IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) is used for large mail clients such as Gmail to communicate with a remote mail server and to download only the header information of these mails, leaving the mail itself on the server. It is a two-way communication method and changes made in the local mail client are also sent to the server.
By default, the IMAP ports are as follows:
Port 143 – Unencrypted port
Port 993 – SSL/TLS port, also known as IMAPS.
POP3 (Post Office Protocol version 3) is used for mail clients such as Outlook, Thunderbird, Windows Mail, Mac Mail to communicate with the remote mail server and to download mail. It is a one-way communication method, and data is only received from the server and sent to the local client. There is no data flow in the reverse direction (from the local client to the server).
By default, POP3 ports are as follows:
Port 110 – Unencrypted port
Port 995 – SSL/TLS port, also known as POP3S.
SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) is used to communicate with a remote server to send your emails from the client to the remote server and then to the recipient's mail server. This process is controlled by the Mail Transfer Agent (MTA) on your mail server.
The SMTP ports are as follows:
Port 25 – Unencrypted port
Port 465 – SSL/TLS port, also known as SMTPS.
If you wish, you can also provide SMTP connection for outgoing mails only on Minerva or user code, password, etc. according to the protocol your mail server has (IMAP or POP3) and the approvals requested by your client if needed, and ensure that Minerva works in integration with your mail server. In this way, you can download and/or send your mails on Minerva.