IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) is a standard email protocol that stores email messages on a mail server, but allows the end user to view and manipulate the messages as though they were stored locally on the end user's computing device(s). This allows users to organize messages into folders, have multiple client applications know which messages have been read, flag messages for urgency or follow-up and save draft messages on the server.

IMAP can be contrasted with another client/server email protocol, Post Office Protocol 3 (POP3). With POP3, mail is saved for the end user in a single mailbox on the server and moved to the end user's device when the mail client opens. While POP3 can be thought of as a "store-and-forward" service, IMAP can be thought of as a remote file server.

Most implementations of IMAP support multiple logins; this allows the end user to simultaneously connect to the email server with different devices. For example, the end user could connect to the mail server with his Outlook iPhone app and his Outlook desktop client at the same time. The details for how to handle multiple connections are not specified by the protocol but are instead left to the developers of the mail client.

Even though IMAP has an authentication mechanism, the authentication process can easily be circumvented by anyone who knows how to steal a password by using a protocol analyzer because the client’s username and password are transmitted as clear text. In an Exchange Server environment, administrators can work around this security flaw by using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption for IMAP.