Kui juhtub, et ei ole ligi ei client side IMAP klienti ja puudub ka veebipõhine lugemisvõimalus siis on abiks algtõed.
margusja@margusja:~$ telnet xx.xxx.xx 143
Trying xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx…
Connected to xx.xxx.xx.
Escape character is ‘^]’.
* OK xx.xxx.xx Cyrus IMAP4 v2.2.12-Invoca-RPM-2.2.12-6.fc4 server ready
a1 login username password
a1 OK User logged in
a2 list “Inbox” “*”
* LIST (\HasChildren) “.” “Inbox”
* LIST (\HasNoChildren) “.” “Inbox.Drafts”
* LIST (\HasNoChildren) “.” “Inbox.Trash”
* LIST (\HasNoChildren) “.” “Inbox.spam”
a2 OK Completed (0.000 secs 3 calls)
a3 select inbox
* FLAGS (\Answered \Flagged \Draft \Deleted \Seen $Forwarded Junk NonJunk $MDNSent)
* OK [PERMANENTFLAGS (\Answered \Flagged \Draft \Deleted \Seen $Forwarded Junk NonJunk $MDNSent \*)]
* 115 EXISTS <- postkastis on 115 kirja
* 0 RECENT
* OK [UIDVALIDITY 1140437735]
* OK [UIDNEXT 10856]
a4 fetch nr. body[text] <- Kirja sisu, kus nr siis vastava kirja number
a5 logout
* BYE LOGOUT received
a5 OK Completed
Connection closed by foreign host.
Põhjalikumalt http://networking.ringofsaturn.com/Protocols/imap.php