ARCHIVED: What is POP mail?

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Note: UITS no longer supports POP mail. For details, see Why UITS doesn't support POP mail

POP (Post Office Protocol) mail refers to email software on your computer that sends and receives mail via a shared computer's electronic post office. Personal computers seldom have the network resources required to serve as an independent post office, which is why most people use shared systems as email servers.

POP mail software on your computer (the POP client) logs into the shared computer (the POP server) and transfers received mail from your account to your computer. When you send an email message, your POP client transfers it to a dedicated mail system for transmission on the Internet.

Most POP mail clients support features such as document attachment, automatic document encoding and decoding, user lookup, internal address books, font selection, signature files, and multiple mail management options.