Qualcomm 4.3 Mail Transport, Outgoing Mail, Eudora mail transport overview, POP similar for Imap

Mail Transport

Introduction

Eudora uses Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) to transfer your outgoing mail to your SMTP server machine, which in turn uses SMTP to send your mail to the world at large. Mail from the world at large arrives on your incoming Post Office Protocol (POP) or Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) mail server, where it waits for Eudora to pick it up with either POP version 3 or IMAP version 4. The mail Eudora sends and receives is constructed in accordance with RFC 822 and RFC 2045 (MIME).

Eudora mail transport overview, POP (similar for IMAP)

Your Macintosh

Your PC

POP

Check Mail

SMTP

POP/SMTP

Server

Send Queued Messages

SMTP

The World at Large

Outgoing Mail

When you send an email message to someone, Eudora uses SMTP to send the mail to your local SMTP server computer. That computer then sends the mail to your addressee’s computer, also (usually) by means of the SMTP protocol.

Why doesn’t Eudora talk directly to your addressee’s computer? For one thing, it would take a lot longer for your mail to leave your computer because your computer would have to call up each addressee’s computer and deliver your mail. For another, some computers are “hard to find”; it’s much better to let another computer “hunt” for your addressee than to make your computer do it. Finally, sometimes your addressee’s computer won’t be available when you want to send mail. The SMTP server handles this by holding your mail until the other computer is ready to accept it, eliminating the inconvenience of having unsent messages hanging around on your computer.

QUALCOMM Incorporated

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