# Set up email in Microsoft Outlook
Source: https://docs.webgee.com/en/email/microsoft-outlook



Add a mailbox you created in cPanel to Microsoft Outlook, so you send and
receive from your own domain in the app you already use. Applies to shared,
reseller and Premium hosting, on every current Outlook version for Windows and
Mac.

You need two things before you start:

* Your **full email address**, including the domain — `you@example.com`.
* Your **mailbox password**, set when the mailbox was created. It is not your
  WebGee account password. If you do not have it, reset it rather than guess —
  see [Change a mailbox password or quota](/en/email/how-to-change-your-email-account-password-or-mailbox-quota-in-cpanel).

If the mailbox does not exist yet,
[create it first](/en/email/how-to-create-email-accounts-in-cpanel).

## Which Outlook you have [#which-outlook-you-have]

Windows ships two different applications both called Outlook, and they add
accounts in different places. Check which one is open before following any
steps:

* **Classic Outlook** — installed with Microsoft 365, Office 2016, 2019, 2021
  or 2024. It has a **File** menu in the top-left corner.
* **New Outlook for Windows** — the app that replaced Windows Mail. It has no
  **File** menu, and usually shows a **New Outlook** toggle in the top-right.

**Outlook for Mac** is a third variant again, covered further down.

## The settings Outlook needs [#the-settings-outlook-needs]

Replace `example.com` with your own domain throughout.

| Setting        | Incoming (IMAP)       | Outgoing (SMTP)            |
| -------------- | --------------------- | -------------------------- |
| Server         | `mail.example.com`    | `mail.example.com`         |
| Port           | `993`                 | `465`                      |
| Encryption     | SSL/TLS               | SSL/TLS                    |
| Username       | `you@example.com`     | `you@example.com`          |
| Password       | your mailbox password | your mailbox password      |
| Authentication | Normal password       | Required, same as incoming |

Port `587` with STARTTLS is an equally valid outgoing alternative, and is worth
trying if `465` fails — see
[SSL/TLS and STARTTLS explained](/en/email/email-what-is-the-difference-between-ssl-tls-and-starttls).

Choose **IMAP**, not POP. IMAP keeps mail on the server, so your phone, your
laptop and webmail all show the same mailbox. POP downloads messages to one
device and, by default, removes them from the server — after which no other
device and no backup can reach them. If you have a specific reason to use POP,
the port is `995` with SSL/TLS.

<Callout type="info">
  The username is the **full address**, not the part before the `@`. Entering
  just the local part is the single most common reason Outlook reports the
  password as incorrect when the password is fine.
</Callout>

### Find your own settings in cPanel [#find-your-own-settings-in-cpanel]

The table above is correct for every WebGee cPanel account, but cPanel will
confirm it for the specific mailbox:

1. In cPanel, type `Email Accounts` into the search box at the top and open the
   result.
2. Find the mailbox in the list and select **Connect Devices**.
3. Scroll to **Mail Client Manual Settings**.

Use the **Secure SSL/TLS Settings** column. The non-SSL column beside it exists
for legacy clients and sends your password over an unencrypted connection —
Outlook does not need it.

## Add the account in classic Outlook [#add-the-account-in-classic-outlook]

Let Outlook detect the settings first. If it cannot, the manual route below
always works.

1. Open Outlook. If this is your first account, the setup window opens on its
   own. Otherwise select **File → Add Account**.
2. Enter your full email address.
3. Select **Advanced options** and tick **Let me set up my account manually**.
4. Select **Connect**.
5. Choose **IMAP**.
6. Under **Incoming mail**, enter `mail.example.com`, port `993`, encryption
   **SSL/TLS**.
7. Under **Outgoing mail**, enter `mail.example.com`, port `465`, encryption
   **SSL/TLS**.
8. Select **Next**, enter your mailbox password, then **Connect**.
9. Select **Done**.

### Confirm outgoing authentication is on [#confirm-outgoing-authentication-is-on]

Outlook sometimes completes setup with SMTP authentication switched off, which
lets mail arrive but not send. Check it now rather than after the first bounce:

1. Select **File → Account Settings → Account Settings**.
2. Select the account, then **Change → More Settings**.
3. On the **Outgoing Server** tab, tick **My outgoing server (SMTP) requires
   authentication**.
4. Leave **Use same settings as my incoming mail server** selected.
5. Select **OK**, then **Next**, then **Finish**.

## Add the account in new Outlook for Windows [#add-the-account-in-new-outlook-for-windows]

1. Select the **Settings** gear in the top-right.
2. Go to **Accounts → Email accounts → Add account**.
3. Enter your full email address and select **Continue**.
4. If it offers to pick a provider, choose **IMAP**.
5. Enter the incoming and outgoing settings from the table above, with your
   mailbox password.
6. Select **Continue** to finish.

<Callout type="warn">
  New Outlook synchronises IMAP accounts through Microsoft's own servers rather
  than connecting to `mail.example.com` directly, so a copy of your mail is held
  by Microsoft. If that is not acceptable — for confidentiality, or because your
  organisation's policy forbids it — use classic Outlook, which connects to the
  server directly.
</Callout>

## Add the account in Outlook for Mac [#add-the-account-in-outlook-for-mac]

1. Select **Outlook → Settings → Accounts**, then **Add Account**.
2. Enter your full email address and select **Continue**.
3. If asked to choose a provider, select **IMAP**.
4. Enter the incoming and outgoing settings from the table above.
5. Select **Add Account**.

## Calendars and contacts [#calendars-and-contacts]

A cPanel mailbox is mail only. There is no calendar or contact server behind it,
so Outlook stores those locally on the device and does not sync them anywhere.

This is a genuine limitation rather than a misconfiguration. If you need shared
calendars and contacts across devices, that is what
[WebGee Workspace](/en/email/what-is-webgee-workspace-email-hosting) provides.
Outlook has no built-in CalDAV or CardDAV support, so on Workspace it needs the
free [Outlook CalDav Synchronizer](https://caldavsynchronizer.org/) add-in:

1. Install the add-in and set up your mailbox for mail as above.
2. In Outlook, open the **CalDav Synchronizer** ribbon and select
   **Synchronization Profiles**.
3. Select **Add multiple profiles**, choose **SOGo**, then **OK**.
4. Select **Get IMAP/POP3 account settings**.
5. Select **Discover resources and assign to Outlook folders**.
6. In **Select Resource**, choose your main calendar — usually **Personal
   Calendar*&#x2A; — select the &#x2A;*…** button and assign it to **Calendar**.
7. Repeat on the **Address Books** and **Tasks** tabs, assigning exactly one of
   each. Assigning several to the same Outlook folder causes duplicated and
   deleted entries.
8. Close each window with **OK**.

Outlook for Mac cannot do this at all. Use
[Apple Mail](/en/email/apple-macos-ios), which handles mail, calendars and
contacts together.

## Check it worked [#check-it-worked]

1. Send a message from Outlook to an address you can read elsewhere — a
   personal account on another provider is ideal.
2. Confirm it arrives, and that the sender shows as your own domain.
3. Reply to it from that other account and confirm the reply appears in Outlook
   within a minute or two.

Testing in both directions matters. Sending and receiving are separate
connections with separate settings, so a one-way test tells you nothing about
the half that is broken.

## If it does not work [#if-it-does-not-work]

**Outlook keeps asking for the password.** The username must be the full email
address. If it is, sign in to webmail at `https://webmail.example.com` with the
same details — if webmail rejects them too, the password is wrong, and resetting
it in cPanel is the fix. If webmail accepts them, the problem is in Outlook's
settings, not the mailbox.

**A certificate warning appears on connecting.** The name in the certificate
does not match `mail.example.com`. This happens when the domain is an alias
(parked) domain, or when DNS has not finished pointing at the server. Do not
accept the warning permanently — use the server's own hostname or
`webmail.webgee.com` in Outlook instead. Both carry valid certificates and work
with any mailbox. See
[Why AutoSSL skips some service subdomains](/en/security-ssl/why-autossl-doesnt-cover-service-subdomains-for-alias-domains-in-cpanel).

**Mail arrives but will not send.** Three causes, in the order worth checking:
SMTP authentication is off — turn it on as above; the outgoing port is `25`,
which most home and office networks block outright — change it to `465` or
`587`; or the network blocks `465` as well, in which case `587` with STARTTLS
usually gets through. See
[Fix "550 Please turn on SMTP Authentication"](/en/email/understanding-and-resolving-the-550-please-turn-on-smtp-authentication-error).

**Outlook insists on a Microsoft 365 password.** Autodiscover has matched your
domain to Microsoft rather than to WebGee, usually because the domain once used
Microsoft 365 and an `autodiscover` DNS record survived. Remove that record, or
skip detection entirely with **Let me set up my account manually** in step 3.

**Outlook from Microsoft 365 will not finish adding the account.** That build
has a long-standing autodiscover problem, and Outlook from other sources is
unaffected. Launch the older account assistant directly:

```text
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\root\Office16\OLCFG.EXE
```

If it opens, add the account from there. If it does not,
[disable the simplified account creation wizard](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/3189194/how-to-disable-simplified-account-creation-in-outlook)
and add the account again.

**Sending works, then stops for an hour.** You have hit the hourly outbound
limit for the domain. It counts everything the account sends, including mail
from your website's contact forms and order confirmations — see
[Email sending limits](/en/email/email-sending-limits).

**Old mail is missing after setup.** Outlook downloads recent mail first and
backfills the rest. Give it time on a large mailbox. If folders are missing
rather than messages, select **File → Account Settings → Account Settings**,
open the account, and check that Outlook is subscribed to all IMAP folders.

## Bringing mail across from another account [#bringing-mail-across-from-another-account]

Adding both accounts to Outlook and dragging messages between them works, but it
is slow and it loses read and flag states on large mailboxes. Move the mail on
the server instead, before you set Outlook up — see
[Migrate email from another provider](/en/email/migrating-emails-from-imap-providers-using-our-migration-center).

## Related [#related]

* [Email server settings](/en/email/manual-configuration)
* [Create an email account](/en/email/how-to-create-email-accounts-in-cpanel)
* [SSL/TLS and STARTTLS explained](/en/email/email-what-is-the-difference-between-ssl-tls-and-starttls)
* [Fix "550 Please turn on SMTP Authentication"](/en/email/understanding-and-resolving-the-550-please-turn-on-smtp-authentication-error)