Northwestern Email Options for Faculty/Staff
Northwestern central email servers offer either POP or IMAP access to your email mailbox. The default configuration for all mailboxes at Northwestern is “Post Office Protocol” (POP). The POP service has been a reliable implementation at Northwestern since the start of email services at the university. The IMAP service was implemented in August 2003 to help with the complexity of user’s accessing their mailbox from multiple computers (home, office, laptop, etc.). The following information provides a brief explanation of each of the services listing the advantages and disadvantages of each service. Since the default is POP and most users are satisfied with their access into the mail servers then nothing is required to switch your service. If after reading this short description you decide that IMAP is the right answer for your access please consult with your Technical Support Representative in KIS so that they can help you with your decision and transition. Please note that once you switch your service to IMAP going back to POP is very complicated, and you could risk losing messages if you decide to switch back.
POP (Post Office Protocol) Email Service
POP is a basic service that makes a connection into the user’s mailbox,
downloads the messages from the server, and then closes the mailbox. The
messages can be left on the server through an option in the email program
but does not provide robust storage capabilities when accessing from different
computers. If you leave the mail on the server you can go to different
computers and still get messages that have been sent to your inbox by downloading
another copy to that computer. Generally, the messages that have been left
on the server are set to be deleted from the server within a certain time
period and cannot be retrieved from the server after that period. The POP
service has been a reliable service at Northwestern that provides easy
access into your university mailbox that requires little maintenance to
keep your mailbox under quota. The user’s experience and ease of managing
your mailbox are advatages for sticking with the POP service. The disadvantage
to POP is that when you go to different computers you do not have access
to the same messages or you have duplicate messages in multiple places.
In addition, you do not have the ability to store sent messages on the
server unless you copy yourself on the email.
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| Reliable default service at Northwestern | Cannot store messages on server |
| No training to use service | Same messages downloaded on multiple computers |
| Requires little maintenance to keep mailbox under quota | Sent messages cannot be saved on the server |
IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) Email Service
IMAP is a new service option that was rolled out in August 2003
to help with the increasing complexity of accessing your mailbox from different
computers and locations. The IMAP service allows the user to download only
the message headers and decide if they want to actually download the rest
of the message and the attachments. This feature makes downloading large
attachments on a slow connection more manageable and efficient. In addition,
the IMAP service provides folders for the user to store emails and attachments
on the server so that they can retrieve those stored messages when they
log into the server from different computers. These new features provide
powerful benefits that allows the user to create folders for received and
sent messages to be retrieved from any computer. The downside to IMAP is
that it is a new service at Northwestern, the user has to be training on
how to manage their mailbox, and if the mailbox goes over quota there is
a $200 charge to get your email retrived from archive.
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| Robust folders for storing received/sent messages | New service rolled out in August 2003 |
| User decides to download attachments | User needs to be trained on managing server mailbox |
| Added features when using university's web-email access | $200 fee to get email from archive if over quota |
Recomendation from Kellogg Information Systems
Before deciding to switch your email service to IMAP, we strongly recommend
that you speak with your KIS technical support representative to fully
understand the ramifications and ensure a smooth transition to the IMAP
service. Your email client will have to be reconfigured and you will need
to be trained on how to use the new features the IMAP service provides.
Northwestern IT has written documentation that gives further details about
the service on how to switch your access to IMAP at http://www.it.northwestern.edu/accounts/email/config/.
facstaffcomputing@kellogg.northwestern.edu
Updated: October 14, 2005