IMAP IDLE
Encyclopedia
In e-mail
technology, IDLE is an IMAP feature described in RFC 2177 that allows a client
to indicate to the server
that it is ready to accept real-time
notifications.
Server software with support for IMAP IDLE
E-mail
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
technology, IDLE is an IMAP feature described in RFC 2177 that allows a client
Client (computing)
A client is an application or system that accesses a service made available by a server. The server is often on another computer system, in which case the client accesses the service by way of a network....
to indicate to the server
Server (computing)
In the context of client-server architecture, a server is a computer program running to serve the requests of other programs, the "clients". Thus, the "server" performs some computational task on behalf of "clients"...
that it is ready to accept real-time
Real-time computing
In computer science, real-time computing , or reactive computing, is the study of hardware and software systems that are subject to a "real-time constraint"— e.g. operational deadlines from event to system response. Real-time programs must guarantee response within strict time constraints...
notifications.
Significance
The IDLE feature allows IMAP e-mail users to immediately receive any mailbox changes without having to undertake any action such as clicking on a refresh button, or having the e-mail client automatically and repeatedly ask the server for new messages.Usage
IMAP4 servers that support IDLE will include this programming string in the result of their CAPABILITY command.Software
Client software with support for IMAP IDLE- Kmail as with KDE SC 4.7
- ibisMail for iPhoneIPhoneThe iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
- Tiverias GPush for iPhoneIPhoneThe iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
- EmailPush for iPhoneIPhoneThe iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
- SymbianSymbianSymbian is a mobile operating system and computing platform designed for smartphones and currently maintained by Accenture. The Symbian platform is the successor to Symbian OS and Nokia Series 60; unlike Symbian OS, which needed an additional user interface system, Symbian includes a user...
smartphones (on newer E72, E52 etc. phones this functionality is broken, because connection to the mail server is closed (probably even outside the mailing application) and never restored.) - Treo smartphones
- webOS smartphones
- Opera Mail
- Mozilla ThunderbirdMozilla ThunderbirdMozilla Thunderbird is a free, open source, cross-platform e-mail and news client developed by the Mozilla Foundation. The project strategy is modeled after Mozilla Firefox, a project aimed at creating a web browser...
- Evolution (IMAPX introduced as "IMAP+" in version 2.30)
- Apple MailMail (application)Mail is an email program included with Apple Inc.'s Mac OS X operating system. Originally developed by NeXT as NeXTMail, a part of their NeXTSTEP operating system, it was adapted, following Apple's acquisition of NeXT, to become OS X's Mail application.Mail uses the SMTP, POP3, and IMAP protocols,...
, IDLE command introduced with version 3. - Becky!Becky!Becky! is an e-mail client developed by the Japanese company RimArts from Matsudo City, Chiba. In the early 2000s, it had received attention in East Asia due to good support for CJKV characters. It supports multiple accounts using the standard POP3/SMTP or IMAP protocols, with or without SSL,...
, IDLE command introduced with version 2.56 (2010/09/29). - Emansio For Windows Mobile
- FlexMail For Windows Mobile
- ProfiMail For Windows Mobile and Symbian
- SchedHandler For Windows Mobile
- Microsoft Outlook ExpressOutlook ExpressOutlook Express is an email and news client that is included with Internet Explorer versions 4.0 through 6.0. As such, it is also bundled with several versions of Microsoft Windows, from Windows 98 to Windows Server 2003, and is available for Windows 3.x, Windows NT 3.51, Windows 95 and Mac OS 9...
- Microsoft Windows MailWindows MailWindows Mail is an email and newsgroup client included in Windows Vista, that was superseded by Windows Live Mail. It is the successor to Outlook Express. Microsoft previewed Windows Mail on Channel 9 on October 10, 2005....
- Microsoft OutlookMicrosoft OutlookMicrosoft Outlook is a personal information manager from Microsoft, available both as a separate application as well as a part of the Microsoft Office suite...
- Microsoft EntourageMicrosoft EntourageMicrosoft Entourage was an e-mail client and personal information manager developed by Microsoft for Mac OS 8.5 and higher. Microsoft first released Entourage in October 2000 as part of the Microsoft Office 2001 office suite; Office 98, the previous version of Microsoft Office for Mac OS included...
- MuttMutt (e-mail client)Mutt is a text-based email client for Unix-like systems. It was originally written by Michael Elkins in 1995 and released under the GNU General Public License version 2 or any later version....
- Peek (mobile email device)
- K9 Mail for Android
- SparrowSparrow (e-mail client)Sparrow is an email client for Mac OS X. After a 4 month beta period Sparrow went on sale in the Mac App Store on 9 February 2011 and it has become the top paid and top grossing app in less than one day....
for OS X - Zimbra Desktop for Windows, Linux & MAC
Server software with support for IMAP IDLE
- UW IMAPUW IMAPThe UW IMAP server is the reference server implementation of the IMAP protocol. Unlike other server implementations, it is designed to be aggressively compatible with existing legacy mail stores and systems, and to be "plug-and-play" installable without requiring any site-specific configuration.UW...
- Panda IMAP
- acIMAP
- Courier Mail ServerCourier Mail ServerThe Courier mail server is a mail transfer agent server that provides ESMTP, IMAP, POP3, SMAP, webmail, and mailing list services with individual components. It is best known for its IMAP server component....
- DBMail IMAP and POP3 serverDBMail IMAP and POP3 serverThe DBMail IMAP and POP3 is a fast, scalable IMAP4 and POP3 server that stores all email and users in a Postgresql, MySQL or SQLite database.- How does it work? :...
- dovecotDovecot (software)Dovecot is an open source IMAP and POP3 server for Linux/UNIX-like systems, written primarily with security in mind. Developed by Timo Sirainen, Dovecot was first released in July 2002...
IMAP server - CommuniGate Pro
- SynchronicaSynchronicaSynchronica plc is a public listed software vendor that develops and markets mobile push email and synchronization solutions, as well as mobile messaging solutions targeted at mobile network operators and device manufacturers....
Mobile Gateway - wodImapServer ActiveX component
- isode M-Box POP/IMAP Gateway
- Eudora Internet Mail ServerEudora Internet Mail ServerEudora Internet Mail Server is a POP3, IMAP, and SMTP server for Mac OS.-History:In 1993 Glenn Anderson started development on what was then called MailShare, which was available as freeware. In 1995 MailShare was purchased by Apple Computer and renamed to Apple Internet Mail Server. Version 1.0...
- Cyrus IMAP serverCyrus IMAP serverThe Cyrus IMAP server differs from other IMAP server implementations in that it is generally intended to be run on sealed servers, where normal users cannot log in. The mail spool uses a filesystem layout and format similar to the Maildir format used by other popular email servers such as qmail,...
- Kerio Mail Server
- Kerio Connect
- KolabKolabKolab is an open source groupware suite. It consists of the Kolab server and a wide variety of Kolab clients, including KDE PIM-Suite Kontact, Horde Webfrontend, Mozilla Thunderbird and Mozilla Lightning with SyncKolab extension and Microsoft Outlook with proprietary Kolab-Connector PlugIns.-Basic...
Groupware Server - hMailServerHMailServerhMailServer is a free email server for Windows created by Martin Knafve. It runs as a Windows service and includes administration tools for management and backup. It has support for IMAP, POP3, and SMTP email protocols. It uses database engines to store configuration and index data but the actual...
- MailtraqMailtraqMailtraq is a commercial mail and groupware server. It runs on Microsoft Windows.-Features:The email server offers POP3, SMTP, HTTP, IMAP4 all with SSL/TLS support, plus NNTP, and provides webmail functionality....
- Microsoft Exchange ServerMicrosoft Exchange ServerMicrosoft Exchange Server is the server side of a client–server, collaborative application product developed by Microsoft. It is part of the Microsoft Servers line of server products and is used by enterprises using Microsoft infrastructure products...
5.5, Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server, Microsoft Exchange ServerMicrosoft Exchange ServerMicrosoft Exchange Server is the server side of a client–server, collaborative application product developed by Microsoft. It is part of the Microsoft Servers line of server products and is used by enterprises using Microsoft infrastructure products...
2003 - Microsoft Exchange ServerMicrosoft Exchange ServerMicrosoft Exchange Server is the server side of a client–server, collaborative application product developed by Microsoft. It is part of the Microsoft Servers line of server products and is used by enterprises using Microsoft infrastructure products...
2007 - Microsoft Exchange ServerMicrosoft Exchange ServerMicrosoft Exchange Server is the server side of a client–server, collaborative application product developed by Microsoft. It is part of the Microsoft Servers line of server products and is used by enterprises using Microsoft infrastructure products...
2010 - Sun Java System Messaging ServerSun Java System Messaging ServerOracle Communications Messaging Exchange Server is Oracle’s highly scalable and robust messaging server software. The software was obtained by Oracle as part of the company's acquisition of Sun in 2010....
- LumiSoft Mail Server
- Mdaemon Mail server
- Zarafa Collaboration Platform
- Teamware Office
- Zimbra Collaboration Server
- SmarterMail 8.x