How to Check Email: Webmail and Email Applications

Email is one of the most widely used forms of communication, so having a professional email address @ your domain is crucial. If you're still using silly name + [email protected], you may be giving the impression that your company is inexperienced or—even worse—raising doubts about whether you're a legitimate company. Once you've created your professional email address, how are you supposed to check your email? You're going to need an email client for that. And what is an email client? Email clients come in two varieties: webmail and email applications.

• Check Email
  • Webmail
  • Email Applications
• IMAP and POP
• Summary

Check Email

Staying connected means checking your email regularly. You can choose between webmail in your browser or dedicated email apps. Here’s a quick overview to help you decide which option suits you best.

• Webmail
• Email Applications

Webmail

Webmail, or web-based email, is portable and accessible anywhere with an internet connection because the application that sends and reads your mail is accessed on a website from your browser. An example of the webmail we offer is Roundcube, which can be accessed through Bluehost Account Manager.

A few advantages of using webmail to access your email are:

• Simplicity. No setup is required.
• Portable and accessible anywhere.
• Great if you can't install software on your work or school computer.
• Save space on your computer; email is stored online.

Roundcube is the option for webmail that is built into your cPanel.

• Roundcube - As our most popular webmail client, it has a look and feel you'd expect from an email application but is available inside a browser. You can import and use an address book and IMAP folders with the drag-and-drop organization. When composing emails, you can set up preset responses to save time and write with spell check in a rich text HTML composer.

  

Email Applications

An email application is software installed on your computer or mobile device that is used to read and send an email. Your email is stored on your computer, including deleted and sent mail, giving you the ability to manage your email offline. Not everyone needs offline access to their email, but if you do, being able to work from a train or on a long flight without Wi-Fi is definitely an advantage to using an email application. Some common email applications are Outlook, Thunderbird, and Apple Mail.

A few advantages of using an email application are:

• Accessible offline.
• Immediate notifications to your device.
• Manage multiple email addresses in one interface.
• Easily back up your mail and store it on your computer.
• Use advanced mail rules and filtering based on multiple factors, such as words, senders, subjects, headers, etc.

IMAP and POP

When an email is sent, the message is stored on an email server, and it waits to be retrieved. Your email application can be set up to retrieve email from the email server using one of two different protocols: IMAP or POP3. The protocol you'll use mostly depends on the number of devices you'll use to access your email.

• IMAP - This is the setting you'll use if you want to access your email on multiple devices or if multiple users access the same account. When you read, reply, delete, forward, or otherwise manage your email, the changes are made on the server and sync with your webmail and other IMAP-connected email clients. IMAP is limited to 20 connections per IP address, but that shouldn't be an issue for most users.

• POP3 - If you intend to access your email on only one device, this is the setting for you. Most email clients set up with POP3 will delete the message on the server once it's been downloaded to your email application. This means your email application will be able to have only a copy of the email. It cannot be accessed through webmail or an alternative email application to get it again. Thus, do not use POP3 if you want access from multiple devices.

Summary

With modern means of checking emails, you can enhance professional communication. You can opt for Roundcube webmail for convenience or email apps for offline access. Users may opt for either IMAP, where real-time synchronization is guaranteed across devices or POP, which connects to just one device. Improve your emailing experience and project professionalism with a custom domain address that represents your business!