Set up Outlook Express - how it works

Before you can receive and send e-mails with Outlook Express, you must first set up the program correctly. We'll show you how.

Set up a new account in Outlook Express

In order to use Outlook Express for your email traffic, you must first set up your email account.

1. Open the "Tools" menu in Outlook and select "Accounts ...".
2. Select the "E-Mail" tab and click on "Add" and then "E-Mail ...". The Internet access wizard opens.
3. Enter your desired display name. As a rule, this is your full name. Confirm with "Next".
4. Now enter the email address you want to use. Confirm with "Next".
5. Next, choose whether your incoming server uses POP3, IMAP or HTTP. Either POP3 or IMAP are usually used. Many providers also offer both options. In most cases, IMAP is preferable.
6. Now enter the address of your incoming mail server in the first input field. This usually has the structure "PROTOKOLL.PROVIDER.TLD" (TLD = top-level domain). For example, with Gmail this would be "pop.gmail.com" or "imap.gmail.com". You can get the exact address from your provider.
7. Enter the address of your outgoing mail server (SMTP) in the second input field. In most cases it has the structure "smtp.PROVIDER.TLD", for example "smtp.gmail.com" for Gmail. You can also get the exact address from your provider. Confirm with "Next".
8. You will need to enter your account name and password in the next two fields.
9. If no one shares access to the computer with you, you can also check the "Save password" box. Otherwise, you will need to re-enter your password each time you send or receive email.
10. If your e-mail account supports the secure password authentication SPA, you can also activate it here. Otherwise, skip this point and click on "Next". Then click on "Finish". You can now close the "Internet Accounts" window.

Change other email account settings

If you would like to make further settings to an existing email account, proceed as follows:

1. Open the "Tools" menu and select "Accounts ..."
2. Select the tab "E-Mail" and double click on the account to be edited. Its properties open up.
3. Here you can change a variety of different settings. For example, you can adjust all server data of an e-mail account, set up a separate authentication of the outgoing server or configure the server port numbers for the incoming and outgoing mail.

Read here how to set up Windows Live Mail, the successor to Outlook Express.