= Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP)
:navtitle: IMAP

== Overview

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Message_Access_Protocol[Internet Message Access Protocol],
or IMAP, is a protocol used by email clients to retrieve 
xref:messages/index.adoc[email messages] from a xref:glossary.adoc#email_server[mail server].
One could say that it is effectively in competition with xref:protocols/pop.adoc[POP]
because it accomplishes a function similar in nature, and most clients will force you
to choose one or the other..
These days, the natural choice of protocol tends to be IMAP rather than POP.

The main difference between IMAP and POP is that messages are kept on the server, which
keeps a kind of master reference. Instead of transferring the message to the client,
only an image, or copy of the message is kept locally. When the client synchronises with
the state of the server, it will tend to mimic that state. So if a new message is stored
in a mailbox, it will appear on the client, or if a message is deleted from the server,
it will also be deleted from the client.

The user can control the state of server from the client by adding, deleting, or moving
messages between folders. The user can also add folders from the client, the state of which
will be stored on the server.


== Specifications

=== IMAP

Apparently, no official specification exists for the original IMAP.
It became a specification with the publication of <<IMAP2>>


=== IMAP2

==== RFC1064

https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1064[RFC1064] ("Interactive Mail Access Protocol - Version 2")
was the original IMAP2 specification, published in 1988. The specification was obsoleted
by <<RFC1176>>.

==== RFC1176

https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1176[RFC1176] ("Interactive Mail Access Protocol - Version 2")
provides various, somewhat minor updates to <<RFC1064>>. This specification was supseded by
the first IMAP3 specification, <<RFC1203>>.

=== IMAP3

==== RFC1203

https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1203[RFC1203] ("Interactive Mail Access Protocol - Version 3")
obsoletes <<RFC1064>>, and presumedly also <<RFC1176>>.
It appears to be the only version of IMAP3 that was published. Apparently, IMAP3 is a rare
version, and was never really adopted by the marketplace.


=== IMAP4

==== RFC1730
https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1730[RFC1730] ("Interactive Message Access Protocol - Version 4")
was the first version of IMAP4, published in 1994. Note that the "M" in the name was changed
from "Mail" to "Message".
It was obsoleted two years later by <<RFC2060>>.


==== RFC2060

https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2060[RFC2060] ("Interactive Message Access Protocol - Version 4rev1")
was the first revision of the original IMAP4 specification. It was obsoleted by <<RFC3501>>.


==== RFC3501

https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3501[RFC3501] ("Interactive Message Access Protocol - Version 4rev1")
is the current IMAP4 standard in use. Though the name is confusing, is was the second revision since
the publication of the original IMAP4 specification. This version was published in 2003. Likely,
there has not been a need to update this specification as instead updates are published as extensions.
Extensions to IMAP have been published as recently as in 2018.

==== Extensions to RFC3501

For brevity, we simply refence a number of extentions to RFC3501: 

 * https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4466[RFC4466] ("Collected Extensions to IMAP4 ABNF")
 * https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4469[RFC4469] ("Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) CATENATE Extension")
 * https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4551[RFC4551] ("IMAP Extension for Conditional STORE Operation or Quick Flag Changes Resynchronization")
 * https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5032[RFC5032] ("WITHIN Search Extension to the IMAP Protocol")
 * https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5182[RFC5182] ("IMAP Extension for Referencing the Last SEARCH Result")
 * https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5738[RFC5738] ("IMAP Support for UTF-8")
 * https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6186[RFC6186] ("Use of SRV Records for Locating Email Submission/Access Services")
 * https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6858[RFC6858] ("Simplified POP and IMAP Downgrading for Internationalized Email")
 * https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7817[RFC7817] ("Updated Transport Layer Security (TLS) Server Identity Check Procedure for Email-Related Protocols")
 * https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc8314[RFC8314] ("Cleartext Considered Obsolete: Use of Transport Layer Security (TLS) for Email Submission and Access")
 * https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc8437[RFC8437] ("IMAP UNAUTHENTICATE Extension for Connection Reuse")
 * https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc8474[RFC8474] ("IMAP Extension for Object Identifiers")



== Related Concepts

IMAP is related to...

 * *xref:protocols/pop.adoc[POP]* as a "competing" protocol
 * *xref:glossary.adoc#email_client[Email clients]*, as the client will provide the functionality of
   an IMAP Client and connect to the IMAP Server
 * *xref:protocols/smtp.adoc[SMTP]*, in that messages will normally be
   delivered to the IMAP Server via SMTP.



== Try It!

You can connect manually to James using the IMAP protocol by opening a
telnet session.

Requirements:

 * Run the long demo (without stopping)
 * Telnet

Approximate duration: 5 minutes

====
Note: extra lines are inserted below to help show you what you need to type.
====

[source,telnet]
----
$ telnet 127.0.0.1 143
Trying 127.0.0.1...
Connected to localhost.
Escape character is '^]'.
* OK JAMES IMAP4rev1 Server  Server faef5a990fbb is ready.

01 login user01@james.local 1234 <1>

01 OK LOGIN completed.

l list "" "*" <2>

* LIST (\HasNoChildren) "." "INBOX"
l OK LIST completed.

s select INBOX <3>

* FLAGS (\Answered \Deleted \Draft \Flagged \Seen)
* 1 EXISTS
* 1 RECENT
* OK [UIDVALIDITY 749313882] UIDs valid
* OK [UNSEEN 1] MailboxMessage 2 is first unseen
* OK [PERMANENTFLAGS (\Answered \Deleted \Draft \Flagged \Seen \*)] Limited
* OK [HIGHESTMODSEQ 5] Highest
* OK [UIDNEXT 2] Predicted next UID
s OK [READ-WRITE] SELECT completed.

f FETCH 1:* (FLAGS BODY.PEEK[HEADER.FIELDS (SUBJECT)]) <4>

* 1 FETCH (FLAGS (\Seen) BODY[HEADER.FIELDS (SUBJECT)] {75}
Subject: Test Message

)
f OK FETCH completed.

d store 1 +FLAGS (\Deleted) <5>

* 1 FETCH (FLAGS (\Deleted \Seen))
d OK STORE completed.

e expunge <6>

* 1 EXPUNGE
e OK EXPUNGE completed.

l logout <7>
----
<1> Login as user `user01@james.local`
<2> List the contents of the Mailbox
<3> Select `INBOX` as the current folder
<4> Fetch the contents of the INBOX folder, showing only the subject
<5> Mark the message for deletion
<6> Epunge the INBOX by deleting mails marked for deletion
<7> Exit the session

