Computing Center

Setting Up and Using Outlook Express 6 for Windows
POP Settings

Introduction

Electronic mail, or "e-mail," has become an indispensable tool for intra- and inter-office communication. It allows computers to send messages to people all over the world, as well as Trinity students, faculty and staff. Outlook Express is an e-mail reader for Windows computers. It is used in reading, storing, and sending e-mail messages over the Internet.  These pages provide information on how to set up Outlook Express, and some basic instructions in its use.

E-mail Accounts and Passwords

Both faculty and students should know their electronic mail account, password, and e-mail address. This information is used by Outlook Express. If you don't already have this info:

  • Faculty and Administrators as well as Students can get their e-mail account by calling the Help Desk at x2007

 

INFORMATION YOU'LL NEED BEFORE YOU BEGIN

 



E-mail
Username:__________________________________________________

E-mail
Password:__________________________________________________

E-mail
Address:___________________________________________________

Part I: Configuring Outlook Express

In order to run Outlook Express, it first needs to be configured. This simply means telling it your name, your email account, and where it's all stored (after all, it has to know where and what to look for when it's getting your mail). There are two ways to do this. The first is the internet connection wizard. The second is manual configuration. The first time you use Outlook Express, you should see the internet connection wizard (it looks like this).

This window will appear if you have some other e-mail software installed.  Unless otherwise inclined, you should create a new Internet mail account.  If you don't see this window, then skip directly to the manual configuration instructions. Otherwise, follow the wizard instructions below

Using the Wizard

The first time you use Outlook Express, the internet connection wizard should start. This is simply a guide to supplying the information Outlook Express needs to be able to send and receive your e-mail correctly. Don't worry if you type something in incorrectly, you can always go back and change it. From the first screen (shown above), click Next.

On the next screen choose "Create a new Internet mail account" and then click Next.

The next screen will ask you for your name. Enter your first and last name however you want it to appear on your outgoing messages. 

The next screen asks for your email address (so that others know where to send e-mail for you). This is almost always in the form of firstname.lastname@trincoll.edu (or firstname.lastname@mail.trincoll.edu - it doesn't matter). Thus Jack Kerouac's e-mail address would be Jack.Kerouac@trincoll.edu.

The next screen prompts for the E-mail Server Names. The Incoming mail server is the computer your mail is stored at when it arrives. The name for the server is pop.trincoll.edu. The outgoing mail server is the computer that sends your mail out into the world (also known as the SMTP server). This line should read asmtp.trincoll.edu. Also, make sure that the incoming mail server type is set to POP3.


 

This screen asks for your Internet Mail Logon (or username). The login name is in the following format: "cmpcntr\username\firstname.lastname". You have been provided with username when you first got your e-mail account activated. It is usually the first letter of your firstname, followed by up to seven letters of your last name. (e.g. Jack Kerouac becomes jkerouac, so he has to enter "cmpcntr\jkerouac\jack.kerouac", but Allen Ginsberg becomes aginsber and he has to enter "cmpcntr\aginsber\allen.ginsberg"). It is important that all usernames and passwords are supplied in lower case. The mail system is case sensitive. Epound is not the same as epound. Some people will also have numbers attached at the end of their usernames (to distinguish all the jsmiths for example).  Also remember to type the domain name CMPCNTR\ before your username and \firstname.lastname after it.

Click the finish button.

Click finish, and the following window should appear.  To send mail, we have to authenticate ourselves on the outgoing mail server.

 

Highlight your account and click properties.

Click the Servers tab.

Check the "My server requires authentication" box.  Click the Settings Box.  Choose the box that says "log on using" and put just your username in the account name box.  You can enter your password here now or put it in every time you send mail.

Press OK, and then click on the "advanced" tab of the properties window.  In the outgoing mail server, type in port 587.  Finally, press OK.

Finally, in order to delete your messages properly, we must make one more setting.  Choose Tools...Options and see this window:

Then click on the maintenance tab, and see this one.  Be sure to check the box next to "Purge deleted messages when leaving IMAP folders.

 

Now you're really done. 

 

Manual Configuration

If you didn't see the new account wizard, or you need to change some settings you've already supplied, then you can use the manual configuration option in the configuration dialog box. Here's how to do that.

  1. The configuration dialog box is found under the Tools menu. Then select the item called Accounts. You should see the following screen.

     

  2. Click on the Mail tab to the right of the All tab.

        

   3.   From this screen, click on the Add button on the top right.  A drop down menu should appear.  From this menu, select the mail option.  This should lead you to the "Your Name" screen of the Internet Connection Wizard which you can get to from here: wizard instructions .  Follow the instructions from there until you are done configuring your Outlook Express.

You can, if you wish, continue to refine some of your Outlook Express settings using the further configuration instructions below, but this is optional. Outlook Express is now ready to run.

Further Configuration

Further configuration options are available using the configuration dialog box, found under the Tools menu by selecting the item called Options. There are a number of options that can be changed.

  1. From the general tab, you can change settings such that Outlook Express goes directly to the Inbox at startup, starts up AIM, etc.  You can also change the length of time in which Outlook Express checks for new messages.

     

  2. Another tab of importance is the Maintenance tab.  From here, you can set Outlook Express to delete items from the Deleted Items folder when you exit the program.  You can also set Outlook Express to not compact messages in your inbox.

     

  3. Next, select the Security tab.  Here you can specify Outlook Express to not open files that may potentially be a virus, and you can restrict internet access when opening attachments.

     

  4. The other tabs allow you to customize Outlook Express to your liking by activating or deactivating available features.  Clicking OK will save your settings.

For more information on Outlook Express preferences, press the F1 key for help.

Part II: Outlook Express Basics

Opening, Viewing and Deleting Mail

When Outlook Express launches, a prompt for an e-mail password appears. Once it is entered, Outlook Express will begin to check for new mail. If new mail exists, a dialog box indicating that new mail has arrived will be displayed. Click on the Inbox icon in the folders pane. Each message in the Inbox is listed in summary format. A message summary is divided into fields containing the address of the sender, the subject of the message and the date the message was sent.

A Message may be opened up and read by double clicking on its corresponding message summary in the Inbox. Incoming messages are stored in the Inbox indefinitely, until they are deleted. A message can be deleted by highlighting the message summary and then pressing the Delete key.

Sending a Message

To create a new mail message, click on the Create Mail button at the top left or select New Message from the Message menu. At this point, a new message window will appear, with the cursor (now in the form of a blinking insertion point) situated at the start of the "To:" field. The cursor can be traversed through these fields by using the "Tab" key or by moving the cursor into a particular field and clicking the mouse button. Write the address of the recipient in the "To:" field. The email address of any student, staff, or faculty member at Trinity is of the form "firstname.lastname@mail.trincoll.edu". In addition to the "To:" field, the new message window also contains a "From:" field which has been automatically been filled in with the return address. The subject line should be filled out as a courtesy, a short line explaining what the message is about should be typed here.

The other fields are optional and do not need to be filled. The "Cc:" and "Bcc:" fields will send copies of the letter to other people. Addresses listed in the "Bcc:" field will not show up to the other recipient while the "Cc:" field will. Once the header is complete, type the message to be sent in the large box below the header. When the message is ready to be sent, click the Send button located at the upper left-hand corner of the window.

Responding to a Message

Select Reply under the Message menu to reply to a message. A new message window will open with the "To:" and "From:" header already filled. Selecting Reply to all under the Message menu will send a reply to every address listed in the "To:" and "Cc:" field.

Attaching Files to Messages

It is possible to send a formatted document or binary file such as a program to someone through e-mail. To attach a file to an e-mail message select File Attachment... from the Insert menu. A dialog box will prompt you for the name of the file you wish to attach.  Navigate to the file's location, select a file and click Ok. The name of the attached file should appear in the "Attachments:" field in the header. The file will be turned into a textual representation of the original file.

Creating folders

To create a new mailbox, an alternative place to store received mail, go to the File menu  and select the Folder option.  At this point a window will appear.  Type the name of the new folder to store your mail and click OK. The folder will give you the ability to further organize your mail in a more intricate hierarchy.   Once the folder has been created, transfer old messages into it. To do this, highlight the mail to be moved, and go to the Edit menu bar. Select the desired folder from the menu. The mail will be automatically transferred from one folder to another.

For more information:

You can contact the Help Desk by visiting the desk on B level of the LITC or calling x2100 (faculty and staff) or x2007 (students).

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Last Modified: 10/01/2007