what main protocols do email users and servers normally use to process email?
What are email Protocols?â Email protocols are the rules and procedures for sending and receiving email. The main protocols you will encounter on the Internet are POP3, IMAP4 and SMTP. The Internet email protocols are single function protocols i.e. they do a single job. The POP3 and IMAP4 protocols are for receiving or fetching email from an email server. Whereas the SMTP protocol is used for sending emails between email servers, and also for sending email between an email client and server. Internet email protocols are text-based protocols, and use a command/response type format, as they were initially used from a command prompt.