Easy-Email

Outlook Express is one of the most used email clients. It is no longer supported, but is still widely used.

This article explains how to setup Outlook Express for email synchronization. You will be guided through modifying your existing accounts (if you have any) and configuring Outlook Express to synchronize with Gmail.

At this point you should have completed the setup of Gmail for email synchronization.

Note that Outlook Express does not work well with multiple email addresses, so there is no Advanced Guide available.

Important! Backup your emails before you start! Easy-Email does not accept responsibility for any data loss under any circumstance.

Modify existing accounts (POP)

If you already have email accounts setup in Outlook Express we need to ensure they leave new email in the mailbox on the mail server for one day.

Gmail is also downloading email from the same mailbox, so Outlook Express will have to leave the email on the mail server long enough for Gmail to get hold of a copy too. Gmail automatically checks your mailboxes for new mail once every hour. If a new email arrives in your mailbox and Outlook Express downloads and removes the email from the mailbox before Gmail gets to it you will not see that email in Gmail and it will not be synchronized with your other email clients.

This modification does not change the way your current email setup works.

Do the following for each Outlook Express account that downloads email from a mailbox:

Note! Click on the images to see a larger version.

• Go to Tools → Accounts...

• Click on the Mail tab.

• Select your existing email account.
  Click Properties.
   

• Go to the Advanced tab.
  Check Leave a copy of messages on the server.
  Check Remove from server after 5 days.
  Change the setting to 1 day.
  1 day is more than sufficient for Gmail to pick up new emails.
  Click OK.
  

• Click Close.

Creating a new email account in Outlook Express to access Gmail

Gmail will now pick up your email for you. This step tells Outlook to synchronize with Gmail so you can download copies of your emails.

Note! If you have more than one email address work with the email address you use most often. For John Doe this is This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Follow these steps:

• Open Outlook Express.

• Click on Tools -> Accounts, then click Add -> Mail...
  

• Change your display name if required. Click Next.
  

• Change your email address if required.
  This is your home email address, so for John we leave it as This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
  Click Next.
  

• Choose IMAP as server type.
  Set Incoming mail server to imap.gmail.com.
  Set Outgoing mail server to smtp.gmail.com.
  Click Next.
  

• Enter your Gmail address for Account name.
  For John this is This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
  Enter the password you use to log on to Gmail.
  Click Next.
  

• Click Finish.

• With your new account (imap.gmail.com) still selected click Properties.

• Change the name of the account to something more meaningful like My Mail (IMAP).
  

• Click the Servers tab, then check My server requires authentication.
  

• Click the Advanced tab.
  First check the This server requires a secure connection (SSL) check boxes. There are two.
  Then change the Outgoing mail (SMTP) port to 465.
  When the check box is clicked the port value is reset, which is why you need to check the check box first.
  Verify the port is still 465 before continuing.
  

• Click the IMAP tab.
  Uncheck the Store special folders on IMAP server.
  

• Click OK.

• Click Close.

• Click Yes to download folders.
  

• Click OK in the Show/Hide IMAP Folders window to close it.
  

• Click on Tools -> Options, then click on the Send tab.
  Uncheck Save copy of sent messages in the 'Sent Items' folder.
  Gmail will automatically do this for us now.
  Click OK.
  

• Click on Send/Receive to synchronize your folders with Gmail and check that everything works.
  

Tip! If you want to make the Drafts folder work

Unfortunately the only way to make Outlook Express work with the Gmail Drafts folder is to specify a root folder path of [Gmail] on the IMAP tab. This is due to a limitation in Outlook Express.

Changing the root folder will make the Drafts folder work, but you will not be able to work with your own labels/folders from Gmail.

If you prefer to have Drafts working you will also have to check the Store special folders on IMAP server and change Sent Items path to Sent Mail.

More stuff you can do

In the appendix you will find more interesting information on how to get the most out of your email:

• Backup and restore your emails
  We strongly recommend you backup your emails before you setup Easy-Email.
  This section explains how you do this. And it explains how you restore your emails if you should need to do that.

• Download emails to Outlook Express for offline use
  This section explains how to make your emails available for use without an internet connection. You will be able to read and respond to emails on a plane or train for instance. Once you get an internet connection again your emails will be sent.

• Copy old emails to Gmail from Outlook Express
  This section explains how you can copy your old emails from Outlook Express to Gmail. This will make the emails available to any client you synchronize with Gmail.

• Turn off your old email account
  You have setup email synchronization without making changes to your old email setup. This allows you to try out Easy-Email without affecting the way you manage your email today.
  This section explains how to phase out your old email setup once you are comfortable with Easy-Email.

• Export contacts from Outlook  Express
  If you have contacts stored on Outlook  Express that you want to copy to other email clients this section explains how you do this.

• Import contacts into Outlook  Express
  If want to copy contacts stored on other email clients to Outlook  Express this section explains how you do this.

• Create a signature in Outlook Express
  This section explains how you create a signature in Outlook  Express

• Group messages by thread in Outlook Express
  If you like the way Gmail organizes emails in threads or conversations this section explains how you can get a similar view in Outlook  Express.

• How to find your mail server settings
  If you do not know your mail server settings this section explains where you can locate this information in your current setup.

And that completes the setup of Outlook Express for email synchronization.