KB / Email / POP3/IMAP/SMTP Servers / POP3 Accounts
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What is a POP3 account? How do I use it? Look in here to find out.
Parent Article
How do I add an extra pop3 account (mailbox)?
- Go to the Mail > Addresses area of our web panel and click the "create a new email address" link.
- Choose an email address for this new mailbox.
- Make sure the "will be delivered to these email addresses" option is selected.
- Also be sure to check off the "deliver to this mailbox:" option.
- Name your new mailbox.
- Create a password for it.
- Set its disk quota and inbox rotation preferences.
- Click "Create Address" and you're done.. it will take up to an hour for the new mailbox to work on the server though!
What is my POP3 username to check mail sent to my email address?
You can find your email username by going to our Web Control Panel and clicking on the "Mail" tab, then "Manage Email".
Can I use email programs like Outlook to read mail from my pop3 account?
You can read email at your pop3 account using any standard email software such as MS Outlook, Netscape Mail, or Eudora. The specific method will vary based on the client you use, but you'll always have to set your incoming server and SMTP server as "mail.yourdomain.com" and enter the username and password for the mailbox you want to check.
You can choose either IMAP or POP3 as the server type.
What's the difference between POP3 and IMAP?
On our system, EVERY e-mail account acts as BOTH a POP3 and an IMAP account. Really they are just two different ways to read the mail on your account with us.
With POP3, the mail is "popped" off our server and onto your home computer. There's no synchronizing going on, just copying of mail files from one place to another. In most POP clients, you can choose to leave a copy of the mail on the server, or to delete it from the server when you download it. POPPING is good if you just want to get online, download your email, and get off line again.
With IMAP your email client is constantly connected to our server, and doesn't make local copies of your messages. IMAP is great if you access your email from lots of different machines, since it keeps all the messages in one place. It's also good if you have a slow connection, because it only downloads the email headers until you choose to read a whole message. That's great for deleting spam by just reading the subject line! IMAP needs a constant connection to the Internet the whole time you're doing your email.
FYI, our webmail uses IMAP.
Also, your mail server for POP, IMAP, and SMTP (sending mail) is always mail.YOURDOMAIN.COM
Should I leave messages on the server?
Should you leave your email messages on the mail server? That depends, but in general, if you're using POP, the answer is no.
We highly encourage users to delete their messages from the server, as it results in better performance for everyone involved (including you!): How to configure my POP client the right way!
What's this whole "leaving messages on the server" business?
To check your mail, your POP client logs into the mail server, and asks if there are any new messages. If the answer is yes, your POP client downloads those new messages from the server to your work or home desktop. Since your messages are now safe on your desktop, there is no reason to keep them on the server. Hence, at this point, most POP clients also tell the server to delete those new messages.
However, some users configure their POP clients to leave the messages on the server, even after they have already downloaded them safely to their desktop. Why in the world would someone do that?
I actually can't think of any reason why myself.
Actually, I can think of one: if someone wanted an exact copy of all their emails at work and at home. (If you can think of any other reason, please post them here!)
Unfortunately, IMAP is a better solution for the work/home situation than is POP, and in addition, leaving your messages on the servers places unnecessary burdens on the mail servers.
For those of you that really want to know the "why", here is an example:
Scenario 1: A user has 300 messages in her INBOX, leaves her messages on the server, and has her POP client check for new messages ever 5 minutes. This means that every 5 minutes the mail server must search through all 300 messages looking for new messages.
Scenario 2: Take the scenario above, and imagine that 1000 users were doing exactly the same thing. Now there are every 5 minutes, 300,000 messages are being searched, an equivalent of 60,000 messages every minute!
When you consider that we've found some users with 25,000 messages in their INBOX, you can see how this has spiraled out of control in the past!
Please, if you're using POP, be kind to everyone and follow the simple advice found in this article: How to configure my POP client the right way!
If you really must leave your messages on the server, you should really be using IMAP, as it was designed for exactly that. Learn more about IMAP here: What's the difference between POP3 and IMAP?.
If you used to leave messages on the server and now you want to delete them, you can do so just by using an IMAP client (including our webmail), or by just chaging your POP3 settings to no longer leave messages on the server!
Improving Mail Performance for Everyone!
If you primarily use POP to retrieve and read your mail, your client may be improperly configured to leave mail on the server. When lots of users make this mistake, it can slow your mail server to a near screeching halt.
Following the steps below will help speed up your mail server, and will not change in any way your mail experience (at least this is true in 99% of cases).
If you're a typical user, you should just follow the steps below. If you are curious, and you wish to learn more about the reasons why, please read: Should I leave messages on the server?
Outlook: Click "Tools"->"Accounts" Click on the "Mail" Tab Select your Dreamhost POP mail account from the list (eg mail.mydomain.com) Click on "Properties" Click on the "Advanced Tab" Uncheck "Leave a copy of messages on the server". If you prefer to leave the above box checked, then please check "Remove from server when deleted from 'Deleted Items'" Click "OK"
Netscape: Click "Edit"->"Mail & Newsgroups Account Settings" Find your Dreamhost POP mail account from the list (eg myname@mydomain.com) Click on the SubMenu "Server Settings" under your POP mail account Uncheck "Leave messages on server" If you prefer to leave the above box checked, then please check "Delete messages on server when they are deleted locally" Click "OK"
Eudora: Click "Tools"->"Personalities" Right click on your Dreamhost POP mail account and select 'Properties' Click on the "Incoming Mail" Tab Uncheck "Leave messages on server" If you prefer to leave the above box checked, then please check "Delete from server when emptied from Trash." Click "OK"
