AOL incoming and outgoing mail servers – POP3 and IMAP

You can download and store messages on your computer from all free AOL email accounts. For this, the account first needs to be set up in an email client (program) using either POP3 or IMAP. Yes, just like Gmail, AOL email can be downloaded using both these email protocols. So which one should you use? POP or IMAP?

Though I will discuss this in detail later, here is a heads-up. If you plan on accessing AOL email from one or more devices, say, a computer and a tablet, or maybe two computers, I strongly suggest you use IMAP. This will keep the account and all the messages in all the folders synchronised across the various devices.

POP3 or IMAP – which one to use for download AOL email?

The AOL email service, though not as popular as Gmail, Yahoo or Hotmail, offers some of the best features; and account access with POP and IMAP is a prime example. Additionally, all free AOL email accounts come with unlimited storage space which means you don’t have to delete messages at all. Keeping this in mind, here are my 2 cents.

Use IMAP to have the online email account synchronized with the one on your computer and also your mobile device (refer AOL email on iPhone). But if you don’t care much about that, use POP3 to download AOL email because with this you can preserve a copy on the server of every mail ever received. And since AOL accounts now have unlimited space there would be no worries of running out of storage! Just make sure to modify the settings in the email program to leave a copy of the message on the server.

AOL Incoming and outgoing mail server settings

POP3

Incoming server: pop.imap.com
Port: 995
Ensure that a secure connection (SSL) is used when accessing the AOL incoming mail server.

IMAP

Incoming server: imap.aol.com
Port: 993
Put a check mark before the SSL (secure connection) option.

SMTP – Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (for sending email)

SMTP is required to send out emails and works with both POP3 and IMAP.
Outgoing server: smtp.aol.com
Port: 587
The outgoing SMTP server requires authentication so make sure you check that.

AOL subscribers in other countries might like to use the following:

For step by step instructions on how to set up an AOL account on your computer, refer the links below.

• Set up AOL email in Outlook Express using POP3
• Add AOL email in Outlook Express with IMAP
• Get AOL email on Windows Mail Vista (IMAP)
• use POP to add AOL on Windows Mail Vista
• IMAP: AOL set up on Windows Live Mail (default)
• POP: Configure AOL email account in Windows Live Mail