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Which protocol should I choose? Exchange, POP3 or IMAP?

As you know, LACA's Exchange e-mail system provides Outlook Web Access (or OWA as we call it for short) a web-based interface to your e-mail. This is accessible from anywhere you have access to a web browser, making it a very convenient option for reading your e-mail.  Probably 95% of LACA's e-mail users use OWA.

However, in addition to LACA's Outlook Web Access interface, LACA's Exchange e-mail system supports Exchange(MAPI), POP3 and IMAP protocols for receiving e-mail through an Outlook or Outlook Express client..  If you prefer to use an Outlook client rather than the web-based interface, which protocol should you choose?

First, you may be limited by your software.  Only Outlook 2007, 2003, 2002, and 2000 support the Exchange connection. Outlook Express is a stripped-down version of Outlook that only supports POP3 and IMAP.

If you have the choice to use a true Exchange connection, you probably should.  This stores all of your mail, calendar appointments, and contacts on LACA's Exchange server.  You will have access to all of the same information you see in Outlook Web Access when you log into Outlook.

If you are going to use Outlook Express, you have to choose between POP3 and IMAP. Which one you choose depends on your e-mail habits.   Do you always check your e-mail from the same computer every day?   Or do you check your e-mail with Outlook at school, and maybe check it with OWA from home or in a lab?  If you check mail from multiple computers at multiple locations, and want to be able to see ALL of your e-mail each time, you should use IMAP.  If you always check e-mail from one computer, POP3 might be a better choice.

POP3 will download all new messages from LACA's e-mail server to Local Folders on your computer. Once the mail is downloaded, it is faster to read since it is right there on your local computer, rather than pulling each message across the network.   POP3 has some disadvantages. If you log in with OWA, you will only see NEW messages, but no old ones.  That's because all of the old messages have been downloaded to your local computer and are no longer on LACA's e-mail server. NOTE: There is an option in Outlook for POP3 that says "Leave a copy of the messages on the server". We do not recommend you do this. If you are going to leave messages on the server, you might as well use an IMAP connection.

Also, once the messages are downloaded to your local computer, you will be responsible to back them up if you need to keep them.   If your hard drive crashes, you will lose all of your e-mail messages, since they are stored on your computer, not at LACA.

IMAP allows you to read the messages,  but leaves them on LACA's e-mail server.  IMAP has the advantage of keeping your e-mail in one spot. If you move around and check your e-mail from multiple places, then IMAP is the choice for you.   The disadvantage of IMAP is the speed....IMAP is slower than POP3 because each message has to be retrieved from the server when you click on it. 

Hopefully this document helps you make your choice.  If not, please e-mail exchange@laca.org for further assistance with your questions.