A webmail app allows you to send and receive messages via browser without having to set up an email inside a program like Outlook or Thunderbird. If you travel, for instance, you can check your email messages from an Internet café and you will not have to download, install or set up anything. Webmail applications are advanced enough to provide you lots of options such as using an address book or making folders that can afterwards appear in your e-mail application. As a webmail application works with the messages on your server, it is important that you employ the IMAP protocol any time you configure an email account on your desktop. You can still use webmail if you choose POP, but old emails will not be available because they'll have been downloaded on your computer. You can take advantage of webmail provided that there is any sort of email created with your web hosting account and using an email client prior to being able to use webmail is not a requirement, so that you can manage your electronic communication entirely via a browser.