The Internet Message Access Protocol (commonly known as IMAP or IMAP4, and previously called Internet Mail Access Protocol, Interactive Mail Access Protocol (RFC 1064), and Interim Mail Access Protocol) is an
application layer Internet protocol operating on port 143 that allows a local
client to access
e-mail on a remote
server. The current version, IMAP version 4 revision 1 (IMAP4rev1), is defined by RFC 3501. IMAP4 and POP3 (
Post Office Protocol version 3) are the two most prevalent
Internet standard protocols for e-mail retrieval. Virtually all modern e-mail clients and servers support both.
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