In-Depth Look at Microsoft’s IMAP Support in Outlook 2013

Outlook 2013, the email client available in the Office 2013 productivity suite, comes with updated IMAP support, as Microsoft has finally decided to update the app based on users’ recommendations.

There are four main new things that you’ll notice in the new Outlook 2013 when it comes to IMAP support, Microsoft said.

The first one is the syncing and sending messages process that is now performed in the background.

“You no longer have to wait for sync to complete in order to use Outlook. General comments about Outlook's performance when using IMAP was the top issue we heard from all of you, and we believe this change will improve the experience quite a bit,” the Outlook Team explained.

In addition, Outlook 2013 with IMAP also comes with new mail notifications, while Outlook automatically recognizes special folders in the mailbox, which means that the app supports XLIST too.

Last but not least, you can choose exactly how much mail to sync and how much to keep on the local disks, Microsoft proudly said.

On the other hand, the revamped email client no longer supports the “Download Headers Only” option for IMAP, while categories are still not supported for IMAP accounts.

“We were able to make these improvements to IMAP because you continue to provide feedback to the Outlook team about how to make your experience better. All your questions and comments are not only appreciated, but used to make decisions about how we can improve Outlook in the future. Please keep it coming!” Allie Bellew, Outlook program manager, said.