POP3

[RonH]

Is this statement I have read true ...
With POP3, once you download your e-mail it's stuck on the machine to which you downloaded it. If you want to read your e-mail both on your desktop machine and your laptop (depending on whether you're working in the office or on the road), POP3 makes life difficult.
My POP3 account is downloaded to my Windows Live Mail but it seems I can choose to keep emails on the server until eg I delete them in WLM from the Delete folder. If I choose this option, what is the downside ... if any ... apart from being prudent to not keep a heap of emails in the Delete folder.
Ron

[DaveA]

If you do not have a second computer that you need to read the emails, then there is no problem at all.

On my desktop, I have the setting to delete from server when downloaded. But on my laptop, I have NO deleting from the server. This way, I can get all of the emails and do the cleaning from the desktop.

[RonH]

Hei Dave, thanks for your comment.

My scenario is:
PC at home where I usually download, read/reply and delete emails but:
I also now am going to use an Android tablet (gift!) on occasion when travelling from which I can check webmail. If I go to webmail. xxx, will this automatically download to the tablet and delete off the server if I have not set it to 'keep'. Unfortunately I can't check this right now because the POP3 provider has probs with the latest Chrome browser which I use.

[stuck]

...If I go to webmail. xxx, will this automatically download to the tablet and delete off the server.

No because webmail is IMAP, which is not POP3. IMAP is essentially a means to mange your mail while it is still on the server. When you check your mail via IMAP the mail stays put and what you see on your tablet/laptop is just your mail rendered as a web page.

Having two devices both using POP3 to access the same mail account would require careful use to avoid some messages ending up on one machine while other messages go to the other but using POP3 on one and IMAP one all other devices works well.

My main PC is a desktop at home and the mail is delivered to it via POP3 (and deleted off the server) but my ISP also provides a webmail (IMAP) interface so when I'm out I can check my mail and reply if I want from any device that lets me reach the webmail login page, so anything that can run a browser.

You can get 'odd' effects with this set up, e.g. I'm out and check my mail I see a message but don't act. A little later I go back to webmail to reply only to find the messages has gone, because my better half back at home has checked the mail and so it's been POP'd to the desktop. Also, POP3 only checks and downloads the In box on the server so if I reply to a message via webmail and forget to move that reply from the server's Sent folder to the Inbox then when I get home and check the mail the incoming message is downloaded but my reply isn't.

Does this make sense?

Ken

[HansV]

Microsoft Outlook has an option to leave a copy of e-mail messages on the mail server, so with Outlook, you can if you so wish use POP3 and still access the same messages from another computer.
But Windows Live Mail does not have this option for POP3 accounts, as far as I can tell.

[DaveA]

On my "Installed" version of Live mail, there is the server setting in the "Advance" tab.

[HansV]

Thanks, Dave, I was looking in the wrong place.
So WLM can do this too, just like Outlook.
In other words, RonH can choose how he wants to use his POP3 account.

[Roderunner]

In WLM, I only use Gmail, but I have 3 other mail accounts that forward messages to my Gmail account and are archived when accessed using POP. This means I can delete anything in WLM knowing its safely stored by Gmail.

[RonH]

Thanks gentlemen ... sorted

I shall continue to delete at the server when downloaded to pc. Now I understand the aspects of web-mail being IMAP so a looksee at my mail from my tablet when travelling will not delete mail unless I choose this action when reading.

This was a good point:
POP3 only checks and downloads the In box on the server so if I reply to a message via webmail and forget to move that reply from the server's Sent folder to the Inbox then when I get home and check the mail the incoming message is downloaded but my reply isn't.

I also considered, for my home pc, letting gmail grab my other accounts but I feel more secure keeping them on WLM within Storage Folders. When I recently got the tablet I set it up with my current gmail (hardly used) and, to my horror, I later found my tablet had copied all my Contacts and all my email off my pc This was not what I wanted so I quickly factory reset the tablet, opened up a 2nd 'tablet & mobile only' gmail and all is well. I am sure there are settings to stop such copying across but I have yet to find them. I guess that I am old fashioned (age you know!) since my younger family etc all seem to have all their devices acting in synch with each other ... loose one that does not have a very strong security password and you give access to your entire 'life'.

Thanks again
Ron