How Email Works

Email works by using a combination of servers, clients, and protocols to send messages and attachments over the internet.

Here's a brief overview of how it works:

1. The sender composes an email using an email client, such as Outlook or Gmail, and enters the recipient's email address.
2. The email client connects to the sender's mail server, which is a computer that stores and manages the sender's emails.
3. The mail server sends the email to the recipient's mail server, using a protocol called Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP).
4. The recipient's mail server receives the email and stores it in the recipient's email inbox.
5. The recipient opens their email client, which connects to the recipient's mail server and retrieves the new email.
6. The recipient reads the email and can reply to it or forward it to other recipients.

In this process, the email client is the software that the sender and recipient use to read and write emails, while the mail server is a computer that stores and manages the emails. The SMTP protocol is the set of rules that govern the communication between mail servers.

In addition to SMTP, there are other protocols that are used in email communication, such as Post Office Protocol (POP) and Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP), which are used to retrieve emails from the mail server.