If you have an email account that will work as a POP account then you can configure Outlook express to send and receive your emails. This also means that you can compose emails and read mails which you had received previously while offline. Deleting and moving emails to various folders are tasks which also become easier.
The downside is that if you set up your email on a desktop computer then you cant access old mails unless you are at that actual computer - ie you wont be able to read 'old' mails in an internet cafe while on holiday - thats because everything gets downloaded onto your main computer instead of being left on the email server. However the great beneft is for a lot of people worth theses minor inconveniences.

How do you know if your email is a POP email?

If you own your own domail -- www.myowndomain.com; then you will most likely have the ability to set up a number of POP accounts, eg. This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ( You can buy your own domain for quite a small sum ).

If you have a company email address - This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it then it will be a POP account but you may not be allowed to use it at home and you may need to talk to your network administrator about setting it up - either at home or at work.

If you have an email address from an email server, eg This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it - This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it - me@my_local_internet-service-provider.com then you will need to check out their home page to determine what type of account you have. Many allow full POP access; however hotmail will not and yahoo charge a fee for POP access.

 -> Outlook will allow hotmail etc to be set up as a HTTP account and the technique is similar to the one described here but the end result is quite different.

What do i need ?

User name / Account name - this is usually the first part of your email address. So for This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , the username would possibly be sales.
Password. The password you use to get your emails.
POP and SMTP servers. You will need to get these somehow to set up the account. If you own your own domain then your hosting or domain company should be able to tell you. If it's an email company like yahoo then the information should be on their website. If it's a company account then the administrator should be able to tell you. If all else fails you might be able to guess them. Normally they have the form pop.yourdomain.com (for the pop server address) smtp.yourdomain.com (for the smtp server address) or sometimes mail.yourdomain.com ( for both addresses ).


How to do it :

• Open outlook express
• Click on Tools->Accounts.
• Click on the 'Add' button and then click 'Mail' from the popup menu to start the wizard.
• For Display Name, type the name which you would like to be displayed in the 'From' field when someone receives an email from this account. (not critical ) - Click next.
• For email address, type your full email address - ie. This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it (critical) - Click next.
• In the email server names page, make sure that incoming mail server is set to POP (unless you are trying to set up a HTTP account). Then just type in the POP and SMTP addresses which you got. (critical) - Click next.
• For account name / username and password, just type them in. (critical) Check remember password is probably best - your choice - Leave the SPA box unticked unless you are told otherwise - Click next. Click Finish
• Click 'close
• Connect to the internet and click Tools->Send and receive->Send and receive all. Your messages should eventually arrive in your inbox.

{ The layout of outlook express is pretty cutomisable so you may have to do a bit of searching and tweaking to get to see what you want where you want. ie the inbox may not be immediately visible - find it before tweaking the account settings if you are having difficulties as the account might be working but you may not know unless the inbox is visible. }



Troubleshooting tip 1. Send yourself a mail from outlook express and then try to receive it ( two seperate operations) to verify that the account is properly set up.

Troubleshooting tip 2. - sometimes a server will require authentication. If this is the case click Tools->accounts->(your mail account in the list)->(properties button)->(servers tab) ..... check the box that says ' my server requires authentication' - click apply and ok, then close before trying to send/receive again.