The most common area of frustration for people migrating to a new installation of Outlook is remembering the settings for existing email accounts especially if it’s something that hasn’t been done in a very, very long time.
This doesn’t apply if you are upgrading from to a newer version of Outlook (MS Office) on a system where an older version of a fully configured version of Outlook either already exists or has been uninstalled. All critical Outlook configuration . There can be multiple Outlook profiles configured and one can be set to be used as the “default” when Outlook is opened.
A common mistake made in trying to resolve an Outlook issue is to uninstall and resintall the program in hopes to “start from scratch” which is a pointless and needless time-consuming exercise since all critical Outlook configuration information is maintained in an Outlook <Profile> which persists any un-install and re-install of Outlook (MS Office). In the event that you want to “start over” when Outlook has already been previously configured, the approach to that would be to use the Control Panel Mail app, create a new Outlook profile and make it the new default for Outlook the next time it is opened.
Accessing individual Email Account settings
The process to view/change settings for any individual account is done by highlight the desired email account from the main Account Settings page listed under the <Email> tab and clicking on the <Change> button (for more detailed info see <Understanding Outlook Profiles and Account Settings>)
In reality, it doesn’t matter whether this is the first time you are configuring email account in Outlook or setting it up for the first time using information from a previous install. Whichever scenario applies – the same information will be required. The exception to this in Outlook ‘2013 is if you use the “auto-Detection” feature attemtping to have Outlook automatically configured your email account(s). However, for those migrating from a previous version (or even the same version on a different system for that matter) – there are some caveats to using that approach.
For those setting up an email account for the first time, all related to the account must be provided by your ESP especially for POP3/IMAP based accounts unless the auto-detection process works for you. For those migrating to a new install the information below can be obtained via the Outlook Account Settings option OR via using the Control Panel Mail app
The process starts by selecting the desired account from the Account Settings screen and clicking on the <Change> button or using the Control Panel Mail app and clicking on the Email Accounts tab. If you’re looking to gather information contained in a profile that is not currently the Outlook default, you will have to utilize the Control Panel Mail app and select the desired profile to work with.
The first screen you’ll be presented with for an POP and IMAP account to gather the intial critical pieces of information is as follows
Outlook 2013 – Initial IMAP/POP Settings
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Outlook ‘2010 – Initial IMAP/POP Settings
Outlook ‘2007 – Initial IMAP/POP Settings
Login Information
1 – Account UserName – (very often that would be the same as your email address)
2 – Account Password
It may have been years since you’ve actually configured your email account and as a result, don’t remember what password you used originally. Always a good idea to verify that you have the correct login information by trying to access your account by logging into it via WebMail using your browser. If you don’t remember you password, it will have to be reset and a new one created. Your ESP will not typically be able to provide you with any exsting passwords.
An alternative to password recovery in this scenario is to use a free utility provided by the folks at <PassWare> called <Asterisk Key> available from https://www.lostpassword.com/free.htm. One caveat to using this tool – make sure that no one else has access to your system or delete the program after you don’t need it anymore otherwise you’re leaving yourself open to others accessing your email account using valid credentials.
3 – Incoming server name (POP3, IMAP or MAPI/EAS where auto-detection doesn’t work)
4 – Outbound (SMTP) server name
Once you have the basic information, then there 3 additional information groups that should be reviewed and recorded for future reference by clicking on the <More Settings> butoon which will bring up a Window (Internet E-Mail Settings) window. The number of tabs and options for Imap Accounts depends on the version of Outlook being used. The most important pieces information for the purposes of this article are located in one of the following three tabs common to all versions of Outlook whether for a POP or IMAP Account.
Server Information<MoreSettings> – Common POP3/IMAP Settings
Screenshots in this section for the General/Outgoing/Advance tabs are taken from a POP based account but information described is commone to both POP and IMAP accounts across all versions of Outlook.
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General
5 – Name used by Outlook to reference this account 6 – The Organization name used for identifying Emails sent 7 – The “reply to ” email address that will be used when someone responds to a message. Can be left blank but if a value is entered, make sure it’s valid otherwise and messages sent to you using “Reply” will bounce back to the sender
Outgoing Server
8 – Option indicating whether the SMTP server must be authenticated prior to sending out any emails. For most, this option will need to be selected otherwise, even though you will be able to recieve messages, you won’t be able to send any.
9 – Options for how the SMTP server is to be authenticated. For most people, the <Incoming> credentials would be the desried option. However, for those who travel and connect to the net outside the home area of your primary ISP – it may be necessary to provide expliicit SMTP server settings that differ from your incoming server.
Advanced
The four most important pieces of information in this section for POP/IMAP accounts are applicable PORT#’s and Encryption methods required for both the Incoming and Outlook servers and close attention should be paid to those values. Entering the wrong values results in you not being to either be able to send or recieve emal.
An additional setting for POP3 accounts is the “Leave a copy of messages on the server” which can have a major impact on things if you use multiple devices and/or want to use webmail while travelling.
IMAP Specific <More Options> Settings
Additional settings for IMAP accounts vary depending on the version of Outlook and not all the options are the same (or available) so it would be worthwhile to take note of the differences in order to not get any unexpected surprises.
Outlook ‘2013 has 3 tabs
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Outlook ‘2010 has 6 tabs
Outlook ‘2007 has 5 tabs
