Productivity Portfolio

AOL now allows you to send and receive mail using just about any email client that supports IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol). This includes the popular email applications such as Outlook, Outlook Express, Eudora, and so on. Don't let the term IMAP worry you as it's only needed when you set up your AOL account on another email program. Most email programs have a different setup based on whether the account is POP3 or IMAP.

The advantage that IMAP offers over traditional POP3 accounts is headers and folders. Your email and folders reside on the AOL servers, but you can access them from anywhere. In traditional POP3, email accounts, when you download your email you're deleting it from the server. POP3 mail servers also don't use folders. Although AOL has this functionality through its proprietary mail service, few internet service providers (ISP) offer IMAP.

There are some limitations to using another email program, but they appear minor. For starters, you don't have a Report Spam button. Instead, you need to drag spam items from your Inbox to the Spam folder. You cannot manually add messages to the Inbox or Sent Items folders. Messages will only be added to these folders when an e-mail is received or sent by the AOL IMAP server.

AOL has created a help section for open mail access. The section provides instructions on how to access AOL email with the most popular email clients. If you're trying to consolidate all your mail accounts through one email program, this is the feature you've been waiting for.

KEYWORD: Open Mail Access