Setting Up Email on Outlook, Gmail, and iPhone

If your business uses Microsoft 365 (Office 365), Outlook can connect automatically using your work credentials.

• Open Outlook and go to File → Add Account (or, on first launch, Outlook prompts you automatically).
• Enter your full work email address (e.g. yourname@yourcompany.com) and click Connect.
• Enter your Microsoft 365 password when prompted.
• If your organization uses Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), approve the sign-in on your phone.
• Outlook will configure the server settings automatically using Exchange. You do not need to enter server names manually.

Exchange (or Microsoft 365) is the preferred option for business email. It syncs mail, calendars, contacts, tasks, and notes across all your devices in near-real-time. IMAP only syncs email (and sometimes folders) — no calendar or contact sync.

Use Exchange if: Your email is hosted on Microsoft 365, you need calendar and contact sync across devices, or your IT team has set up Exchange on-premises.

Use IMAP if: Your email is hosted by a provider that does not support Exchange, you are using a legacy email system, or you only need email sync and nothing else.

You can add a Gmail account to Outlook as a secondary account alongside your work email.

• In Gmail, go to Settings → See all settings → Forwarding and POP/IMAP. Enable IMAP and save.
• In Gmail, go to your Google Account → Security → 2-Step Verification. If 2FA is on, create an App Password (select “Mail” and “Windows Computer”).
• In Outlook, go to File → Add Account, enter your Gmail address, and use the App Password (not your regular Gmail password) when prompted.
• Outlook configures the IMAP and SMTP server settings automatically for Gmail.

The iPhone Mail app supports Exchange, IMAP, and Google accounts natively.

• Open Settings → Mail → Accounts → Add Account.
• Choose your account type: Microsoft Exchange for work email, Google for Gmail, or Other for IMAP/POP providers.
• Enter your email address and password.
• If your organization uses MFA, approve the sign-in on your phone.
• Choose which items to sync (Mail, Contacts, Calendars, Notes) and tap Save.

For IMAP accounts on iPhone, you may need to enter the incoming and outgoing mail server hostnames manually. Your email provider or IT team can give you these.

Password not accepted: If your email provider requires an app-specific password (Gmail with 2FA, some Microsoft accounts), generate one in your account security settings and use that instead of your regular password.

Cannot verify server identity: This SSL certificate warning usually means the mail server name you entered does not match the name on the server’s SSL certificate. Ask your IT team for the correct server hostname — do not bypass the warning.

Email sends but does not receive (or vice versa): Your outgoing (SMTP) or incoming (IMAP/Exchange) server settings are likely incorrect. Double-check both the server hostnames and port numbers against the settings provided by your IT team or email provider.

Duplicate emails appearing: This happens when you have both POP and IMAP configured for the same account, or when the account is set up on multiple devices with different sync settings. Remove the duplicate account configuration and re-add it using the correct protocol.