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Windows 8 Mail app to get IMAP support

Jun 15, 2012 8:48 am by damaster | 12 comments

Perhaps one of the most criticized aspect of the new Metro-style Mail app in Windows 8 Release Preview is it’s lack of support for IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol), a protocol still popular amongst several email providers. In the latest post on the Building Windows 8 blog, Jeremy Epling,
Lead Program Manager for Mail, detailed the design philosophy and some details about the Mail app (if you haven’t had the chance to fully explore the Mail app yet, it’s actually a good read). As part of the blog post, Epling also revealed that support for IMAP and other protocols will be coming in a future update of the Mail app. Here’s an excerpt from the blog post:

The use of standard protocols such as Exchange ActiveSync as implemented in the Mail app are increasingly important, especially because this protocol allows for syncing of contacts and calendar, in addition to mail. (Don’t worry, support for other protocols, such as IMAP, are on the way.)

Epling hasn’t detailed what the “other protocols” are, but we’re guessing POP3 will be included as well in addition to IMAP. The Windows Live Mail application, part of the Windows Live Essentials suite, currently supports POP3, IMAP, as well as DeltaSync (for Hotmail), but has no support for Exchange ActiveSync. So it appears that the Windows 8 Mail app may be supporting more protocols than its predecessor.

Was the lack of IMAP support from the Mail app a deal breaker for you? Would you be using the new Mail app once IMAP support has been added? What else would you like to see supported in the Mail app? Let us know in the comments below!

This entry was posted in News and tagged Apps, Mail, Windows 8. Bookmark the permalink.

http://www.guillaumeb.com/ GuillaumeB
hum, I thought Deltasync did not exist anymore. it’s been replaced with Exchange
- Asmodai
  I too thought DeltaSync was being replaced by Exchange ActiveSync but I have no idea where I heard that from.
- Damaster – LiveSide.net
  Hotmail still uses its proprietary DeltaSync protocol, which is used by Windows Live Mail and Outlook Connector. However in recent years Microsoft has also added POP3 and Exchange ActiveSync support so that people can receive mails from Hotmail on their mobile devices (and other clients).
http://twitter.com/efjay01 Ef Jay
I use the mail app already but still have to use the old essentials mail for my imap account so when it’s added I’ll definitely be using it.
http://www.keelstech.com/ Lee Keels
If you don’t use POP or IMAP, what DO you use? My email goes with my domain, and it certainly isn’t Exchange based, so what other options are there?
http://twitter.com/bart_willeman Bart Willeman
IMAP? POP? Really? Guess still a few people use them. Don’t see the use of them, especially POP, as the protocol(s) are so much more limited than Exchange Active Sync
- http://twitter.com/harlemS Travis Pope
  A few? Everyone who’s running a website on a Linux service and has an email is still using POP and IMAP, I for one would love to know why the heck it wasn’t already there and what took so long.
  - Alvaro-garcia
    Not only a Linux, I have a Windows 2008 R2 server with free version of MailEnable with POP3 support only. With IMAP and POP3 support Mail App will be better than Windows Live Mail, but Photos is far away from Live Gallery.
- frankwick
  Most people on cheap web hosts (1and1, GoDaddy, etc) use POP and IMAP as their protocol.
frankwick
My pains with the Win8 Mail app:
1. No way to open a message full screen. Yes, it matters on smaller screens. Isn’t Metro supposed to be full screen goodness?�
2. Mail doesn’t honor my color choice. Orange is my color scheme of choice on Win8 and the Mail app is still blue/green.
3. Tu UI is a little too “fresh” for me. It took some getting used to. It’s not nearly as efficient as the Windows Phone mail app.
http://twitter.com/JoshFoster Josh Foster
IMAP I can understand but POP needs to die, it’s horribly old and limited.
GeneK
The problem very clearly lies with Hotmail, which is the
native integration for Mail App.
Firstly please enable IMAP inside Hotmail! A better option
is for MS to enable the full true MS Exchange Protocol so that Hotmail can be
used as a Hosted Exchange Platform for all mail clients including Office for
MAC which incredibly, can’t even access Hotmail at all.
Windows Live Mail Desktop, Mail App and Outlook Connector are
the ONLY “non-web” interfaces for Hotmail because they support the proprietary DeltaSync
protocol. Hotmail doesn’t support IMAP. Exchange ActiveSync is available but can only
be used in mobile operating systems like iOS and WebOs, not Desktop Apps like Windows
Live Mail Desktop Mail App. �