(IMAP) A protocol allowing a client to access and manipulate electronic mail messages on a server. It permits manipulation of remote message folders (mailboxes), in a way that is functionally equivalent to local mailboxes. IMAP includes operations for creating, deleting, and renaming mailboxes checking for new messages permanently removing messages searching and selective fetching of message attributes, texts, and portions thereof. It does not specify a means of posting mail this function is handled by a mail transfer protocol such as SMTP. Current version: 4. See RFC 2060, RFC 2061, and others. Compare: POP. (1999-03-14)
