Download AOL email - use email programs

Unlike Yahoo, all AOL accounts are POP3 and IMAP enabled which means you can download email to your computer with the help of an email program and, most likely there is one already installed on your computer. Not sure about this? Here is a reference list of the built-in /default email programs on popular operating systems.

Note #1: Microsoft recommends that all XP and Vista users install Windows Live Mail instead of using the default email client of their respective operating system because development and support for both Outlook Express and Windows Mail has been discontinued. As an example, refer Windows Live Mail on XP in which I detail how you can try out the new email program along with the pre-existing Outlook Express.

Note #2: The free email program from Mozilla, Thunderbird, will also work on most operating systems. It's the best choice if you want to move away from Microsoft products.

Note #3: Outlook, costing about $150 at the time of writing, is a full-fledged email program from Microsoft and, yes, it's different from Outlook Express which was free.

All programs mentioned above will be able to download AOL email. Actually, any email client will work as long as it has POP3 and IMAP support.

So what are POP3 and IMAP and how can they help to download email from AOL?

POP3 (sometimes simply known as POP) and IMAP are email protocols. They help the email program connect to the AOL server and download messages to your computer. SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) is responsible for sending out messages.

No need to be 'frightened' of these techie sounding words as the process of downloading AOL email messages entails minimal efforts from your side. All that's required is to set up the AOL account in your chosen email program which is quite simple too. Please refer the following links for step by step instructions and screenshots.

• AOL set up on Windows Live Mail using IMAP
• Configure AOL email account in Windows Live Mail using POP
• Configure AOL email in Outlook Express
• Add AOL email using IMAP in Outlook Express
• Get AOL email on Windows Mail Vista (IMAP)
• Use POP to add AOL on Windows Mail Vista

Once email from the AOL account has been downloaded to your computer, it is accessible even without a live Internet connection. This is just one of the advantages of using an email program like Outlook Express. And now that AOL offers unlimited storage space, you can have copies of messages on both the online server (access this via webmail) as well as on your local machine.

You may also like to know the AOL incoming and outgoing mail server details:

• AOL POP settings
• IMAP settings of AOL

Note: #4: As mentioned above, you can download AOL email to your computer using either POP3 or IMAP. The choice is entirely up to you. POP is definitely the more 'POPular' option (bad pun, I know), though IMAP has its benefits.
Confused? Read the differences between POP3 and IMAP.