Redirecting Web Mail to Outlook

I know a lot of the time when I share with the OfficeArrow audience, I focus on day-to-day operations of computer programs. I work on the assumption that you have someone on your staff, or at least available as a contractor, to help get the basics of your technical world set up. But for many of you, that may not be the case at all. In fact, if you work in a small or a medium-sized organization then you may not have anyone on your side to help you get your systems set up or to make changes when you need them. (Unless, of course you happen to have a tech-savvy intern or staffer that you can pin down in order to help you meet your information technology needs.)

So, in order to help out my peeps (I swear I will never call you that again, I just wanted to try it out) who have to stick it out on their own, today I will be talking about how to get web-based emails to transfer to your Outlook or Outlook Express.

Don't be intimidated by that. I know that the concept of setting up an interface between the web-based email systems' severs and your very own desktop computer can sound like a very intimidating thing to do. But together we can do it! I promise, even if you hit a few snags, this process will not take more than a half an hour to complete.

Just do us all a favor before we begin and make sure it's ok with your head honcho before we get started. No point it getting disciplined when a simple email or request form could make things run smoothly.

What to do:

1. Open your web mail.

2. Find a tab or button labeled "Forwarding and POP/IMAP", "Message forwarding" or a similar message.

3. Look for IMAP. We want to use IMAP instead of POP because POP only allows for one way message downloads, whereas IMAP will let us download and send messages from Outlook.

4. Enable IMAP. This will usually be done with a radio button or a check box with the words "Enable IMAP" or "Allow IMAP Forwarding," but the exact wording may vary depending on the web-mail system you use.

5. Now you have to configure Outlook, so open it up. Your web-mail system will have set up instructions available on their website. I can't give you instructions myself because the process will vary depending on who hosts your web-mail and their security system. Follow the directions they provide and you will be done.

I know you're leery about this last step, but the directions are usually very clear. For example, here are the directions provided by Gmail. It is worth a mention that some web-mail, like Yahoo!, demand that you pay a fee to use the upgraded mail system, but have a software program that handles the forwarding with fewer steps,

Just remember that this information is for a web-based email service like Yahoo mail, Hotmail or Gmail. If your company uses a specific proprietary program, then you will have to contact the makers of that program for custom instructions.