Email Configuring Outlook

August 18, 2026 at 6:40 AM

Important Notice for Outlook Users

Dear Students,

The official supported email clients for student accounts are:

These platforms are tested, reliable, and fully supported by the DigiPen IT team.

⚠️ Using Microsoft Outlook?

If you choose to use Microsoft Outlook, please be aware:

  • You must manually configure Outlook using SMTP and IMAP.
  • Do not use the Microsoft Exchange account setup option.

Using the Exchange option is not supported and may result in:

  • Emails not being sent to recipients
  • Emails not arriving in your inbox
  • Sync issues and other unpredictable behavior

Note:
Outlook may appear to work when configured using the Microsoft Exchange method.
However, this uses a different protocol that is not connected to DigiPen’s official SMTP/IMAP mail system.
As a result:

  • Your emails may silently fail to deliver
  • You may miss incoming messages

✅ What Should You Do?

To ensure your email works reliably:

  • Use Roundcube Webmail or Mozilla Thunderbird
  • If you still prefer Outlook, follow the manual IMAP/SMTP setup instructions

Need help configuring Outlook? Continue below…

Configuring Microsoft Outlook as Email Client

An email program will send mail to a SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) server, and fetch mail from a IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) server.

Configuration Steps for Outlook

  1. Launch Outlook
  2. Choose “Manual setup or additional server types”. Click Next.
  3. Choose POP or IMAP. Click Next.
  4. Fill in the details like below

Outlook Setup1

  1. Click on “More Settings”.
  2. Click on “Outgoing Server” tab.
  3. Check on “My Outgoing server requires authentication” and “Use same settings as my incoming mail server”.
  4. Click on Advanced tab.
  5. Fill in the details like below

Outlook Setup Advance

  1. Incoming server (IMAP): 993, encryption SSL/TLS
  2. Outgoing server (SMTP): 587, encryption STARTTLS
  3. Folders - Root folder path: Inbox
  4. Click OK and next.
  5. It should run through self-test.
  6. Click on Close and relaunch Outlook.

If 993 does not connect

Use the STARTTLS pair instead — the mail server accepts both:

  • Incoming (IMAP): 143, encryption STARTTLS
  • Outgoing (SMTP): 587, encryption STARTTLS

Port 993 is implicit TLS: the connection is encrypted from the first byte, which Outlook calls SSL/TLS. Port 143 starts in the clear and upgrades, which Outlook calls STARTTLS. Choosing STARTTLS on 993 (or SSL/TLS on 143) will fail to connect.