Local storage of mail with IMAP, MAC Mail and Comcast as a provider

Answer from Comcast on the same topic:

"If you have no issue on our webmail platform then the issue is not something anyone at Comcast can assist with. The reason being is if the platform we own/manage is working fine then the issue lies in the configuration of the third-party email service you are using or within the device you are accessing your email on. We don't recommend using 3rd party email clients. At Comcast, we can assist with supporting your Comcast services, our products, and our platforms. Unfortunately, our teams are unable to assist with troubleshooting Apple Mail systems as that is not our platform."

With both sides pointing to each other, the customer ends up in the middle with no help....

Thanks Astro24. I understand the very basics of POP and IMAP.

Unfortunately they do not explain how synchronization and deletions happen when multiple different devices (using the same email addresses and same provider) accomplish that. Any Comcast user knows that their support lacks and that their staff is almost impossible to access; when you can reach one in person, they really do not know anything about email. That's why I turned to this forum, hoping to find someone who might be a Comcast user, who also uses different Apple devices and understands what happens with incoming email configured for IMAP on some devices and maybe with POP on others, etc. and could address my questions 2-5. Even if Comcast is not the provider, I think that the answers could be the same, driven by the definition of the two protocols for incoming mail.

Similar questions are:

1) What is the definition of "synchronization" between the server and emails on all the devices accessing it and how is it implemented when all devices are configured for IMAP?

2) If I save my emails on my iMac in dedicated folders that I create, would "synchronization" impact them? If I were to delete an email on my iphone after I saved it in a folder on my iMac, would that email be deleted in the folder on the iMac? If later on I would delete the email saved in a folder created by me on my iMac, would it be deleted on the server and on my iPhone?

3) If I create folders on my iMac, will the same folders be created on my iPhone and on the server?

Does anyone know how synchronization happens?

My email configurations for incoming mail on my iMac currently are POP 3 for all 4 of my Comcast email addresses. On my phone, they were configured as IMAP. As a result, folders created on the Comcast server using their webmail with a browser, were displayed on my iphone, but not on my iMac.

One of the two vendors had to change something and the folder synchronization between the server and the iphone no longer works. I am trying to see if someone knows how this synchronization is supposed to happen., as it is not exactly as simple as one would assume and none of the 2 vendors' reps whom I was able to reach understands it or knows about it, they just point to each other.

Thanks. I was hoping that maybe someone from Apple is on this Forum and might have the know-how to address these questions. Synchronization doesn't happen in the vacuum and it is not done by Comcast, it is done "through" their server. Synchronization between devices is a capability that Apple implemented and it supports and it implies the two vendors working together. Synchronization can happen only when one vedor interfaces with the other, both vendors have to be involved. As a result, qualified Apple staff that implemented it and maintains it has to be very familiar with what I am asking about. One would have hoped that they might have even documented what was implemented and someone can explain what was defined as "synchronization" (and how it is supposed to work) before it was implemented, particularly since two vendors and multiple teams had to be involved. I would find it hard to believe that nobody at Apple or no Apple user knows.... But I might be wrong..