Why can’t I add my email account on Outlook Express?
Posted on September 16, 2009 under Email, Outlook Express | Leave a comment
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I’ve gone over your instructions so many times in the past hour but I still cannot add my email account on Outlook Express. I’ve followed them step by step (thanks for the screenshots) but it just doesn’t seem to work out. Could you please tell me what I would be doing wrong?
Piero Tosetti
Outlook Express, as most of you would know, is an email program that came free with Internet Explorer (till version 6). The bundled package of the web browser and the email client has now been discontinued as Microsoft has stopped the development and support for Outlook Express. They’ve released Windows Live Mail which is free and supposedly better than O.E.
The main function of email programs or clients is to download and store emails on the local computer. They do this by connecting to the online server (a computer on which the email account actually resides) using email protocols such as POP3 or IMAP. Thus, to use an email account with Outlook Express you need to make sure that its either POP3 or IMAP enabled.
Email account needs to be compatible with Outlook Express
Email accounts from popular services like Hotmail or Yahoo do not come with free POP or IMAP access. You need to pay a little amount (about $20 per year) to have this feature – refer Hotmail Plus! or Yahoo! in Outlook Express. FYI, IMAP and POP is free on all free Gmail email accounts.
Email accounts provided by ISP generally come with free POP and/or IMAP access.
Add email account in Outlook Express – brief
To add an email account in Outlook Express, you typically need the login details (username and password) and incoming and outgoing email server information – for example, refer free Hotmail POP3 or Yahoo POP3 settings for details on those services. Users should also note that though there would be no problems (generally) in receiving messages for accounts added in Outlook Express, sending emails may give you some headaches. More often than not, when you cannot send email using Outlook Express the cause is blocking of port 25 by the ISP – please read that article if you want to know more.
In conclusion: Only those email accounts that are POP3 or IMAP enabled can be added to Outlook Express – these are Outlook Express compatible email accounts. If you are using the free email accounts from Hotmail or Yahoo and want to use them with Outlook Express you should consider upgrading to the Plus service which costs about $20 annually and lets you access the account with the Post Office Protocol (POP).
All Gmail accounts have free POP3 and IMAP access. Also read will my email work with Outlook Express?
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