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Where is My Email ? Email Mailboxes and Mailbox Locations

By: Stephen Cope, Sat Dec 10th, 2005 12:41:44 AM

A mailbox is a location where email is stored. It is the electronic equivalent of a post office box. In order to receive email you need to have a mailbox.

When you sign up for an email account you are assigned a mailbox and normally an email address. The email address and mailbox are linked such that any email sent to the email address will be placed in the mailbox.

Every mailbox has an email address and can have more than one address linked to it.- see email addresses for more details.

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Mailbox Access using POP3

The mailbox is physically located on the mail providers email server, and so in order to access the mail in the mailbox you need to physically connect to this server.

The most common method of accessing a mailbox is using the POP3 protocol (Post office protocol version 3 ) which is built into all the popular email clients ( outlook express, IncrediMail etc).

The default behaviour of the POP3 protocol is to move the email from the mailbox on the email server (on the Internet) to a mailbox on your local PC.

Because the email is moved the only copy that now exists is stored on your local PC. These default behaviour can be changed see- leavi ng email on the Internet for more details.

This does mean that you have, in effect, two mailboxes a mailbox on the email server and a mailbox on your email client.

Mailbox Access using a Browser

Popular providers like Yahoo, Hotmail and Gmail require you to access your email using a web browser. In this form of access the email is left on the server and there is no local mailbox.

Once you understand where mailboxes are located it is easier to understand how you can Access your Email From Another Location.

About the author: Stephen cope is a freelance technical trainer and the webmaster of several websites. You can get more email tips and advise at IncrediMail and Outlook Express Updates.