Support of IMAP Standard Extensions

• IMAP SORT

  The SORT extension to the IMAP protocol provides a means of server-bas ed sorting of messages, without requiring that the client download the necessary data to do so itself. See: http://www3.tools.ietf.org/html/draft-ietf-imapext-sort-18 for more information.

• IMAP COMPARATOR

• IMAP IDLE

  The IMAP IDLE extension to the IMAP specification, defined in RFC 2177, allows an IMAP server to notify the mail client when new messages arrive and other updates take place in a user's mailbox. The IMAP IDLE feature has the following benefits:

  • Mail clients do not have to poll the IMAP server for incoming messages.

    Eliminating client polling reduces the workload on the IMAP server and enhances the server's performance. Client polling is most wasteful when a user receives few or no messages; the client continues to poll at the configured interval, typically every 5 or 10 minutes.

  • A mail client displays a new message to the user much closer to the actual time it arrives in the user's mailbox. A change in message status is also displayed in near-real time.

    The IMAP server does not have to wait for the next IMAP polling message before it can notify the client of a new or updated mail message. Instead, the IMAP server receives a notification as soon as a new message arrives or a message changes status. The server then notifies the client through the IMAP protocol.

  IMAP IDLE is off by default.