IMAP vs POP3 - How to Email in the 21st Century

POP is bad. IMAP is good.

Add Your AOL mail Account to Thunderbird Using IMAP

To set up your Thunderbird client to work with AOL:

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  • Open Thunderbird and type your name, Email address and password
  • Click Continue

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  • Tick the check box on IMAP(remote folders) and click on Manual config

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Now we need to manually enter in our settings similar to the following. Under the Server hostname section verify the following.

  • Incoming : imap.aol.com / Port : Either 993 (SSL) or 143
  • Outgoing : smtp.aol.com / Port : 587 (TLS)
  • Click Re-test

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  • If you've entered everything in correctly, task will be completed successfully and you can click on Create Account

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    Now you can check your AOL mails from Thunderbird clicking on Read messages

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Setting up your Sent folder properly


  • Thunderbird > Tools > Account Settings > Copies & Folders: set Place a copy in to Sent Items on the mail server
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  • Restart Thunderbird.