TAKE NOTE:
SALESTRONICS HOSTING ONLY SUPPORTS POP HOSTED EMAIL ACCOUNTS… the reason being that our hosting packages are disk usage dependent and the use of IMAP will result in disk over usage charges of about R 20.00 per 1Gig that’s exceeding the disk space allocation of the hosting package you’re subscribed for which also take your web page disk space into account.
POP vs IMAP – What’s the difference?
POP and IMAP are two methods/protocols that can be used to access/send/retrieve emails and unabbreviated stands for Post Office Protocol and Internet Message Access Protocol.
If you use more than one device to retrieve your emails for example desktop/laptop & mobile phone, then IMAP will be your best choice of configuration. This method however requires you to strictly watch out for disk over usage on your hosting account since both send/receive/deleted emails remain stored on the hosting server.
The use of the POP email retrieve option will always result in the download of all, or part of the emails stored on the hosting server and reduce the risk of disk over usage. Typical users of POP will be those making use of only one device/computer to download their emails directly to their local internal storage (hard disk). If a POP configured email user is set to access email on more than one device (desktop, laptop, tablet or phone), their mailboxes will not synchronise.
IMAP is the most modern and widely used protocol, which can synchronise download and upload email data with the hosting server whereas the POP protocol is a download only protocol and thus will not be able to upload data to a server. IMAP can synchronise advanced permissions and other folders and is also able to distinguish between already read/opened mail from device to device.
Best use scenario for POP Accounts:
Best use scenario when disk usage on the server needs to be used sparingly and when emails can be backed up locally on the local device and server backups are not as important. Also when synchronisation of folders from the local device to the server and with other devices is not a requirement.
Pros of POP:
POP account is suitable if you want to send and receive your emails through one device, since emails are downloaded and usually removed from the server. You don’t risk disk over usage charges on your hosting account and also have better send/receive performance results on weaker internet connections.
Cons of POP:
Data loss is possible if you use one device and that device gets stolen or corrupted, as the emails will already be removed/downloaded from the server. The hosting server makes daily backups which can be used to recover emails but only emails available on the server at the time the backup was made, can be restored. In the POP configuration set up your mail client can be set to leave a copy of messages on the server for longer (more days), but synchronisation of sent emails is not possible since all emails in the sent folder need to be backed up locally.
Best use scenario for IMAP Accounts:
Best use scenario is when you want to synchronise/mirror an image of your emails and folders on the hosting server with multiple devices, when the increased disk usage on the hosting server is not as much of a concern. It’s also an option for when reliance on the host’s backup system is more convenient than backing up the email account’s content locally. It must also be remembered that the backup system of any host is also not 100% guaranteed.
Pros of IMAP:
The use of IMAP means that all email and folders are synchronised and stored on the server i.e. they will appear the same each time you set the same account up with IMAP on a different device. If the data stored on your device gets corrupted, formatted or if your device gets stolen, your emails will still be available on the hosting server.
Cons of IMAP:
The use of IMAP means that your disk usage on the hosting server builds up quickly depending on the volume of emails received/sent and you will need to continuously remove unwanted emails to control server disk usage.
Changing between POP/IMAP protocols:
When changing between POP/IMAP protocols you will need to keep a few basic steps in mind for example you need to make a local backup of the emails currently on the device. If IMAP was in use, then ensure that the emails being backed up include the full email body content as well as the attachment.
Once done, you remove the current account and recreate the new account by selecting the new protocol accordingly. Import or “drag and drop” the locally backed up emails and folders into the newly created account. If the newly selected protocol is the IMAP protocol, you will need to allow some time for the newly imported emails to re-synchronised (upload) to the server.
Email Backups:
The hosting server’s backup system makes daily email backups, which are kept for 14 days meaning that all emails on the server at the time of a backup will be available for restore for 14 days.
Should you wish to request an email backup restore, please send an email request to the support email address of your host. You’d have to mention the domain name, the email accounts/folders you would like to be restored. The backup date within the past 14 days that you would like the above account/folder to be restored from. Also indicate if you’d like the backup to be restored such that it replaces your existing content (most popular request) or copied into a separate folder. POP email backups beyond what’s available on the server, will need to be sourced from the local backup of the .pst file/folder.
