Enable or Disable POP3 or IMAP4 access for a user in Exchange Online

By default, POP3 and IMAP4 are enabled for all users in Exchange Online. You can disable them for individual users. For more information about POP3 and IMAP4, see POP3 and IMAP4.

What do you need to know before you begin?

• Estimated time to finish: two minutes.

• If you enabled security defaults in your organization, POP3 and IMAP4 are already disabled in Exchange Online. For more information, see Security defaults in Microsoft Entra ID.

• You need to be assigned permissions before you can perform this procedure or procedures. To see what permissions you need, see the "POP3 and IMAP4 settings" section in the Feature permissions in Exchange Online article.

• For information about keyboard shortcuts that might apply to the procedures in this article, see Keyboard shortcuts for the Exchange admin center.

Tip

Having problems? Ask for help in the Exchange forums. Visit the forums at Exchange Online or Exchange Online Protection.

Use the EAC to enable or disable POP3 or IMAP4 for a user

1. In the EAC, go to Recipients > Mailboxes.

2. In the result pane, select the user for which you want to enable or disable POP3, and then select Edit .

3. In the User Mailbox dialog box, in the console tree, select Mailbox Features.

4. In the result pane, under Email Connectivity, do one of the following steps:

   • To enable POP3 for the user, under POP3: Disabled, select Enable.
   • To enable IMAP4 for the user, under IMAP4: Disabled, select Enable.
   • To disable POP3 for the user, under POP3: Enabled, select Disable.
   • To disable IMAP4 for the user, under IMAP4: Enabled, select Disable.

5. Select Save.

Use Exchange Online PowerShell to enable or disable POP3 or IMAP4 for a user

This example enables POP3 for the user Christa Knapp.

Set-CASMailbox -Identity "Christa Knapp" -POPEnabled $true

This example enables IMAP4 for the user Christa Knapp.

Set-CASMailbox -Identity "Christa Knapp" -IMAPEnabled $true

This example disables POP3 for the user Christa Knapp.

Set-CASMailbox -Identity "Christa Knapp" -POPEnabled $false

This example disables IMAP4 for the user Christa Knapp.

Set-CASMailbox -Identity "Christa Knapp" -IMAPEnabled $false

How do you know this procedure worked?

1. In the EAC, go to Recipients > Mailboxes.
2. In the result pane, select the user for which you want to enable or disable POP3 or IMAP4, and then select Edit.
3. In the User Mailbox dialog box, in the console tree, select Mailbox Features.
4. In the result pane, look under Email Connectivity.
   • If POP3 is disabled for the user, you see POP3: Disabled.
   • If IMAP4 is disabled for the user, you see IMAP4: Disabled.
   • If POP3 is enabled for the user, you see POP3: Enabled.
   • If IMAP4 is enabled for the user, you see IMAP4: Enabled.
5. Select Save.