The presence of e-mail for any user of a personal computer in the modern world is the norm and the need. Someone has one email address, someone, by virtue of needs or preferences - several mailboxes. Correspondence with friends, customers, newsletters, alerts about upcoming events - all this has become an integral part of life. If you have one address, checking the receipt of new letters and sending replies is quite simple. The situation is greatly complicated in the case of multiple email addresses.
For simultaneous work with a certain number of accounts, mail applications were developed. The most popular was Outlook, which Microsoft supplies by default in the Microsoft Office installation package along with other programs.
Benefits of choosing Outlook as your email client
Using an application from Microsoft allows you to:
- Collect information from various mailboxes and servers in one application.
- Save time downloading and viewing updates to your inbox.
- Set up a synchronization period for mailboxes.
- Apply sorting, grouping, and assign filters to incoming correspondence in accordance with priorities.
- Back up and archive the contents of mailboxes.
- Respond promptly to incoming emails in one application.
- Quickly search for information when using mailboxes containing a large number of letters.
The abundance of functions and settings of Outlook allows us to consider the application a leader among similar programs from other developers.
Over the twenty-year history of the existence of the mail manager, 8 versions have been released, which Microsoft created as the development and release of new releases of the Windows and Mac OS operating systems.
Where to begin
Users who first encounter the use of the application often have questions about what and where to configure Outlook settings so that there are no problems and crashes when working with mail. Mail setup begins with adding accounts the first time the application is launched.
Welcome window and mailbox creation
The initial setup wizard will open a dialog box in which just click on the "Next" button.
In a new window, if there are valid electronic mailboxes, you need to make sure that the "Yes" item is highlighted and again use "Next" to go to the next stage.
Auto tuning
When the "Add New Account" window appears, you are offered the choice between automatic and manual account settings. Automatic Outlook setup works in cases where the application is able to get the settings for connecting to the mail server on its own. To do this, just enter the username and password for the email account.
Manual setting
But more often you need to make additional settings for Outlook mail for correct synchronization and connection to the mailbox. Access is performed by opening the "Manually configure server settings or additional server types" section.
In the new dialogue that opens, the first option "Internet Email" is selected from the possible connection types.
What information is required to configure Outlook mail
When moving to the next window, the user is prompted to fill out 7 fields:
- "Enter name" is intended for information about the owner, for example, name and surname, or indicates a convenient abbreviation. This data is displayed as the sender in the message.
- "Email Address" is the name of the email account you want to add.
- "Type of account" - it is proposed to single out one of the options of the standard list. Correct access to correspondence requires POP3.
- "Incoming mail server" - the address for the received letters is registered. The address is formed as follows: pop. and postal service address. For example: pop.yandex.ru, pop.gmail.ru. If there is corporate mail, the server address and additional settings can be checked with the system administrator or in the hosting help sections.
- The address for the "Outgoing mail server" field is generated in the same way, but instead of pop. smtp is being written. For example: smtp.yandex.ru, smtp.gmail.ru.
- In the appropriate fields, the username and password for connecting to the mailbox are indicated.
- In some situations (for example, e-mail was created using the services of the hosting company), the server addresses for incoming and outgoing mail are different from the standard ones, and messaging is possible only through a connection on a specific port. To specify the appropriate settings, you need to click on the "Other Settings" button in the section for specifying and enabling additional options. In the new window that appears, go to the "Outgoing mail server" tab. If the host or mail service provider requires SMTP authorization, check the box next to "SMTP authentication is required." In the fields "Username and password" the corresponding data is indicated. The checkbox next to "Remember password" will allow you to avoid entering a password each time to synchronize data. To specify additional connection parameters, you must go to the "Advanced" tab. In this section, you should specify the port numbers for connecting to the incoming and outgoing mail server. It must be remembered that the numbers are different, and care must be taken when entering data. A checkmark is required next to “Encrypted Connection (SSL)” is required, and SSL is selected as the type of encryption.
- The settings are saved by pressing the OK button.
Upon completion of data entry for the electronic mailbox, you can verify the correct operation by clicking on the "Check Account" button. If errors occur, the application will report what happened and indicate the reason. It is enough to fix the problem and retest the settings.
If all the settings are correct, they will connect to the mail account and send a test message.
Completing the application wizard and closing the window is done by clicking on the "Finish" button.
If you need to make changes to the settings, add or delete a mailbox, you should find the "Account Settings" section in the "File" menu.
Work with folders. Outlook Rules
Working with Outlook also implies the possibility of creating folders and rules, which subsequently allow automatic sorting of incoming correspondence in accordance with the specified requirements and needs. Using this function will save time on viewing received letters and finding out about incoming important messages almost instantly.
To create a new folder, it is enough to perform the following sequence of manipulations:
- In the left navigation menu, you need to find and highlight the Inbox folder with the cursor.
- In the "File" menu, click on "Folders" with the mouse, then select "Create Folder".
- In the "Folder Name" area, set the desired name. You should make sure that the "Mail type" type is selected in the lower area "Folder Contents", and the main folder is selected as the parent folder "Place Folder In".
- The completion of the creation of a new folder is performed by clicking OK.
Next, you can create rules on the basis of which letters will be sorted into folders. Outlook settings and rules are written taking into account the destination folder where the incoming message should go, and a set of parameters that can be used to specify the type of message, sender, keywords that are in the subject or text of the correspondence. In addition, you can assign a specific color to messages from a specific sender or personal letters. Access to the creation, editing and deletion of rules is performed through the “Service”, “Rules and Alerts” item.
How to reset
If you need to reset Outlook to its original state, simply delete the account and data file for the connected accounts through the "Control Panel" in the "Mail" section. The procedure takes several minutes and allows you to configure Outlook with the addition of new mailboxes.
After a deeper study of the features of Outlook, it is recommended to use the application not only as an email client, but also as a notebook, organizer and event planner. It should be noted that in the latest released version of the Microsoft Office suite, many of the reasons for user complaints were eliminated and the program received new opportunities for more efficient operation.