How to Set Up Email on Your New Dell Computer

Table of Contents:

• Before You Begin
• Microsoft Office Outlook
  • Configure the New Email Account Automatically
  • Configure the New Email Account Manually
  • Other Versions of Outlook
• Outlook.com
• Google Gmail

Setting up Microsoft Outlook or other email applications with the correct settings is important to send and receive email messages on your computer.

Before You Begin

Before configuring your email settings, be sure that your computer is connected to your network or Internet Service Provider (ISP). Also, ensure that you have all the specific information that is needed for incoming and outgoing mail servers that your ISP requires. Examples of this are:

• Your full email address
• The type of email account: POP3, IMAP, or HTTP
• Your username
• Your password
• The SMTP server name or address
• The POP3 server name or address
• Is Secure Password Authentication (SPA) required?
• The port number that is used for SMTP. Most ISPs use port 25. Is encryption (SSL is most common) required for the port?
• The port number that is used for POP3. Most ISPs use port 110. Do you require encryption (SSL is most common) for the port?
• Does the outgoing email server (SMTP) require authentication? If so, do you use my normal email name and password?

Microsoft Office Outlook

Microsoft Outlook usually comes as part of the Office suite. Microsoft provides detailed information about configuring Microsoft Outlook for Internet email accounts.

Below is the configuration information for Outlook 2010 which is generally the same for later versions.

Note: For other versions, see Change or update email account settings in Outlook for Windows.

1. Start Outlook.
2. From the File menu, click Info, and then click Account Settings.
3. Select Account Settings from the drop-down list.
4. On the Email tab, click New, select Email Account, and then click Next.
5. Click to select the Manual setup or additional server types checkbox, and then click Next.
6. Click Internet E-Mail, and then click Next.
7. In the Add New E-mail Account dialog box, select either Microsoft Exchange, POP or IMAP, or HTTP, and then click Next.
8. Configure the new email account. You can configure the new email account automatically or manually.

Configure the New Email Account Automatically.

To configure the new email account automatically, in the Add New E-mail Account dialog box under Auto Account Setup, follow these steps:

1. In the Your Name box, type your full name.
2. In the E-mail Address box, type your email address. Your ISP or mail provider provides this information. Your email address usually takes the form of a combination of your first and last name and the name of your ISP, separated by the @ symbol and periods.
   For example, Sachin Karnik uses an ISP that is named Contoso.com. The ISP may assign an email address of skarnik@contoso.com.
3. In the Password box, type the password that you have been provided.
4. In the Retype Password box, retype the password, and then click Next to begin the Auto Account Setup process. Outlook tries to automatically configure your account settings and server settings. If your account is successfully configured, the Add New E-mail Account dialog box indicates that the account was created successfully. This dialog box also indicates the type of email server to which you are successfully connected.
5. Click Finish and then click Close to complete the account setup.

Configure the New Email Account Manually.

To configure the new email account manually, follow these steps in the Add New E-mail Account dialog box:

1. Click to select the Manually configure server settings or additional server types checkbox and then click Next.
2. Click Internet E-mail and then click Next.
3. Under User Information, follow these steps:
   1. In the Your Name box, type your full name.
   2. In the E-mail Address box, type your email address. Your ISP or mail provider provides this information. Your email address usually takes the form of a combination of your first and last name and the name of your ISP, separated by the @ symbol and periods. For example, Sachin Karnik uses an ISP that is named Contoso.com. The ISP may assign an email address of skarnik@contoso.com.
4. In the Account Type box under Server Information, click to select the type of email account that you have.
   • If you clicked POP3 or IMAP in the Account Type box, follow these steps:
     1. In the Incoming mail server box, type the name of the server. This is the server that holds your messages before you download them to the computer. Type the server name in lowercase letters. The name may be in the form of popmail.contoso.com, or the name may be in the form of an IP address such as 172.16.0.0.
     2. In the Outgoing mail server (SMTP) box, type the name of the outgoing email server. Type the server name in lowercase letters. The name may be in the form of smtpmail.contoso.com, or the name may be in the form of an IP address such as 172.16.0.0.
   • If you clicked HTTP in the Account Type box, follow these steps:
     1. In the HTTP Service Provider box, click the appropriate service provider for this account. For example, click one of the following:
        • Hotmail
        • MSN
        • Other
     2. If you clicked Other in the HTTP Service Provider box, type the URL to the mailbox in the Server URL box.
5. Under Logon Information, follow these steps:
   1. In the User Name box, type your username. The username can be the part of your email address that is to the left of the @ sign.
   2. In the Password box, type the password that your ISP provided.
   3. If you want Outlook to remember your email account password, click to select the Remember password checkbox.
6. If your ISP requires it, click to select the Require logon using Secure Password Authentication (SPA) checkbox to log in by using Secure Password Authentication.
7. Click Test Account Settings. This feature calls a dialog box that shows in a step-by-step manner each testing phase of the configuration that you entered. When you click Test Account Settings, the following process occurs:
   • The connectivity of the computer to the Internet is confirmed.
   • You are logged on to the SMTP server.
   • You are logged on to the POP3 server.
   • It is determined whether the POP3 server must be logged into. If it is required, Outlook automatically sets the Log on to incoming mail server before sending mail option.
   • A test message is sent. This message explains any changes that Outlook made to the initial setup.
8. To make additional changes to your email account, click More Settings to open the Internet E-mail Settings dialog box.
9. Click Next, and then click Finish.

Other Versions of Outlook

For other versions of Outlook, see Add an email account to Outlook for Windows.

Outlook.com

Microsoft has moved all its own email services - Office 365, Hotmail, Live Mail, MSN Mail, Outlook.com, and so forth - to a single platform at Outlook.com.

This is web-based. This means that you can access your mail from anywhere that has an Internet connection and from your mobile device, smartphone, tablet or so forth.

For more information about Outlook.com, see Outlook help & learning.

For information about adding your other email accounts to Outlook.com, see Connected email accounts like Gmail and Yahoo not working in Outlook.com.

Google Gmail

Information about configuring a Google Gmail account and troubleshooting email issues can be found at Gmail Help.