To quickly test an imap server using telnet use: telnet server 143 01 LOGIN username password 02 LIST "" * 03 SELECT mailbox Line 02 shows you all available mailboxes. To show the information about a mailbox: 04 STATUS mailbox (MESSAGES) Between () you can place one or more of the following: MESSAGES, UNSEEN, RECENT UIDNEXT UIDVALIDITY And one of the following commands to view the a message 1 is the first message * is wildcard for all: 05 FETCH 1 ALL # All IMAP headers 05 FETCH 1 FULL # Full headers and body info 05 FETCH 1 BODY # Body 05 FETCH 1 ENVELOPE # Envelope 05 FETCH * FULL # All email To fully retrieve a message use: 06 UID fetch 1:1 (UID RFC822.SIZE FLAGS BODY.PEEK[])