Tangent 21 - Using Mail Programs (eg: Outlook, Thunderbird)

Posted by
Alan

Posted on
07:39
Nov 20 2004

Using Mail Programs (eg: Outlook, Thunderbird)

Hi folks! Techie question for ya!

I've recently tried to set up accounts on Microsoft Outlook and Mozilla Thunderbird, but don't have the first clue what to do when they ask for POP3, IMAP settings, etc.

The e-mail addresses I want to use are with Hotmail, My Uni's E-mail Service, Gmail, and O2 Mail.

What stuff should I enter?

11 Replies and 2509 Views in Total.

gobstopper Eventually, I'll think of something witty to put here ;-)

Of the services you have listed, Hotmail and GMail are webmail services only (as far as I know) meaning that they don't have any form of POP or IMAP capability. Hotmail used to but they revoked it a little while back.

As far as the other two are concerned I'm not really sure, you'll have to ask them or see if there are any on-line resources which tell you whether they can be used with POP or IMAP mail clients.

Once you have the details the configuration isn't that difficult. You essentially have to configure the e-mail client with 3 key pieces of information:-

The address (hostname or IP address) of the server hosting your mailbox.

The address (hostname or IP address) of an SMTP server - which you will need to be able to send mail out again (your ISP will normally provide an SMTP service for you

Your account name (which is often your e-mail address)

The only other decision is whether to use POP3 or IMAP. This will depend on which of the protocols is supported by the server where your mailbox lives. The main difference is that with IMAP the mail messages always remain in the mailbox (so you can get to them from different places if you wish) whereas in general POP3 will download the messages to your mail client and then delete them from the server. Most clients have a setting which you can enable which will cause the messages to be left on the server if you wish.

Hope this helps.

(Edited by gobstopper 20/11/2004 08:21)

Posted: 08:20 Nov 20 2004

Chambler A computer without Microsoft is like a chocolate cake without mustard.

GMail has enabled pop3 support for most of it's userbase this week.... Read more about pop support

On this page it also shows you how to set your mail clients.

From outlook 2003 hotmail is supported to be directly retrieved into your email client don't know for sure about thunderbird. Although this option will be disabled for non paying hotmail account holders coming April 2005. You can set these via the HTTP option when adding a new email account in outlook 2003.

The other two I have no clue as those are specific for those two providers. Good guess to start with is always pop3 as most of the services do support that. But the support pages of the different email suppliers should contain all this information.

Posted: 10:11 Nov 20 2004

Taz Extra medication for all - Pilz-e

Actually, that's answered a question I had about gmail in regards to Thunderbird, but it only works if it's the only pop account you have.

(Edited by Taz 20/11/2004 12:00)

Posted: 11:59 Nov 20 2004

Chambler A computer without Microsoft is like a chocolate cake without mustard.

by Taz
Actually, that's answered a question I had about gmail in regards to Thunderbird, but it only works if it's the only pop account you have.

Well I just added all my pop accounts and my imap accounts to thunderbird (just to see if / how it worked) and it all works fine including my gmail so I don't know why you are having problems with that... can you be a bit more specific?

Posted: 21:41 Nov 20 2004

Alan Got a message from the Great Lakes Avengers, They offered me a membership but didn't accept... they're a walking disaster... Just don't make sense at all... the worst heroes of all time, To call thems

Firebird and Outlook have told all my accounts (except my uni e-mail) to get stuffed. Nuts.

Posted: 22:38 Nov 20 2004

Taz Extra medication for all - Pilz-e

by Chambler
can you be a bit more specific?

I've tried it with 2 pop accounts (1 of which is gmail) & with each it keeps saying that it can't retrieve emails/communicate with them.

I can't even see what I did wrong as I entered all the details it asked for.
I had the smtp info, but wasn't asked to input it, which may be a problem...

Posted: 23:18 Nov 20 2004

Chambler A computer without Microsoft is like a chocolate cake without mustard.

Have you enabled pop access to your gmail account in your gmail preferances? You can also just keep using the smtp server of your isp that no problem btw

Posted: 23:43 Nov 20 2004

Taz Extra medication for all - Pilz-e

All enabled in gmail, through the link posted here actually

You can also just keep using the smtp server of your isp that no problem btw

Wouldn't that mean that all email replies are from the default email?

(Edited by Taz 21/11/2004 14:59)

Posted: 14:58 Nov 21 2004

Chambler A computer without Microsoft is like a chocolate cake without mustard.

All email is sent through that server. What is posted as response address or address it was sent from has nothing to do with the server it is being send through. If you wanted you could send email that shows up as billgates@microsoft.com problem is if someone replies to this it will actually send to that email