Setting Up Outlook to Read DreamHost Email in 5 Easy Steps
February 2nd, 2008
You’ve selected DreamHost as your hosting company and now you need to configure Outlook Express to read your email from your website. Here are the necessary 5 steps to configure Outlook. If you need to configure Outlook Express, please read this article on how to set up Outlook Express.
(These instructions were taken from DreamHost’s article on setting up Outlook, with screen shots and extra tips added by me.)
1. From the top menu, select “Tools” and “E-mail Accounts“.
2. Under E-mail, select “Add a new e-mail account” and click “Next“.
3. For this section, you’ll be setting the “Server Type” – how Outlook interacts with DreamHost’s email server. If you select “POP3″, Outlook will download and remove emails from the DreamHost email server when you launch Outlook. If you select “IMAP”, Outlook will synchronize your Outlook inbox and DreamHost’s server. This means as long as you leave the messages in your Outlook inbox, they will stay on DreamHost’s server. You should select “IMAP” if you want to be able to access your email remotely, when you are away from your computer, but have access to the internet.
4. On the Internet E-mail Settings (POP3) window, enter your information as follows:
Your Name: This is what will appear in the “From” field. Most people put their first and last name here.
E-mail Address: Enter your website email address.
User Name: Enter your website email address, again (same as above)
Password: Enter the password you set up for your email account at DreamHost (Jill probably sent this to you). Check “Remember password“.
Incoming mail server: Enter mail.yourdomain.com for your incoming mail server, replacing “yourdomain.com” with your own domain name.
Outgoing mail server: Enter mail.yourdomain.com for your incoming mail server, replacing “yourdomain.com” with your own domain name.
(Leave “Log on using Secure Password Authentication” unchecked).
Click “More Settings.”
5.On the Internet E-mail Settings window, select the “Outgoing Server” tab. Select “My outgoing server (SMTP) requires authentication” and “Use same settings as my incoming mail server“.
That’s it, you’re done. Click “OK“, and “Finish“.
(If you’re not a client and you found this article helpful, please do leave me a short comment so that I’ll be encouraged to continue writing tutorials like this one.)
UPDATE:
On occasion, you will be able to receive emails, but not send them. If this is the case, then you may need to contact your internet service provider (ISP) to see if they have specific settings for sending outgoing email.
For example, I had a client who used Verizon for her internet service provider, and Verizon blocks port 25, so in her case, we needed to set the outbound port to 587. I had another client who uses AdvancedCable.net, and in his case, we needed to change the Outgoing Mail Server to smtp.myacc.net. So your solution will depend on your specific internet service provider.
So if you’ve followed these directions, and you can receive but not send, give your internet service provider a call and tell them you’re trying to set up Outlook email, and ask what settings for outgoing email you should set.
Jill--------------
J. Olkoski
Aldebaran Web Design, Seattle
Jill Olkoski has a BS in Engineering, a BS in Computer Science and an MA in Clinical Psychology. She delights in using her advanced technical, psychological and interpersonal skills to help small business owners develop cost-effective and successful websites.
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February 4th, 2008 at 5:45 am
I love your Tutorials Jill…even when they don’t really apply to me!
Could you be persuaded to write one on http://FTP…specifically FileZilla if you are familiar with it? It still “throws” me…
In 5 to 10 easy steps, I would like to be able to add plug-ins and other things (like “Share This”) to my WordPress blog without having to call out to my very busy Techie friends for help!
I am talking “the whole nine yards” here…start to finish…
Starting with, “ok, so you have found this WP plug-in you want on your WP blog”….all the way to …”and there it is…on your WP blog.”
The more elementary, the better…for us more severely “techno-challenged” types!
Thanks a million Jill!
~Linda~
March 16th, 2008 at 10:50 am
Hi Linda,
Try downloading FireFTP and following instructions here:
http://www.simplehelp.net/2007/10/15/how-to-use-ftp-from-within-firefox/
There are also instructions here for how to add a WordPress Plugin:
http://lorelle.wordpress.com/2007/02/11/how-to-install-configure-and-use-wordpress-plugins/
Since most of my clients don’t use FTP, I didn’t want to write a post that would encourage them to FTP into their websites and inadvertently do some damage.
November 29th, 2008 at 11:39 am
Hi,
I am not able to set up the email outlook account for my website. It is not recognizing my user name/password. I also don’t know if I have the right port numbers 995 and 465.
Please let me know how to reset my password/user name.
Thanks
Cristina
November 30th, 2008 at 10:07 am
Hi Cristina,
Please keep in mind, this is a blog, not a tech support service – and so I recommend you contact your website hosting company for this specific info.
June 2nd, 2009 at 3:08 am
If you aren’t providing specific information for each server, you probably shouldn’t indicate “how to set up for dreamhost” on your title, since a lot of hosts use different ports for incoming/outgoing slots.
You’ve provided a general tutorial for setting up any mail account on outlook.
June 2nd, 2009 at 8:31 am
Hi T,
I’m not sure exactly what your issue is with my blog article title – these are the steps to follow for setting up Outlook if DreamHost is your hosting company – these directions have worked for every single one of my clients. I can’t make any claims as to specific port settings for any other hosting company. Can you please explain further? Are you saying that these directions don’t work for DreamHost?
June 2nd, 2009 at 8:36 pm
Clearly they didn’t work for Jill above.
June 2nd, 2009 at 8:41 pm
Sorry, I’m Jill, the author. Cristina, the other woman who said her username/password is not my client – I have no idea whether she is a DreamHost customers or not, and clearly, if she’s getting a username/password error, there’s something else amiss. Again, I’ve done this literally dozens of times and it’s worked, and if you have really specific suggestions as to how to improve, I’m happy to modify once I verify they indeed work. But I’ve never even modified port settings for DreamHost/Outlook – never had to.
June 29th, 2009 at 6:56 am
I didn’t know Dreamhost even offered POP3. Thanks for the tip.