Understanding email accounts
Setting up your email accounts
Modifying account settings
Using profiles
Before you can send and receive email using Outlook, you must set up at least one email account. When you set up an email account, you provide Outlook with the information it needs to connect to your online email account. Many people have just one account, but Outlook can work with multiple email accounts too.
Many people find that once their email account is set up they never have to make changes to the settings. Sometimes, however, making changes is required—and this chapter explains how to do this as well.
Before you can use Outlook to send and receive email, you must set your email account. You can have more than one account—you'll follow the same steps for each one. There are two parts to this.
First, your account must be set up on the server or at your ISP. This is not done in Outlook. If your account is at your workplace it will likely have been set up by an IT person and he or she will have provided you with the required information such as your email address and password. If you are setting up a home or small business account, you may be doing this yourself. The details depend on your ISP so I cannot provide instructions, but as part of the process you will either specify or be given your email address and password.
Second, you must set up your account in Outlook. This process provides Outlook with the information, such as your email address and password, that it needs to connect to your email server and send and receive messages.
If you are at work you may be lucky enough to have your IT guru set up Outlook for you, in which case you can skip this section. If you must do it yourself, the minimum information you'll need is your email address and your password. You may also need to know the address, or URL, of your email server. The URL looks a lot like a web page address and will be something like mail.hosting.com. Some mail accounts require two addresses, one for incoming mail and another for outgoing mail.
Outlook supports several different kinds of email accounts, including a Microsoft Exchange Server account. The account setup process differs depending on whether you have an Exchange account, an HTTP account such as Hotmail or MSN, or one of the other supported account types (POP and IMAP). All these procedures are covered in the following sections.
Outlook can automatically configure some email accounts. This works for some but not all POP, IMAP, Exchange Server, or HTTP accounts. To use the automated email account setup feature, you need to have your email address and your password. Then, here are the steps to follow:
From the menu, select Tools, Account Settings to display the Account Settings dialog box. Make sure the E-mail tab is selected, as shown in Figure 3.1. If there are any email accounts already set up they will be listed here. If you're just getting started the list will be blank.
Click the New button to display the Add New E-mail Account dialog box (Figure 3.2). Make sure the Microsoft Exchange Server, POP3, IMAP, or HTTP option is selected, then click Next.
The next dialog box, shown in Figure 3.3, asks for three pieces of information:
Your name.
Your email address.
Your password.
After entering the information click Next. Outlook will try to connect to your email server and set up the account.
At step 3 you have the option of proceeding with manual account setup by selecting the Manually Configure Server Settings or Additional Server Types option and clicking Next. Manual email account setup is described for the various account types later in this chapter.
If you are continuing with automatic account setup, Outlook will attempt to connect to your email server and set up the account. In most cases this will work just as it is supposed to. The setup process will finish, the new account will be listed in the email accounts list, and you'll be able to start sending and receiving messages. However, this automated process does not always work. You may encounter one of the following situations:
Outlook tells you that it cannot establish an encrypted connection to the server and offers to try again using an unencrypted connection. Click Next to proceed. The process will either complete properly or you'll encounter one of the other conditions in this list.
Outlook cannot establish a connection to your account and asks you to verify the spelling of your email address. Make any needed corrections and click Next to try again. The process will either complete properly or you'll encounter the final condition in this list.
If the preceding steps fail, Outlook will require that you manually configure the server settings. This option will be automatically selected in the Add New E-mail Account dialog box. Click Next to continue. The manual account setup steps differ for the various account types, and are covered in the following sections.
If automatic account setup does not work for your POP or IMAP account, you will have to do it manually. It's a bit more involved but nothing to be afraid of. You will need some more information in addition to your email address and password. This information should be available from your ISP or your IT person:
The addresses of your incoming mail server and outgoing mail server. These may be the same but are usually different.
The username and password for your account login.
Once you have this information you are ready to begin. The first dialog box in the manual account setup process is shown in Figure 3.4. You will arrive at this dialog box either if automatic setup failed, or if you explicitly selected manual account setup. Both of these are explained in the previous section, "Automatic Email Account Setup."
Select the Internet E-mail option.
Click Next to display the dialog box shown in Figure 3.5. Enter all the requested information in the corresponding boxes, and be sure to select the type of email server from the Account Type list. The Remember Password option and Require Logon using Secure Password Authentication option are explained later in this chapter. Most people should leave these at their default settings. The More Settings button is also explained later in this chapter.
Once you have entered all the information, click the Test Account Settings button. If the test works, click Next and then Finish to complete the account setup. If the test does not work, please refer to the next section ("If Your Account Settings Don't Work") for steps to resolve the problem.
There are two options available in the account setup dialog box. If you select the Remember Password option, Outlook will be able to automatically log on to your email account as needed. Otherwise you will be prompted for the password each time.
Secure Password Authentication, or SPA, is an additional level of security that some mail servers have implemented. If your server requires this you should have been told this and also given any additional credentials required for login.
It's not uncommon for email account settings to not work at first. When you click the Test Account Settings button, Outlook tries to log on to your incoming mail server and also to send a test message via your outgoing mail server. One or both of these tests may fail, and the results shown in the Test Account Settings dialog box (shown in Figure 3.6 after a failed test) will tell you the results. Note also that this dialog box has an Errors tab, shown in Figure 3.7. The information on this tab may give you a clue as to where the problem lies. For example, if the problem is reported as The Server Rejected Your Login, the problem almost surely lies with the username or password that you entered.
The most common cause of problems is simply mistyping some of the information required in the account setup dialog box. Everything must be 100% correct!
If the test failed in the outgoing mail server part, it most likely means that your outgoing mail server requires authentication. Setting this option is examined in the following section.
The email account setup dialog box, shown in Figure 3.5, has a button labeled More Settings. You may not need to make any changes here, but if you do you can refer to this section for the details.
Clicking the More Settings button brings up the Internet E-mail Settings dialog box. This dialog box has four tabs for POP and IMAP accounts and a fifth for IMAP accounts only. The following sections look at these in turn.
The General tab, shown in Figure 3.8, has these three entries:
Mail Account: This is the name Outlook uses to refer to the account, for example in the account list. The default is your email address but you can change it to anything you like such as Work Email or Yahoo Account.
Organization: If you enter your organization name here it will be included in the headers of all email messages you send. Recipients normally do not see these headers, and Outlook does not make use of this information in any way. Other email programs may, however.
Reply E-mail: When someone receives an email from you and replies by clicking the Reply button in their email program, their reply message will be sent to this address. By default it is the email address associated with the current email account, but if you have more than one email account you can enter another address here.
The Outgoing Server tab, shown in Figure 3.9, lets you specify authentication—that is, logon—settings for your outgoing mail server. By default this option is turned off because most outgoing mail servers do not require authentication. If yours does, put a check in the My Outgoing Server (SMTP) Requires Authentication box and then select other options and enter information as follows:
Use Same Settings as My Incoming Mail Server: Outlook will log on to your outgoing mail server using the same username and password that you specified for your incoming mail server. This is the most commonly used setting.
Log On Using: Select this option if your outgoing server requires its own log on. Then enter your username and password in the corresponding fields. The Remember Password option and the Require Secure Password Authentication (SPA) option work the same as was described for them in the previous section, "Manual Email Account Setup."
Log On to Incoming Mail Server before Sending Mail: Select this option only if your incoming mail server is the same as your outgoing mail server. You will know this is the case when you are given the same address for both servers and enter this address for both during account setup.
The Connection tab, shown in Figure 3.10, lets you specify details of how Outlook connects to your email server. To set these options, you need to know how your computer is connected to the Internet. If you are at work, you almost surely connect via a local area network (LAN). If you are at home and have a cable modem or DSL connection, including wireless connections, this is also a LAN. A dial-up or phone line connection is an older connection technology that is still in use by a lot of people.
If you are connected via a LAN, select the Connect Using My Local Area Network (LAN) option. If you select this option you can also select the Connect Via Modem when Outlook Is Offline option. Doing so will cause Outlook to use a dial-up connection (assuming that one is available) to connect when the LAN is not available.
If you connect via a modem (phone line), select the Connect Using My Phone Line option. You may already have a dial-up connection defined in Windows. If not, you must define one before you can use Outlook for email. Defining a dial-up network connection is a process that is part of the Windows operating system, not Outlook, and is beyond the scope of this book. Please refer to Windows online help for more information. If you select this option, you then must select the defined dial-up connection you want to use in the Modem section of the dialog box. You can use the Add button to add a new dial-up connection, and the Properties button to examine and modify the properties of an existing connection.
The Advanced tab contains options that most people will never need to change. You may not be "most people," however, so I explain these settings here. Note that the options available on this tab differ slightly for POP and IMAP accounts, as shown in Figures 3-11 and 3-12, respectively.
The advanced settings that are common to both POP and IMAP accounts are
Server Port Numbers, Incoming Server: The default values are 110 for POP servers and 143 for IMAP servers. It's rare for a server to be set up on different ports, but if yours is you can enter the correct port numbers here.
Server Port Numbers, Outgoing Server: Regardless of whether your incoming server is POP or IMAP, your outgoing server will be SMTP and the default port number is 25. Do not change this unless you know that your outgoing mail server uses a different port, a rare occurrence.
This Server Requires an Encrypted Connection (SSL): Turn this option on for the incoming and/or outgoing mail server if required.
Server Timeouts: This is the amount of time that Outlook will wait for the mail server to respond when retrieving/sending email. The default setting of 1 minute works fine in most cases. If you find Outlook timing out, it probably means that you are working over a slow connection or that your server is often busy. Try a longer timeout setting to resolve this problem.
If you are working with a POP account, you have several settings available that control how Outlook handles messages on the server:
Leave a Copy of Messages on the Server: By default, messages that you have received are removed from the server as soon as they are downloaded to Outlook. Turn this option on if you want Outlook to leave the messages on the server after download. This can be useful if you will want to later retrieve your messages from another computer.
Remove from Server after ... Days: Specifies how long messages are to be retained on the server after they have been downloaded.
Remove from Server when Deleted from 'Deleted Items': A message will be retained on the server until you permanently delete it in Outlook.
If you are working with an IMAP account there is one unique option, Root Folder Path, which specifies the root folder of the mailbox. Normally you will leave this blank and Outlook will use the default root folder on the server. If you need to specify a different root folder, enter it here.
The Folders tab is available in the Internet E-mail Settings dialog box only for IMAP accounts. It lets you specify whether copies of sent mail should be stored in the default Sent Items folder or somewhere else. If you choose the latter option you can select the folder to use or create a new folder.
If automatic account setup does not work for your Exchange account, you will have to exit Outlook and set up the account through the Windows Control Panel. Though some of the dialog boxes look the same, you cannot set up an Exchange account manually while Outlook is running. In order to complete this setup you will need to know the address of your Exchange server (or its NETBIOS name), the username that has been set up for you, and your password.
These are the steps to set up an Exchange account:
Make sure Outlook is not running.
Select Control Panel from the Windows Start menu.
Double-click the Mail icon to display the Mail Setup dialog box.
Click the E-mail Accounts button to open the Account Settings dialog box. This is the same dialog box that you see when setting up accounts from within Outlook (shown earlier in Figure 3.1).
On the E-mail tab, click the New button to display the Add New E-mail Account dialog box.
Make sure that the Microsoft Exchange, POP3, IMAP, or HTTP option is selected and click Next.
In the next dialog box, select the Manually Configure Server Settings option and click Next.
In the next dialog box, select the Microsoft Exchange option and click Next.
In the next dialog box, shown in Figure 3.13, enter your Exchange server address and username.
If a dialog box appears asking whether you want to continue, click OK.
Click Finish.
After setting up your account you can start Outlook. You will be prompted for the Exchange account password. If the connection is established Outlook will display "Connected to Microsoft Exchange" at the right end of the status bar (which is at the bottom of the Outlook window).
You learn more about working with an Exchange account in Chapter 28.
The preceding steps should set up your Exchange account with the default settings. This may be fine for you, but you may also want to make some changes to the settings. These settings are explained in Chapter 28, "Using Outlook with Exchange Server."
You have an HTTP mail account if you have signed up for email with either Hotmail or Microsoft Network (MSN). Other email providers may also have HTTP accounts that are compatible with Outlook. If so, they will have provided you with the information you need to set up the account when you signed up.
HTTP mail accounts are designed primarily for Web use—that is, you will use a browser such as Internet Explorer to log on to your email account and read and send messages. However, it can be useful to set up an Outlook account too so you can download and read mail in Outlook and use the program's various features to organize your messages. Be aware that not all HTTP email accounts are compatible with Outlook.
To set up your HTTP email account in Outlook you need your email address and password. If you are setting up an HTTP account that is not Hotmail or MSN you will also need to know the address (URL) of the mail server and your username. Then, follow these steps:
Select the Manually Configure Server Settings option in the dialog box (refer to Figure 3.3) and click Next.
In the next dialog box make sure the Internet E-mail option is selected, then click Next.
In the next dialog box, shown in Figure 3.14, enter your name, email address, username, and password. Make sure HTTP is selected in the Account Type list.
Select Hotmail, MSN, or Other in the HTTP Service Provider list.
If you selected Other in the preceding step, enter the URL of your HTTP email server in the provided box.
Click Next to complete account setup.
If you should need to change your account settings, the procedure is similar to setting up the account in the first place. Select Tools, Account Settings to display the Account Settings dialog box, and make sure the E-mail tab is displayed. Select the account of interest (necessary only if you have more than one) and click the Change button. You'll be taken through one or more dialog boxes where you can view and change the settings for this account. The settings will depend on the type of account and were explained earlier in this chapter in the section on setting up email accounts (Exchange server settings are covered in Chapter 28).
There are several other actions you can take with email accounts in the Account Settings dialog box:
Repair: Outlook will try to connect to your email provider and refresh your account settings. This is the first step to try if an email account has suddenly stopped working.
Remove: Deletes the account.
Set as Default: If you have two or more email accounts, makes the selected account the default.
What exactly is the default email account? It's the account that is used to send email messages that you create from scratch. When you create an email message by replying to a message you have received, it will be sent using the account that the "reply to" message was received through. Note, however, that when you are composing an email message you can always change the account that the message will be sent through. This is explained in the next chapter.
An Outlook profile stores information about a user's accounts and settings. All Outlook users have a single profile, and for most people that is all that is needed. In some circumstances, multiple profiles can be useful. This section explains how to create and use profiles in Outlook.
In the first part of this chapter you learned how to set up your email accounts. Later chapters deal with configuring other aspects of Outlook such as RSS feeds and the screen appearance. All this information constitutes your profile. The vast majority of users never have a need for more than one profile, but there are situations where they can be useful:
If you want to completely segregate two or more types of information, such as work and personal, you can create a profile for each.
If you want to keep your regular POP and IMAP email accounts separate from an Exchange account.
If more than one person uses the same computer, each person can have their own profile.
The third reason is usually a moot point because modern versions of Windows provide for different user accounts for logging on to Windows, which automatically gives each user their own Outlook profile. If, however, you want more than one person to use the same Windows logon and have separate Outlook data, you can use profiles.
Please note that creating an Outlook profile is not the same as creating a separate personal folders file. Although a given Outlook profile can have one or more personal folders files, each profile's folders are kept separate from other profiles.
When you first install Outlook, a wizard walks you through the steps of creating a profile. To create a new profile you do not use Outlook but rather the Windows Control Panel, as follows:
Select Control Panel from the Windows Start menu.
Open Mail to display the Mail Setup - Outlook dialog box.
Click the Show Profiles button to open the Mail dialog box (Figure 3.15). This dialog box lists the existing profiles; the default profile is named Outlook.
Click the Add button to open the New Profile dialog box (Figure 3.16).
Follow the on-screen prompts to set up your email account. This procedure is covered earlier in this chapter.
Other actions you can take in the Mail dialog box are
Remove: Removes the selected profile from the system.
Properties: Lets you view and edit the properties of the profile, including the email account settings and data files. You learned how to work with email settings in Chapter ?? and data files in Chapter ??.
Copy: Makes a copy of the selected profile under a new name. This is useful if you want a new profile that has some of the same settings as an existing one. Create a copy then edit it as needed.
Prompt for a Profile: If this option is selected and you have more than one profile, Outlook will prompt you to select the profile you want to use each time the program starts.
Always use the Profile: Select the profile that you want Outlook to use from the list.
You cannot switch from one profile to another while Outlook is running. If you selected the Prompt for a Profile option (as explained in the previous section), quit Outlook and restart it, then select the desired profile when prompted.
If you selected the Always Use this Profile option (also explained in the previous section), you must perform the following steps:
Quit Outlook.
Select Control Panel from the Windows Start menu.
From Control Panel, open Mail.
Click the Show Profiles button.
Select the Prompt for a Profile option.
Close all dialog boxes.
Start Outlook.
Setting up your email account—or accounts, as the case may be—is the first thing you must do if you want to use Outlook to send and receive email. Outlook supports several different kinds of accounts and you can be using one, two, or more different account types at the same time. Once you have your accounts set up and working, you can usually forget about them. Occasionally, however, you may need to modify some account settings and Outlook provides for that, too. Also, you can set up multiple Outlook profiles if you have the need.