With IMAP when you open your email client the e-mail is there for you to read. But it won't actually download from the server until you click on it. It's the clicking and opening of the email that downloads it from the server. As noted, the reason for this is so you may see the email from elsewhere on the net.
POP emails actually need to be downloaded to your PC before you can read them. Once downloaded, they are no longer available to be seen on the server (unless you enable to option to keep a copy on the server.
In the end, the main difference between POP and IMAP is POP mail needs to be downloaded to be read, whereas IMAP doesn't. This is turn allows IMAP to be seen from any device using that email account. It also allows email to be sync'd to other devices - you can open many devices with that same email account and see those emails (as long as they aren't deleted from the server).
Hope this clarifies/helps :)
Yes it helps a lot, thank you. I had it all wrong in my mind how this all works.
First and foremost (again, to be clear)... what email app? What version (365, 2019, 2021)? Desktop or phone app?
1) My "webmail" is actually webmail.spectrum.net (not TWC as I said)
2) Windows Mail on Vista PC (old PC) and is POP
3) Outlook as part of MS Office 2021 on new Win 11 Pro (new PC) is IMAP
4) iPhone mail app (is POP)
Also, you say... "TWC.com web server email account is currently 10% full." and... Inbox on TWC.com inbox is completely empty. (Local folders in TWC inbox still have mail). Am I to assume the server side of the "inbox" is empty, while the local folders file on the client (your PC) is has mail in it? If so, is this account using IMAP or POP? If POP, do you have "leave copies on the server" option checked either on server or client side?
My webmail, webmail.spectrum.net is ~10% full. Its inbox is empty, but there are local folders I created (in Outlook) - I move emails from the Outlook inbox to specific folders in Outlook (I never realized creating local folders in Outlook would also create the same local folders the webmail). Webmail has the option checked to move deleted items to trash (as opposed to permanent delete). No mention of keep a copy on server in webmail. Spectrum says they do not keep copies of emails that have been retrieved by clients. Nothing mentioning leave copies in Outlook (that I see).
Whie it was (is?) possible to have an account with both POP and IMAP, this can cause issues and thus most email clients will have you choose one or the other when setting up an account. Additionally, most ISP providers will require you use one or the other per their setup instructions to insure the account functions properly per protocol.
That said, and given your issues, I'd also suggest you check with your email provider to insure you're using the correct settings per the account, as this "could" also be why you're having issues.
I'm learning, first hand, the misery of mixing POP & IMAP. At least w/a little knowledge now I can at least cope & implement a plan of what to do and NOT to do.
Spectrum refuses to do anything but point to their web page showing IMAP settings. They no longer will discuss POP settings, and REFUSE to talk email clients at all.
Some observation s from my experiments:
1) Webmail & IMAP (Outlook) "monkey see monkey do" each other. Read an email (or mark it read) in Outlook & the webmail marks it read, and vice versa.
2) Delete an email on the webmail (goes to trash) and same email in my Outlook inbox gets deleted (gets moved to trash), and vice versa. This applies to ALL emails, read, unread, and double-clicked ('downloaded?').
3) The emails in the webmail inbox remain there even if I send/receive in Outlook to 'retrieve them' to my Outlook inbox.
3)
The horror: when I have unread, read, or even 'double-clicked' emails in both the webmail inbox and Outlook inbox, as soon as I open and send/receive the Vista Win Mail POP client the emails appear in the POP client inbox.
AND at the same time
DISAPPEAR from the inboxes of both webmail & Outlook. I does Not matter whether they are unread, read, or 'double clicked' - they are just gone. (I guess that's part of the IMAP & POP not playing nice w/each other.
I'm slowly learning, from you wise folks here. It's painful. It's maddening. But I guess I'm learning how things work and what Not to do.
OK I dug into the Vista Win Mail POP client and saw two things that may have an impact:
1) pop-server properties, General: "Include this account when receiving mail or synchronizing" is CHECKED.
2) pop-server properties, Advanced: "Leave a copy of messages on server" is UNCHECKED.
What are your recommendations? (I don't get the 1st, and kinda feel checking the 2nd would solve my disappearing IMAP emails). How embarrassing.
