Using Outlook to Manage Multiple Email Accounts (BY Allison Nunn)

Do you have several email accounts? Are you sick and tired of switching between accounts to check your mail?

This article is based on accessing mail using POP3 which is a popular method for accessing email accounts and most mail services allow access via POP. Before you begin you will need the specific information from your Internet service provider (ISP) for accessing email via POP.

To find the information needed to setup an email account, visit the site where you have you email account and search for “POP email setup.” If you can’t find the information by searching then you will need to contact the ISP.

If your ISP does not allow the option of accessing email via POP check to see if they allow access via HTTP or IMAP. If you have questions about setting up email with these methods, please send me an email or post on the forum and I will help you.

Considerations Before Accessing Multiple Accounts

Before using Outlook to access more than one email account there are some caveats to this type of access:

• All email will be delivered to one inbox unless another Outlook Data File is created for the account and a rule created to move the message to the data file. If storing all in email in one data file is acceptable then a rule can be created to move the email to a folder to keep accounts separate.
• When creating or replying to an email you need to select which account the email should be sent from. This is accomplished by selecting Accounts in the mail compose windows and selecting the account to use.

Steps for Setting Up an Additional Email Account:

1. Select Tools | Email Accounts
2. Select Add a new email account click Next
3. Select POP3
4. Fill in Your Name
5. Fill in Email address for account
6. Enter User Name for account
7. Enter Password for account - check Remember password if you don’t want to login each time you send and receive email.
8. Enter Incoming Mail Server (POP3) – Information provided by ISP
9. Enter Outgoing Mail Service (SMTP) – Information provided by ISP

If this is all the information the ISP requires then click Test Account Settings to determine if everything is setup correctly. If additional information is required follow the steps below. If Outlook can perform a test send/receive with no errors then you are finished! Click Next and then Finished.

If the test fails, check your settings to make sure everything is entered correctly. Pay close attention to the username and password fields as this is usually where the problem occurs.

Additional Information

If the ISP requires outgoing authentication follow these steps:

1. Click on More Settings
2. Click on Outgoing Server tab
3. Check the box next to My outgoing server (SMTP) requires authentication
4. Make sure the Use same settings as my incoming settings is selected
5. If this is all of the required information click OK and then Test Account Settings

If the ISP requires that Server Port number needs to be changed:

1. Click on More Settings
2. Click Advanced Tab
3. Change the Incoming or Outgoing Port Number to the number provided by ISP
4. Click on OK and then Test Account Settings