Setting up Mail with Outlook Express

With an Internet connection and Microsoft Outlook Express, you can exchange e-mail messages with anyone on the Internet and join any number of newsgroups.

The Internet Connection Wizard helps you connect to one or more e-mail or news servers. You will need the following information from your Internet service provider (ISP) or local area network (LAN) administrator:

• To add an e-mail account, you need your account name and password, and the names of your incoming and outgoing e-mail servers.

• To add a newsgroup, you need the name of the news server you want to connect to and, if required, your account name and password.

The following topics tell you how to start receiving and sending e-mail, in addition to how to view and join newsgroups. After you get started, you'll find there are many ways to tailor Outlook Express to your needs. Look in Help Contents for ideas

Basic Setup

You will need the following information from your Internet service provider (ISP) or local area network (LAN) administrator:

• For e-mail accounts, you'll need to know the type of e-mail server you use (POP3, IMAP, or HTTP), your account name and password, the name of the incoming e-mail server and, for POP3 and IMAP, the name of an outgoing e-mail server.
• For a newsgroup account, you'll need to know the name of the news server you want to connect to and, if required, your account name and password.

1. On the Tools menu, click Accounts.
2. In the Internet Accounts dialog box, click Add.
3. Select either Mail or News to open the Internet Connection Wizard, and then follow the instructions to establish a connection with an e-mail or news server.

Note

• Each user can create multiple e-mail or newsgroup accounts by repeating the procedure above for each account.

Setting up multiple identities

If there is more than one person in your house using the same computer for e-mail, each person can have a separate mailbox in Outlook Express. This means that each person can have separate messages, contacts, and personal settings. This is made possible through the creation of multiple identities. Once the identities are created, you can switch among them without having to shut down your computer or lose your Internet connection.

The following topics provide more information:

Adding a new Identity

To add a new identity

1. On the File menu, point to Identities, and then click Add New Identity.
2. Type the name of the new user.
3. If you want to include a password for this identity, select the Require a password option, and then enter a password.

Delete an Identity

To delete an identity

1. On the File menu, point to Identities, and then click Manage Identities.
2. Select a user, and then click Remove.

Notes

• You cannot delete the current identity.
• When you delete an identity, the corresponding settings are deleted, but the data are not deleted.

Switch to a new Identity

To switch to a different identity

1. On the File menu, click Switch Identity.
2. Select the user you want to switch to.

Change the current Identity’s Settings

To change the current identity's settings

1. On the File menu, point to Identities, and then click Manage Identities.
2. Change any of the settings.
• To change your identity name or password, select your identity name, and then click Properties.
• To change the identity that opens on startup, select an identity from the drop-down list. (If the check box is cleared, you will be prompted for the identity you want each time you open an identity-aware program.)
• To change the identity that you want all programs (identity-aware or not) to use when performing automatic processes, select an identity from the bottom drop-down list.