So You Want to Configure Outlook?

Microsoft has given us lots of options to configure Outlook. But the phrase “to configure Outlook”can mean different things so let’s talk about the possibilities.

Most of the time, I think when people talk about configuring Outlook, they’re talking about altering various settings in Outlook to say, change Outlook’s startup folder, or customize desktop alerts. If that’s what you mean when you talk about configuring Outlook, and you’re using Outlook 2010, you’ve come to the right place. A bit further down this page, you’ll find links to numerous pages that will help you do this kind of Outlook configuration.

Another Way to Configure Outlook

There’s another phrase that people often use when they are talking about configuring Outlook. That’s to “configure Outlook for” working with some web mail service or other. Because Outlook can connect with many types of email service simultaneously, and because Outlook has so many powerful tools for working with your email, using Outlook as your central place for handling all your email makes a lot of sense.

Helping people do exactly that is a big part of what we do here at Living With Outlook 2010, so when I’m talking about Outlook configuration issues, they’re usually related to working with one web mail service or another.

If your interest is in making Outlook 2010 work with various email accounts, you’ve also come to the right place. The last section on this page gives you links to resources for making Outlook work with your Gmail, or GMX mail account, or whatever email service it is that you need connected to Outlook.

I hope you find this information useful. And if there’s an Outlook configuration issue that you think I need to address, please let me know.I want this site to be as helpful as possible, so knowing what issue cause problems when people want to configure Outlook 2010 will help guide me in figuring out what to cover next. Thanks!

To Configure Outlook

Here are links to instructions on configuring Outlook options. Whenever I add a link to the list, I add it on top to make it easy for you to see what’s new. Beyond that, they are in no particular order. When you are done with one configuration task, use your browser’s BACK arrow to return here for more configuration options:

• Customize Desktop Alerts – control when and how desktop alerts appear.




• Change Outlook’s Startup Folder – configure which folder appears first when you start Outlook.




• Emptying the Deleted Items Folder – tell Outlook whether to empty this folder automatically.




• Control Message Highlighting – tell Outlook to highlight certain types of messages.

Configure Outlook For Email Accounts

Here are links to Outlook configuration options and other settings necessary to make Outlook 2010 work with various email programs. Whenever I add a link to the list, I add it on top to make it easy for you to see what’s new. Beyond that, they are in no particular order. When you are done setting up one, use your browser’s BACK arrow to return here and set up another account:

• Configuring Outlook for Web Mail – your main destination of you are configuring Outlook to work with your web mail accounts. An ever-growing collection of primarily web mail services that work with Outlook 2010 and detailed instructions on you to set up the connection.




• Gmail Contacts – importing your Gmail contacts into Outlook 2010.




• Yahoo Mail Contacts – importing your Yahoo Mail contacts into Outlook 2010.