{"id":3365,"date":"2022-02-24T11:27:52","date_gmt":"2022-02-24T11:27:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wpx.net\/kb\/?post_type=ht_kb&#038;p=3365"},"modified":"2026-01-08T10:33:00","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T10:33:00","slug":"email-protocols-pop3-smtp-and-imap","status":"publish","type":"ht_kb","link":"https:\/\/wpx.net\/kb\/email-protocols-pop3-smtp-and-imap\/","title":{"rendered":"Stuck With Annoying Email Protocols, SMTP, POP3 &amp; Ports? Let&#8217;s Get Unstuck."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>UPDATED: JANUARY 8 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In this article, we will explain the most commonly used email protocols. Each of these protocols has a different role and work function.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Both IMAP and POP3 are used for receiving emails, while SMTP is the protocol used for sending emails. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Post Office Protocol version 3 (POP3).<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Post Office Protocol version 3 (POP3) is a standard protocol used to receive emails. Using POP3 <strong>will download the emails to your local device<\/strong> before displaying them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>You may have the following issues using POP3 for receiving emails:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>You need to download all emails again when using another desktop PC to check your email.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>You may get confused if you need to check your email both in the office and at home.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The downloaded email may be deleted from the server depending on the settings of your email client.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">POP3 default Ports.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The POP3 protocol works on the following two ports:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Port 110<\/strong> \u2013   non-encrypted port;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Port 995<\/strong> \u2013 this is the port you need to use if you want to connect using POP3 securely.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP).<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) protocol reads the emails directly from the server using your local mail client.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Since email is kept on the server, it would gain the following benefits by using IMAP for receiving emails:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>No need to download all emails when using another desktop PC to check your email.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It&#8217;s easier to identify the unread email. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">IMAP default Ports.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The IMAP protocol works on the following two ports:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Port 143<\/strong> \u2013  IMAP non-encrypted port;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Port 993<\/strong> \u2013 this is the port you need to use if you want to connect using IMAP securely.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What is the difference between IMAP and POP3?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>If we put the differences between POP3 and IMAP side by side, we recommend using IMAP over POP3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-ht-blocks-tabs wp-block-hb-tabs\"><ul class=\"wp-block-hb-tabs__nav\" role=\"tablist\"><li class=\"wp-block-hb-tabs__head\" data-tab=\"tabs-0\" data-hb-tabs-tab--state=\"active\"><span class=\"wp-block-hb-tabs__head_item\" for=\"tab0\">POP3<\/span><\/li><li class=\"wp-block-hb-tabs__head\" data-tab=\"tabs-1\" data-hb-tabs-tab--state=\"inactive\"><span class=\"wp-block-hb-tabs__head_item\" for=\"tab1\">IMAP<\/span><\/li><\/ul><div id=\"tabs-0\" class=\"wp-block-hb-tabs__content\" role=\"tabpanel\" data-hb-tabs-tab--state=\"active\"><p>1. All messages, as well as their attachments, will be downloaded to a desktop PC during the \u2018check new email\u2019 process.<br>2. Mailboxes can only be created on desktop PC. There is only one mailbox (INBOX) exists on the server.<br>3. Filters can transfer incoming\/outgoing messages only to local mailboxes.<br>4. Outgoing email is stored only locally on the desktop PC.<br>5. Messages are deleted on the desktop PC. Comparatively, it is inconvenient to clean up your mailbox on the server.<br>6. Messages may be reloaded onto a desktop PC several times due to the corruption of system files.<br><\/p><\/div><div id=\"tabs-1\" class=\"wp-block-hb-tabs__content\" role=\"tabpanel\" data-hb-tabs-tab--state=\"inactive\"><p>1. A whole message will be downloaded only when it is opened for display from its content.<br>2. Multiple mailboxes can be created on the desktop PC as well as on the server.<br>3. Filters can transfer incoming\/outgoing&nbsp;messages to other mailboxes no matter where the mailboxes are located (on the server or the PC).<br>4. Outgoing email can be filtered to a mailbox on the server for accessibility from another machine.<br>5. Messages can be deleted directly on the server to make it more convenient to clean up your mailbox on the server.<br>6. The occurrence of reloading messages from the server to the PC is much less when compared to POP3.<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP).<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) is the standard protocol for <strong>sending emails<\/strong> across the Internet.  This protocol allows applications to transmit email messages over the Internet. Your email client connects to your mail server via SMTP and sends the messages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">SMTP default Ports.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The SMTP protocol works on the following two ports:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Port 25<\/strong> \u2013 this is the default SMTP non-encrypted port.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Port 465<\/strong> \u2013 this is the port used if you want to send messages using SMTP securely.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Have more questions? Contact the WPX Support Team through the live chat widget in the bottom-right corner, and they\u2019ll assist you promptly, typically within 30 seconds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>UPDATED: JANUARY 8 2026 In this article, we will explain the most commonly used email protocols. Each of these protocols has a different role and work function. Both IMAP and POP3 are used for receiving emails, while SMTP is the protocol used for sending emails. Post Office Protocol version 3&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":2,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"ht-kb-category":[77],"ht-kb-tag":[],"class_list":["post-3365","ht_kb","type-ht_kb","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","ht_kb_category-email-configuration"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpx.net\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ht-kb\/3365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpx.net\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ht-kb"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpx.net\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/ht_kb"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpx.net\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpx.net\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3365"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/wpx.net\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ht-kb\/3365\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14131,"href":"https:\/\/wpx.net\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ht-kb\/3365\/revisions\/14131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpx.net\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"ht_kb_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpx.net\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ht-kb-category?post=3365"},{"taxonomy":"ht_kb_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpx.net\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ht-kb-tag?post=3365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}