Configuring AOL Mail for Outlook

Within the recent years, AOL has upgraded their email technology to be compatible with some of the latest versions of the Microsoft Outlook email client.

Per AOL Mail’s requirements, this configuration uses Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) to handle incoming mail requests and Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) to handle outgoing mail requests. The following guide provides a walkthrough on how to configure AOL Mail and Outlook to work together on an IMAP server, as well as a brief explanation of how these settings can affect your access to some AOL Mail features.

How to Configure AOL Mail for Outlook 2013

Setting up Outlook 2013 to work with your AOL Mail account doesn’t have to be complicated. Use the steps below to setup your account in a matter of minutes.

1.    Open Outlook 2013 and click on the “File” tab, then “Info”. This should take you to the “Account Information” section.
2.    Click on “Add Account”. This button should be located above the “Account and Social Network Settings” button on the page. 
 3.    On the following page, select “Manual Setup or Additional Server Types” and then click “Next”.

4.    On the displayed “Choose Service” page, select “POP or IMAP” and click “Next”.
5.    The next page will require you to input user and server information. After entering your user information, you will be prompted to enter information about the IMAP server. Select “IMAP” as the account type, enter imap.aol.com as the incoming mail server, and smtp.aol.com as the outgoing mail server. Click “More Settings”.
6.    Select the “Outgoing Server” tab. On this tab, check the box beside “My Outgoing Server (SMTP) Requires Authentication,” and then select “Use Same Settings As My Incoming Mail Server”. 
7.    Click on the “Advanced” tab. This tab should have a set of numbers that you will need to verify. Your incoming server (IMAP) should be set to 993 or 143, while the incoming server encrypted connection should be set to SSL. Meanwhile, your outgoing server (SMTP) should be set to 25 or 465, while the outgoing server encrypted connection should be set to TLS. Click “OK” and then click “Next”. 
8.    Outlook will then proceed to run two test account tasks including logging on to the incoming mail server and sending a test email message. If all of the information above has been entered correctly, these tasks will be completed successfully and you will be provided with a message stating that Outlook has all of the information necessary to set up your account. Click “Finish” to close out this dialogue box.

How to Configure AOL Mail for Outlook 2010

The setup process for Outlook 2010 is fairly similar to Outlook 2013 with the exception of a few changes. Note that the AOL IMAP server settings are slightly different for Outlook 2010.

1.    In the top left corner, click “File”, then click “Info” in the panel below. This will prompt you to go to the “Account Information” page, where you can click “Account Settings”. 

2.    “Email Accounts” will be displayed on the following page. Click “New”. 
3.    Click “Manually Configure Server Settings or Additional Server Types” and click “Next”. 
4.    On the “Choose Service” page, click “Internet E-Mail” and then click “Next”. 
5.    The “Internet E-Mail Settings” page should appear. Here you will need to input your user and server information. Select “IMAP” as the account type, set incoming mail server to imap.aol.com, and then set outgoing mail server to smtp.aol.com.
6.    Click on “More Settings”, followed by clicking on the “Outgoing Server” tab. 
7.    Check the box beside “My Outgoing Server (SMTP) Requires Authentication” and then select “Use Same Settings As My Incoming Mail Server”. 
8.    Click on the “Advanced” tab. Verify that the incoming server is set to 993 with an encrypted connection of SSL, then verify that the outgoing server is set to 465 with an encrypted connection of SSL. Click “OK”.
9.    Check the box beside “Test Account Settings By Clicking the Next Button”.
10.    Outlook 2010 will then run two test tasks to ensure the information was entered correctly. If everything is successful, Outlook will state so in a dialogue box that follows. Click “Finish”.

Some AOL Mail Features Unavailable

It is important to note that some features associated with AOL Mail’s web service will not be available when you access your account through Outlook. Although these features will still be available if you choose to directly log into your account via AOL Mail, they are not transferrable when using AOL Mail through Outlook’s email client. AOL Mail features unavailable through use of Outlook include:

•    Report Spam button is not available via IMAP settings. In order to report messages as spam, you will need to move those emails into the “Spam” folder in Outlook.
•    It is not possible to check the status of a sent email or a retrieved email message from other AOL Mail users.
•    It is not possible to manually add email messages to the “Inbox” or “Sent” folder. In Outlook, these email messages will only appear when an email has been sent or received from the AOL IMAP server. 
•    Regarding deleted emails, email messages will be marked for deletion via the “Sent” or “Inbox” folders, but will not be removed until later on by the AOL IMAP server. In Outlook, deleted emails will be present in the original folder but will provide a notice stating that they are marked for deletion until the removal process occurs. 
•    You cannot create or delete folders from the root folder via AOL IMAP servers. As a result, you will only see folders for your Inbox, Sent Email, Saved Email, and Spam unless you have otherwise created folders directly on the AOL Mail web client.

Once you have completed these steps, the setup process is complete. Outlook 2013 and Outlook 2010 make it more simple and convenient to set up and access AOL Mail through the respective email client. Compared to earlier versions of Microsoft Outlook Express, the setup process is shorter, allowing you to enjoy your AOL Mail experience as soon as possible.