Helping people with computers... one answer at a time.
POP, POP3, and SMTP are all acronyms that you might see used when talking about configuring email. We'll look at what they mean and how they relate.
What is POP? Or POP3? Or a POP account? And what about SMTP?
•
POP3 is one half of the email puzzle and SMTP is the other. POP3 is the protocol or "language" that's used to download your email from your ISP to your mail program. SMTP is the protocol used to send mail.
But why POP? Or 3? And what are you supposed to enter when you're asked to configure your POP3 or SMTP account in your email client?
•
POP is pretty simple; that's an acronym for Post Office Protocol. A communications "protocol" is just the language used between your email program, a POP client, and your ISP's mail - or POP - server.
The "3" is even more boring. This is version three of the POP protocol. It underwent a few revisions before it became what it is today.
To configure a POP account, you need three pieces of information:
The name of your ISP's mail server that holds your email. Typically, it's something like "mail.example.com".
The name of the account that you were assigned by your ISP. This may or may not be your email name, or something like it. Or something completely unrelated.
The password to your account.
That's it. With that properly configured, you can download the email that your ISP has been collecting on your behalf.
Sending mail uses a different protocol, SMTP, which stands for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. Again, another language used between your email program, an SMTP client, and the SMTP server to which you will send your email.
Typically, your SMTP server will be the same as your POP3 server, although that's not always the case. If so, it doesn't really imply that the two are related, just that the same machine is acting as a server for both protocols.
Like POP3, the SMTP server may require you to log in first, often with the same account information that the POP3 server used. (If it doesn't require you to authenticate somehow, it's called an "open relay" and may be a major contributor to internet spam.)
So to configure your outgoing mail, you'll specify the name of the outgoing server and possibly the login information it will use.
And finally, note that all of this really applies only to email programs that you run on your own computer, like Outlook, Eudora, and others. Web-based email, such as Hotmail, Yahoo, and the like, simply display the email directly from their servers in your web browser - no configuration needed, other than logging in.
Article C2143 * July 29, 2004 « »
Leo A. Notenboom has been playing with computers since he
was required to take a programming class in 1976. An 18 year career as a programmer at Microsoft soon followed.
After "retiring" in 2001, Leo started Ask Leo! in 2003 as a place for answers
to common computer and technical questions. More about Leo.
October 11, 2012 4:46 PM
I can't open my email at excite.com and am trying to have it sent to my gmail account. I don't seem to be having a lot of luck. Any suggestions?
October 21, 2012 8:20 PM
I've been using Thunderbird email for several years with my local ISP. I now have Thunderbird opening all my email without any command from me. how can that happen and how can this be remedied?
Thank You!
October 21, 2012 11:43 PM
@Robert
To turn this feature off, click on "Tools" then "Account settings". Select "Server settings" for the account you want to change and deselect the checkboxes for "Check for messages at startup" and "Check for messages every xxx minutes"
April 10, 2013 9:12 AM
where you find this content very handy for me
April 11, 2013 11:38 AM
In computing, the Post Office Protocol (POP) is an application-layer Internet standard protocol used by local e-mail clients to retrieve e-mail from a remote server over a TCP/IP connection.