IMAP

(pronounced: I-map)

A method of accessing e-mail or bulletin board messages that are kept on a mail server. IMAP permits a client e-mail program to access remote messages as if they were on a user's local machine. E-mail stored on an IMAP server can be manipulated from a desktop computer at home, a workstation at the office, or a laptop computer on the road. With IMAP, there's no need to transfer messages or files back and forth between these computers, as is usually the case with the POP mail access protocol. IMAP was developed at Stanford University in 1986.