IMAP Concepts

IMAP is a surprisingly simple protocol to implement, particularly in an environment like the Translator. Here are some basic concepts:

IMAP is a protocol for email where the Email remains stored on the server which you can access from multiple devices

That’s a key concept in understanding that IMAP allows you to access your email from multiple devices like your phone and computer.

It also means that these email servers can end up storing a lot of data.

IMAP servers maintain a list of the emails which you can access via a unique ID number for each one.

IMAP is a TCP/IP based protocol that is conversational

IMAP is a conversation between the client and the server. One opens up a TCP/IP stream. The server says “hello” and then the client says who they are and if the server accepts the proof of who the client says they are, then the client can ask the server to do various commands (ex. LOGIN, SELECT, FETCH, etc.)

The best way to understand the protocol is to open up the IMAPEmail Feeder and look at it in the translator

You’ll never get a better way to see how IMAP really works.

Load the IMAP Email Feed and use The string viewing window and Annotation Windows you really get to see how it works.

That’s important since it’s also how you can diagnose problems.

I don’t know about you but I get very frustrated with the spinning disc I often get on my Apple Email client on my phone with no visibility as to what is going wrong.

Chat GPT is also a pretty helpful resource if you want information on the different IMAP commands you can issue

That’s how I got started with this little project.