How to add an email account to Outlook

Outlook users can add email accounts to Outlook, allowing them to merge different accounts into a single email service. This can be useful if you want to use different email addresses for business and personal com­mu­ni­ca­tions. Find out different ways to add an email account to your Outlook account here.

Quick guide on how to add an email account to Outlook

1. Click on File > Add Account.
2. In the new window, enter the email address of the account you want to add and click on Connect.
3. You may be prompted to enter the password of the account you want to add. If so, enter the password.
4. You’ll receive a con­fir­ma­tion message letting you know that the email account has been suc­cess­ful­ly added. Click on Finish. You may need to restart Outlook in order to access the account you just added.

What you need to know about adding accounts to Outlook

Adding an account to Outlook is similar to setting up an email account with Outlook. The main dif­fer­ence between the two processes is which protocol and address settings are used for the incoming and outgoing mail servers. These settings are de­ter­mined by your internet service provider. Ad­di­tion­al­ly, some email providers may require you to change certain settings on their website before you can add your email account with them to Outlook.

Here are some of the different types of account that you can add to Outlook:

• Yahoo
• Gmail
• iCloud
• Office 365
• Exchange
• IONOS

How to add an email account to Outlook step by step

The steps you need to take to add accounts in Outlook depends on your internet service provider/mail provider and which version of Outlook you are using. You can choose between an automatic setup (not available for all email accounts) and a manual setup.

Below you’ll find detailed in­struc­tions for all Microsoft 365 Outlook versions as well as for Outlook 2021, Outlook 2019 and Outlook 2016. We’ll also explain how to add accounts manually and au­to­mat­i­cal­ly.

How to au­to­mat­i­cal­ly add an account to Outlook (desktop)

Re­gard­less of which version you are using, you can start by going to File. The Account In­for­ma­tion menu will appear. Now click Add Account. Type the address of the account you want to add and click on Connect.

If prompted, enter your password. If adding the account was suc­cess­ful, a message will appear letting you know that the account has been added. Now, click Finish. You may need to restart Outlook in order to access the account that you’ve just added.

How to manually add an account to Outlook (desktop)

For manual account setup, you need your login data and the data for the incoming and outgoing mail server of the email service. Similar to the automatic account setup, you’ll begin by clicking on File and then Add Account under Account In­for­ma­tion.

Select Advanced options and check the box Let me set up my account manually. Click Connect. Now, click on either your email provider or POP/IMAP.

Under Choose E-Mail Service, click on POP or IMAP or Internet E-mail and enter the address and server in­for­ma­tion of your mail provider. The data you need to enter depends on which service or protocol you select. (You can get this in­for­ma­tion from your mail provider.) For example, here is the in­for­ma­tion you would need to enter if you select IMAP:

Only select the option Require login using Secure Password Au­then­ti­ca­tion (SPA) if it is supported by your provider’s mail servers or ex­plic­it­ly requested by your provider. After you are done entering every­thing, click on Continue.

To complete the process of adding an account to Outlook, enter your password and click on Connect.