Add an e-mail account

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Outlook can automatically set up accounts from many popular ISP (ISP: An acronym for Internet service provider, a type of company that provides Internet services such as e-mail, chat rooms, or access to the World Wide Web. Some ISPs are multinational and offer access in many locations, while others are limited to a specific region/country.), as well as e-mail service providers such as AOL, Gmail, MobileMe, Windows Live Hotmail, and Yahoo. If Outlook can't set up an account automatically, you will need some information about your account, such as the account type and addresses of mail servers. Outlook supports both POP (POP: A common type of Internet-based mail account. Examples are Windows Live Hotmail and Yahoo! Mail. After you add a POP account to Outlook, messages from the account appear in the folder list under On My Computer.) and IMAP (IMAP: A common type of Internet-based mail account such as Gmail, AOL Mail, and many others. Messages from these accounts appear in folders in the Outlook folder list, under the name of the account.) e-mail accounts.

If you have a Microsoft Exchange account (Microsoft Exchange account: An account managed by Microsoft Exchange Server. Microsoft Exchange accounts are used by organizations with many users. They make it possible to synchronize e-mail, calendars, and contacts between multiple computers.), see Add an Exchange account.

1. On the Tools menu, click Accounts.
2. In the lower-left corner of the Accounts dialog box, click Add , and then click E-mail.
3. Enter your e-mail address and password, and then click Add Account.

If the Add Account button is unavailable

When the process of adding the account is complete, the account appears in the left pane of the Accounts dialog box, and Outlook begins downloading your messages.

4. To enter additional settings for the outgoing server, under Outgoing server, click More Options.

To enter additional settings for the server, folders, or security, click Advanced, and then click the tab that you want.

 Notes 

• Your e-mail service provider may require you to enable POP or IMAP access through its Web site before you can use the account in Outlook.
• If you add a POP account and another type of account, messages from the POP account appear in the Inbox under On My Computer in the folder list (folder list: The list of your mail folders visible in the navigation pane, which is the pane on the left side of the main Outlook window. The folder list is only visible in Mail view.).
• With POP and IMAP e-mail accounts, e-mail messages are the only items (items: Units of information in Outlook, such as e-mail messages, calendar events, contacts, tasks, and notes.) that are synchronized between Outlook and the mail server. Other items that you create in Outlook — such as contacts, calendar events, tasks, and notes — are stored on your computer, not on the mail server.
• To delete an account, in the left pane of the Accounts dialog box, select an account, and then click Delete . When you delete a POP account, existing messages from that account remain in Outlook, but no further messages are downloaded or sent. When you delete an IMAP account, all messages from that account are deleted from Outlook, but any copies of messages that you have on the server remain there. Items other than messages, such as contacts and events, are not affected when you delete a POP or IMAP account.

See also

POP account basic settings

IMAP account basic settings

I can't send or receive messages with my e-mail account

Specify the default account