Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP)

Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) is a standard protocol for accessing e-mail from the local server. The method of functioning of IMAP is very much similar to POP but there is a little difference between the two.
While both POP and IMAP deal with the receiving of e-mail from the local server, POP just stores and then sends the messages whereas IMAP acts totally as a remote file server.

IMAP is more popular for the Internet based email services. It acts more or less like a client/server type protocol wherein the messages are kept on a server and the user connects to it for viewing. IMAP has the ability to view the mail messages not only by arrival number but by using attributes as well. In this kind of output the folder or the mailbox looks like a relational database table rather than just a collection of messages.