To correctly configure Outlook so you can send and receive messages, you must first obtain specific information about your e-mail account in case you need to manually configure it in Outlook.

Contact your ISP (e.g. Virgin Media) if needed to obtain the following information:

• Your full e-mail address.
• The type of e-mail account: POP3, IMAP or HTTP.
• Your user name.
• Your password.
• The SMTP server name or address.
• The POP3 server name or address.

There are other pieces of information that may be required but more often than not the above will suffice.

Automatic Configuration
There are several methods to configuring Outlook 2007. If it is just a straightforward upgrade from Office 2003 to Office 2007, then normally the settings will be automatically obtained from the previous version.

Another method is to launch Outlook and on the Tools menu, click Account Settings.

On the E-mail tab, click New.

In the Add New E-mail Account dialog box, click Microsoft Exchange, POP3, IMAP, or HTTP then click Next.

To configure the new e-mail account automatically, under the Auto Account Setup in the Add New E-mail Account dialog box, type in your full name in the Your Name box. Then in the E-mail Address box, type your e-mail address.

Your e-mail address usually takes the form of a combination of your first and last name and the name of your ISP, separated by the @ sign and full stops.

The final box to fill in is to provide your account password (this is the password you would use to login into your account online with).

Outlook 2007 will try 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 e-mail server to which you are successfully connected to.

Click Finish, and then click Close to complete the account setup.

Manual Configuration
If automatic configuration is not an option the account must be configured manually.

To configure the new e-mail account manually, in the Add New E-mail Account dialog box click the Manually configure server settings or additional server types check box, and then click Next.

Click Internet E-mail, and then click Next. Under User Information type your full name in the Your Name box, then type your full e-mail address in the E-mail Address box.

This is where you would need to obtain further information about your email account from either online options (if logging into your account online), or from your Internet Service Provider.

If you clicked POP3 or IMAP in the Account Type box, type the name of the server in the Incoming mail server box. This is the server that holds your messages before you download them to the computer e.g. Googlemail. Then type the server name in lowercase letters. The name may be in the form of "mail.google.com." Or the name may be in the form of an IP address, such as 192.168.0.0.

Once clicking Ok Outlook will connect up to the email account settings. If this fails make sure the information has been entered correctly, or check to see that your email account can be used through Outlook.

By Kelly Foxhall