Is it possible to receive email in "real time"?

Question

I have a POP3 Windows Live/Hotmail account (@live.com). In Windows, with Outlook and perhaps other programs I don't know about, it is possible to receive emails as soon as they are received by the server. In Linux, I've only ever been able to receive emails whenever automatic mail checks happen.

Is there any way to receive email in "real time" without using a web browser? Preferably, I would like to configure Kontact to achieve this, but suggestions to use other email clients that achieve the purpose are also valid answers.

score 4 · Answer 1 · answered Nov 15 '13 at 23:04

4

You are comparing apples with oranges. What you were doing (with @live account) is using a Web mail application to check your email that fetch mails from the mail servers directly. No POP/SMTP sane configuration will allow you this since it causes overhead due the TCP protocol, and it wastes resources on the server, etc. Also, there is really no need for real-time emails nowadays. Email will be there (in the server) for years to come until you fetch it.

If you abuse the SMTP/POP protocol you might be blocked or throttled delaying even more the mails to reach your client.

answered Nov 15 '13 at 23:04

Braiam

67,791
32
179
269

I am being throttled, hence my question. – Richard Nov 16 '13 at 00:19
1

If you abuse the SMTP/POP protocol you might be blocked or throttled, just don't abuse! – Braiam Nov 16 '13 at 00:21
Alright, alright ... puts down stick. – Richard Nov 16 '13 at 03:42
My question wasn't really about manipulating the POP3 system itself, which is limited for reasons I am well aware of... but whether another method could be used instead. I suppose, for now, that the answer would be "no". – Richard Nov 16 '13 at 03:43
@searchfgold6789 yes... – Braiam Nov 16 '13 at 04:32

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 15 '13 at 22:49

1

As long as your don't have access to the configuration of the e-mail server you cannot recieve e-mails in "real-time".

What you can do is periodically check for new e-mails, and set the period to a very short time. Via command line tool mail or with a common graphic e-mail client such as thunderbird or whatever.

answered Nov 15 '13 at 22:49

chaos

27,506
12
74
77

I currently have Kontact, which checks every 4 or 5 minutes for new email, which is within Hotmail's limits. You're saying that Outlook.com, the browser based client provided by Microsoft, and the Outlook program can be manipulated to access settings that would be impossible to obtain or use with other desktop software? – Richard Nov 16 '13 at 03:46

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 19 '13 at 17:59

It's likely that whichever program you see receiving mail in "real time" is using something similar to IMAP's IDLE command (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IMAP_IDLE).

"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."

With this, the client establishes a connection and asks the server to notify of any incoming email, leaving the connection open at all times. When an email arrives, the server notifies and the client can take action instantly.

This feature is NOT supported by POP3.

My guess is that Outlook uses some proprietary protocol to communicate with Live (or whatever), which supports a similar feature. Outlook is most likely not using POP3 to connect with Live.

So to answer your question "Is there any way to receive email in "real time" without using a web browser?". The answer is "YES" given proper support of the required features on both client and server, and compatibility between them.

Look at whether Live supports IMAP, then check whether your mail client supports IMAP IDLE, if so they may be able to work together and do what you want.

Is it possible to receive email in "real time"?

3 Answers3