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There are '''two important general truths you need to understand about email encryption''':
:* '''Email (the way the vast majority of people use it) travels from SMTP server to SMTP server uncencrypted'''. :: That means that nothing sent over email is ever <u>truly</u> secure. But continually intercepting SMTP server to SMTP server traffic is difficult and expensive, not worth doing for the little bit of money most of us have in our bank account. :* '''Email travelling over a LAN (especially Wifi, but any local network) is always encrypted'''. :: If it weren't - that is so easy and cheap to intercept that you're just asking for someone to please take your passwords and steal your identity. These days unencrypted connections from your client to your SMTP/IMAP/POP3 server are practically unheard of.
You see in our diagram that one of the SMTP connections is supposed to be encrypted (this is the one that would be "LAN" traffic) and the IMAP connection as well (this one is either LAN-like traffic or is connecting to localhost, which is a different scenario altogether).