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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-05-23T08:27:11+00:00

From here . While electronic mail servers and other mail transfer agents use SMTP

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From here.

While electronic mail servers and other mail transfer agents use SMTP to send and receive mail messages, user-level client mail applications typically only use SMTP for sending messages to a mail server for relaying. For receiving messages, client applications usually use either the Post Office Protocol (POP) or the Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) or a proprietary system (such as Microsoft Exchange or Lotus Notes/Domino) to access their mail box accounts on a mail server.

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  1. Editorial Team

    On that same page it talks about it.

    SMTP vs mail retrieval

    SMTP is a
    delivery protocol only. It cannot pull
    messages from a remote server on
    demand. Other protocols, such as the
    Post Office Protocol (POP) and the
    Internet Message Access Protocol
    (IMAP) are specifically designed for
    retrieving messages and managing mail
    boxes. However, SMTP has a feature to
    initiate mail queue processing on a
    remote server so that the requesting
    system may receive any messages
    destined for it (cf. Remote Message
    Queue Starting). POP and IMAP are
    preferred protocols when a user’s
    personal computer is only
    intermittently powered up, or Internet
    connectivity is only transient and
    hosts cannot receive message during
    off-line periods.

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