Troubleshoot e-mail accounts

I typed in my e-mail account user name and password but my account still doesn't work.

• Your password and user name may be case sensitive, depending upon the specifications of your Internet service provider (ISP). Check that you entered the correct user name, and password, or e-mail server name.

  How?

  1. On the Tools menu, click E-mail Accounts.
  2. Select View or change existing e-mail accounts, and then click Next.
  3. Click the e-mail account you want to view, and then click Change.

  4. Make sure that the settings you see match the information you received from your Internet service provider (ISP) or administrator.

  5. If necessary, make your changes in the appropriate boxes. If you want to change additional settings, click More Settings. Otherwise, click Next.

  6. Click Finish.

  Do one of the following:

  If you are adding a Microsoft Exchange Server account

  Click Check Names to verify that the server recognizes your name. The name and server you entered should become underlined. Be sure your computer is connected to your network. If your name does not become underlined, contact your administrator.

  If you are adding a POP3 account

  Click Test Account Settings to verify that your account is working. If there is missing or incorrect information, such as your password, you will be prompted to supply or correct it. Be sure your computer is connected to the Internet. If your name does not become underlined, contact your administrator.

  If you are adding an HTTP account

  • If you are adding an HTTP account, make sure your account is still active. When an account is not used for a period of several weeks, the account might become inactive, depending on the ISP's policy. Contact your ISP to reactivate the account.
  • The HTTP server you are attempting to connect to might be unavailable due to a network outage or if the server is offline temporarily for maintenance by the ISP. Try again later, or contact you ISP for status on the server.

I received an "Undeliverable" message notification from the administrator.

• The server might be busy or offline temporarily. Wait and then try sending your message again.

  How?

  1. In your Inbox, open the "Undeliverable" message.
  2. On the Actions menu, click Send Again.
  3. In the message, on the File menu, click Send.
• If you are using Microsoft Exchange Server, check to see if your name exists on the server.

  How?

  1. On the Tools menu, click E-mail Accounts.
  2. Select View or change existing e-mail accounts, and then click Next.
  3. Click the e-mail account you want to change, and then click Change.
  4. Click Check Name. Your name and server should become underlined. If not, contact your administrator.
• When creating your account, you might have typed an incorrect user name, password, or e-mail server name. View your e-mail account settings to see if they are correct.

  How?

  1. On the Tools menu, click E-mail Accounts.
  2. Select View or change existing e-mail accounts, and then click Next.
  3. Click the e-mail account you want to change, and then click Change.

  4. Make sure that the settings you see match the information you received from your Internet service provider (ISP) or administrator.

  5. If necessary, make your changes in the appropriate boxes. If you want to change additional settings, click More Settings. Otherwise, click Next.

  6. Click Finish.

I deleted some messages but they are still on my Internet e-mail server.

You may have set an option to keep a copy of your messages on the POP3 Internet e-mail server. If you delete a message that was delivered to your Personal Folders file (.pst) the copy stored on the Internet e-mail server is not affected.

I set the option to keep a copy of my messages on the server but they aren't there.

• You may have set an option to delete copies of your messages from the POP3 Internet e-mail server after a specified number of days. When you set this option, messages left on the Internet e-mail server are removed after five days unless you specify otherwise. You may still have copies of the messages if you didn't delete them when they were delivered to your Personal Folders file (.pst).

• You may be using a different computer than the one you used to set the option to keep a copy of messages on the server. If you didn't select the Leave a copy of messages on the server check box on this additional computer, your messages will be downloaded to it and deleted from the server.

My e-mail account worked in the past, but no longer works.

• If you used another e-mail program in the past, not all the settings may have been properly imported. For example, Microsoft Outlook does not import passwords.
• If you changed the name of your e-mail account after you created it, replies to and forwards of messages created under the previous account name cannot be sent.

I want my mail delivered to my computer instead of to my Exchange mailbox on the server.

You can specify a different location to which new e-mail is delivered. For instance, you might want messages delivered to a Personal Folders file (.pst) on your computer instead of to your Exchange Server mailbox on the server.

How?

1. On the Tools menu, click E-mail Accounts.
2. Select View or change existing e-mail accounts, and then click Next.
3. If you have not yet created a data file to store your messages, click New Outlook Data File and choose a .pst data file to use. 
4. In the Deliver new e-mail to the following location list, select the location you want. The data file you created appears in this list.
5. Click Next, and then click Finish.

I added the correct information to add my MSN e-mail account, but it still doesnÆt work.

Make sure that you have enabled your MSN e-mail account to use Secure Password Authentication (SPA).

How?

1. On the Tools menu, click E-mail Accounts.
2. Select View or change existing e-mail accounts, and then click Next.
3. In the list, click the MSN e-mail account that you want, and then click Change.
4. Select the Log on using Secure Password Authentication (SPA) check box, and then click Next.
5. Click Finish.

My ISP requires me to log on to my POP3 server before I can access my messages, but I don't want to have to click Send/Receive twice.

You can have Microsoft Outlook log on to your POP3 server automatically.

How?

1. On the Tools menu, click E-mail Accounts.
2. Select View or change existing e-mail accounts, and then click Next.
3. In the list, click the POP3 e-mail account that you want, and then click Change.
4. Click More Settings, and then click the Outgoing Server tab.
5. Click Log on to incoming mail server before sending mail, and then click OK.
6. Click Next, and then click Finish.

I want replies to messages I sent to go to a different e-mail account than the one I used to send the messages.

This feature is useful if, for instance, you go on vacation to visit a friend and want to have replies to your messages sent to your friend's e-mail account. Specify the reply e-mail address.

How?

1. On the Tools menu, click E-mail Accounts.
2. Select View or change existing e-mail accounts, and then click Next.
3. In the list, click the e-mail account that you want, and then click Change.
4. Click More Settings.
5. In the Reply E-mail box, type the e-mail address of the account that you want to receive replies.
6. Click OK, click Next, and then click Finish.

I received a server timeout message.

You need to make the e-mail server timeout setting longer. Do one of the following:

Change the server timeout for a POP3 or IMAP server

1. On the Tools menu, click E-mail Accounts.

2. Select View or change existing e-mail accounts, and then click Next.
3. Click the e-mail account you want to change, and then click Change.
4. Click More Settings, and then click the Advanced tab.
5. Under Server Timeouts, move the slider toward Long.
6. Click OK, click Next, and then click Finish.

Change the server timeout for a Microsoft Exchange server

1. On the Tools menu, click E-mail Accounts.
2. Select View or change existing e-mail accounts, and then click Next.
3. Click the e-mail account you want to change, and then click Change.
4. Click More Settings, and then type the number of seconds that you want to elapse before the server will time out.
5. Click OK, click Next, and then click Finish.

Note   You can't change the server timeout for an HTTP e-mail account.

I might not have added the correct information from my ISP, so I need to check my e-mail account settings.

Compare your settings to the information your ISP provided you.

How?

1. On the Tools menu, click E-mail Accounts.
2. Select View or change existing e-mail accounts, and then click Next.
3. Click the e-mail account you want to view, and then click Change.

4. Make sure that the settings you see match the information you received from your Internet service provider (ISP) or administrator.

5. If you are changing a POP3 server account, click Test Account Settings to verify that your account is working. If there is missing or incorrect information, such as your password, you will be prompted to supply or correct it. Be sure your computer is connected to the Internet.

6. If necessary, make your changes in the appropriate boxes. If you want to change additional settings, click More Settings. Otherwise, click Next.

7. Click Finish.

I use more than one e-mail server, and I want my account that uses the faster server to process first.

Change the order in which e-mail accounts are processed.

How?

1. On the Tools menu, click E-mail Accounts.
2. Select View or change existing e-mail accounts, and then click Next.
3. In the list, click the e-mail account you want, and then click Move Up until that account is higher in the list.

Note   Moving an account to the top of the list automatically sets that account as the default. The default account will be first in the list that appears when you create a new message and click the Accounts button (next to the Send button).