. I can use Telnet for PINE, but that program is also a pain.

So, my e-mail is presently forwarded to a Hotmail address. Now, Hotmail lets you check POP accounts. Can Hotmail check an [imap.blah.com](http://imap.blah.com) address? Can it send from [smtp.blah.com](http://smtp.blah.com)? (I have a feeling that the answer is no, but I want to make sure.) Hotmail talks only about POP, and I read on a site that IMAP is a superset of POP. Thanks.

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**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\
**Post date:** [January 9, 2001, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imap-v-pop/49085/2 "2001-01-09T03:30:28Z")

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Unless your university does not allow incoming IMAP connections from outside the network, why not just use Netscape to get your mail from Europe?

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**Author:** ![Chickenhead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7cd45c/32.png) [@Chickenhead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chickenhead)\
**Post date:** [January 9, 2001, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imap-v-pop/49085/3 "2001-01-09T05:46:31Z")

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I’ll be reading the mail in internet cafes where I won’t be able to configure mail programs, etc. I’m not stressing over this issue; the forwarded mail to a web program works ine, I was just wondering.

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**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\
**Post date:** [January 9, 2001, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imap-v-pop/49085/4 "2001-01-09T13:45:22Z")

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Our campus uses IMAP, but students can use POP if they wish. I don’t know if the system has to be configured for both, but you should be asking your campus I&TS department, not us.

Hotmail will read POP accounts, but it won’t let you send from another account. That’s too great a temptation for spamers.