[GTALUG] POP3 vs IMAP

[Howard Gibson]

On Sat, 8 Jun 2019 11:05:21 -0500
o1bigtenor via talk <talk at gtalug.org> wrote:

> Greetings
> 
> Working on setting up Claws - - an email handling tool and I need to
> choose whether I use
> POP3 or IMAP.
> What I've been able to find so far doesn't really give any kind of
> clear direction.
> I have lots of storage here and am planning on starting with my least
> used addresses just to make sure things are working well before I do a
> complete switch.
> 
> Please advise.

o1bigtenor,

   I am running Sypheed here, which is what Claws is based on.  I use POP3 to download email.  It has been a long time since I have configured it.  I recall that the word today is NOCLOBBER.  In POP, you have the choice of deleting or not deleting your email as you download it.  Initially, you want to not delete it.  Once things are reliable, you want the online stuff deleted.  I currently download and clobber email from eol.ca, google.com, and torfree.net.  I don't want my email to be online.  I transfer my current email folders from my desktop to my laptop when I travel. 

   Sylpheed and Claws store email in MH (Mail Handler) format.  This format is used by mh and mutt.  Almost all other Linux email programs, including Evolution and Thunderbird, use mbox format.  In MH, each email is stored as a separate file.  In mbox, each mail folder is stored as a file.  

-- 
Howard Gibson 
hgibson at eol.ca
jhowardgibson at gmail.com
http://home.eol.ca/~hgibson