Configuring an Android device for your Hosting Support POP/IMAP mailbox

Difference between POP and IMAP settings

POP - an internet standard for retrieving email. POP stands for "Post Office Protocol." May also be referred to as "incoming mail."

POP is a one-way communication path. This means that when you access your email from your computer or other local device, your email client (such as Outlook or Thunderbird) will save a local copy of the email to your computer, then delete the original from the mail server. Email accessed using POP ties it to a specific computer or device, thus you will be unable to view your webmail from multiple sources. However, POP is useful for storing local copies of email to be read offline or when not connected to the internet, as well as for ensuring that your webmail mailbox in MailCentral will retain plenty of storage room for accepting more email in the future.

IMAP - an internet standard for retrieving email. IMAP stands for "Internet Message Access Protocol." May also be referred to as "incoming mail."

IMAP is a two-way communication path. This means that when you access your email from your computer or other local device, any changes that are made will be synchronized with your webmail on the mail server. For example, if you log in to MailCentral, create a new folder in your webmail, then put a message into that folder, this change will instantly and automatically appear in your email client (such as Outlook or Thunderbird), and on your mobile device. Also, if you are at work and you begin a message then save it, it will still be there in your mailbox when you log in from a different email client, such as one on your home computer.

IMAP provides a better method to access your mail from multiple devices, say from work, home, and your mobile, through two-way syncing capabilities between your mail clients and the Hosting Support mailbox. However, because IMAP saves all your messages on the server, be sure frequently clean up your mailbox, deleting old messages and saving the ones you want to keep to a local computer.

Email server names and ports

The Email Server Names settings are:

NOTE: Please refer to the Difference Between POP and IMAP settings article to determine which incoming mail retrieval standard is a best fit for your current needs.

The email server ports are:

Configure your Android phone or tablet to access your POP mail box

To set up an email account on your Android phone or tablet (instructions are based on a Droid X running Gingerbread 2.3.3, other models and operating system versions may vary):

  1. From the home screen, tap All Applications
  2. Tap My Accounts
  3. Select Add Account
  4. Select the Email icon
  5. Enter the mail account information:
    1. Email: the name of the mailbox user - for example: John Smith
    2. Password: the password for your mailbox - for example: mypassword
  6. Press Next
    • If you checked the box for "Automatically configure account," your settings will automatically be set up and you are done with this tutorial
    • If you did not check the box for "Automatically configure account, or if the device displays an error when attempting to add your email account, you will need to set up your account manually. Continue to step 7.
  7. There are three options on the manual configuration screen (a fourth will appear once you choose POP or IMAP under Incoming Server):
    • General Settings
      • Account name: a short description of your mail account so that you can identify it later (in case you want to change any settings)
      • Real name: the name of the mailbox user - for example: John Smith
      • Email address: your mailbox address - for example: administrator@example.com
    • Incoming Server
      • A dropdown menu to choose POP or IMAP for incoming mail

        NOTE: Please refer to the Difference Between POP and IMAP settings article to determine which incoming mail retrieval standard is a best fit for your current needs.

      • Server: pop.example.com OR imap.example.com (where example.com is your PrimaryDomain)
      • Username: your mailbox address - for example: administrator@example.com
      • Password: the password for your mailbox - for example: mypassword
      • Advanced settings: allows you to specify the Port used as well as review other security and authentication features (recommended for advanced users)
    • Outgoing Server
      • SMTP server: smtp.example.com (where example.com is your PrimaryDomain)
      • Username: for example: administrator@example.com
      • Password: the password for your mailbox - for example: mypassword
      • Advanced settings: allows you to specify the Port used as well as review other security and authentication features (recommended for advanced users)
    • Other Settings (appears once you have selected POP or IMAP under Incoming Server)
      • If POP is selected for Incoming Server: allows you to choose if you want to delete messages older than a certain period of time, as well as if you want to remove the manually deleted email from the server
      • If IMAP is selected for Incoming Server: allows you to choose how many emails to keep synced with the email server
  8. The ports will be configured automatically during the connection process, however, if you wish to configure the ports yourself, the ports are:
    • POP: 110
    • IMAP: 143
    • SMTP: 587

  9. Select OK to complete the setup of your mailbox