Configuring Outlook to access Gmail through POP3/SMTP

Many of my users have been requesting me to provide a guide on how to download mail over there dialup connections from gmail through pop3. Even if you are not using dialup, but would like to have an offline copy of your mail in case your internet connection gets flaky, or if you internet connection is slow and you would not wish to wait eternally for pages to load, this tutorial might be of interest to you.

This tutorial illustrates enabling POP3 in gmail and configuring Outlook 2003 for POP3 Access of Gmail

Enabling POP3 in Gmail

1. Keep your Gmail user id and password ready.
2. Open Internet Explorer or Firefox and enter in the address bar mail.google.com

3. If you are not signed in already, you will be asked for your user id and password. Enter the details in the appropriate fields and sign in by clicking on the ‘Sign In’ Button.

4. You will now be signed into the Gmail Web Interface.

5. Click on the ‘Settings’ Link on the top right and you will be taken to the Settings page.

6. Click on the ‘Forwarding and POP/IMAP’ tab at the top of the settings page and Enable POP3 Access. You have two options. You can either enable POP3 access for all mail that you have ever received or enable only for mail that you receive after enabling. If you enable for the first option, and you already have a lot of mail in your account, it will take some time to download all the mail.

Configuring your Outlook 2003 Client

The steps mentioned below assume you have already configured Gmail for POP3
1. Open Outlook.
2. Click the Tools menu, and select E-mail Accounts.
3. Click Add a new e-mail account, and click Next.
4. Choose POP3 as your server type by clicking the radio button, and click Next.
5. Fill in all necessary fields to include the following information:

User Information
Name: Not your Email ID. Fill in your name here
Email Address: username@gmail.com

Server Information
Incoming Mail Server (POP3): pop.gmail.com
Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP): smtp.gmail.com

Login Information
User Name: username@gmail.com
Password: Enter your gmail password here

6. Click More Settings… and then click the Outgoing Server tab.

7. Check the box next to My outgoing server (SMTP) requires authentication and select Use same settings as my incoming mail server.
8. Click the Advanced tab, and check the box next to This server requires an encrypted connection (SSL) under Incoming Server (POP3).

9. Check the box next to This server requires an encrypted connection (SSL) under Outgoing Server (SMTP), and enter 465 in the Outgoing server (SMTP) box.
10. Click OK.
11. Click Test Account Settings… After receiving Congratulations! All tests completed successfully, click Close.
12. Click Next, and then click Finish.
13. Download the latest updates for Outlook from Microsoft. This will help prevent the most common Outlook errors Gmail users see. For this visit http://office.microsoft.com/officeupdates or email the Delhi Regional Office for receiving Outlook 2003 updates in a CD.