HOW DO I GET IMAP EMAIL WORKING IN NEW OUTLOOK

Question

HOW DO I GET IMAP EMAIL WORKING IN NEW OUTLOOK

G. Ray Howell 5

I have been hosting my business website on Prohosting since I started in 2000. I have used Microsoft Outlook as my email interface for ALL of that time. Now, I just built a new computer, and installed Windows 11, and OUTLOOK refuses to connect to my email services. I have contacted my web hosting/email service provider and they are stating that the issue is with the NEW OUTLOOK, and as I have another business email account hosted by another hosting company, and their email is ALSO refusing to connect using the NEW OUTLOOK while working perfectly in the OLD OUTLOOK puts the lie to your advertising that OUTLOOK makes email EASIER. It in fact is blocking me from using what I am PAYING FOR. Fix it or we will have to initiate a class action lawsuit for false advertising and for market manipulation. You want to sell hosting services so you are blocking competitor services. You have been through these lawsuits before and you always LOSE why do you keep doing this?

4 answers

Your answer

Answer 1

Dear @G. Ray Howell,

Thank you for posting your question in the Microsoft Q&A forum.

Based on your description, I understand your frustration with being unable to connect your established email accounts to the new Outlook for Windows, and I apologize for the inconvenience this has caused; however, you're likely using the New Outlook for Windows, which simplifies account setup and unfortunately removes some of those manual configuration options.

If possible, please try switching back to classic Outlook. You can do this by turning off the “New Outlook” toggle in the app or installing the full desktop version of Outlook (Microsoft 365 Apps or Office LTSC). This version allows full manual setup of IMAP and SMTP with all necessary options.

If you’re using a standalone version of Office (like Office 365 or Office 2019), here’s what you need to do:

Open Outlook desktop app.
Click on the “Help” tab or find the “Try the new Outlook” toggle in the upper right corner.

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Turn off that toggle to switch back to Classic Outlook.
Then, re-add your IMAP account using the traditional server and port settings.

For more information: Add an email account to Outlook for Windows

If you prefer the New Outlook experience, please try again these following steps:

Step 1: In New Outlook > Settings > Accounts > Your Account > Add account > enter your email > Choose Continue > Click Cancel

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Step 2: Choose Advanced Setup option

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Step 3: Choose Your email provider: IMAP

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Step 4: Enable the Show More and/or the use recommended settings toggles. The app will try secure auto‑config using the provider’s IMAP/SMTP endpoints.

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If you're trying to add your Outlook.com account to Outlook or another mail app, you might need the POP, IMAP, or SMTP settings. You can find them below or by viewing them in your Outlook.com settings.

Note: Outlook and Outlook.com may be able to detect your account's mailbox settings automatically, but for other non-Microsoft accounts, you may need to contact your email provider for their settings.

POP & IMAP access is disabled by default. See the section below on how to enable POP or IMAP access in Outlook.com.
Outlook.com requires the use of Modern Auth / OAuth2.
Incoming and outgoing servers are the same.

Here's sone additional information about the manual server settings I recommend you follow: POP, IMAP, and SMTP settings for Outlook.com

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If you're still unable to connect, please confirm these questions to help me narrow down the issue:

Which version of Outlook are you using on the new PC? Is it the New Outlook for Windows (from Microsoft Store or via toggle), or the classic Outlook desktop app (part of Microsoft 365 or Office LTSC)?
Who is your email provider for the IMAP account? (e.g., Outlook.com, Gmail, your organization’s domain, ISP)
Do you have the exact IMAP and SMTP server settings (server names, ports, encryption type) that worked on the old PC?
Is two-factor authentication (2FA) enabled on your email account? If yes, are you using an app password or standard password?
Is this mailbox personal or work/school (managed by an organization)?
Do you get a specific error message/code?

I hope this information is helpful. Please follow these steps and let me know if it works for you. If not, we can work together to resolve this. If I misunderstood anything, please feel free to reach out again.

Please understand that our initial response does not always resolve the issue immediately. However, with your help and more detailed information, we can work together to find a solution.

Thank you for your patience and your understanding. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out. I'm looking forward for your reply.

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread. User's image

Sophie N 6,140 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-11-06T00:30:32.4866667+00:00

Dear @G. Ray Howell,

I hope you’re doing well. I just wanted to check in and see how things are going with the steps I shared earlier. If you ran into any difficulties at any point or if something is unclear, please don’t hesitate to let me know. I completely understand that these processes can sometimes be tricky, and I’m here to make it as easy as possible for you.

Feel free to share any details or questions you might have, I’m ready to listen and assist you further.
G. Ray Howell 5 Reputation points

2025-11-06T01:45:12.0333333+00:00

the beginning of the email account I created for you is microsoft it is showing as a number of * characters. so trying to get it to you again. I will delete the email account as soon as the issue is resolved.
G. Ray Howell 5 Reputation points

2025-11-06T03:18:35.4866667+00:00

I have tried and the best I can do is try to connect to my outlook email, which it shows is remove PII@outlook.com, which I have had since 2011. I tried setting that up as well, and it failed also. I set a forwarding to remove PII@outlook.com from my TheKeyWizard email account, but I am unable to use the New Outlook, and there is no older outlook on my new computer.

Using outlook.com and attempting to email back to my forwarded email is not working.
G. Ray Howell 5 Reputation points

2025-11-06T03:21:53.8+00:00

it is blocking email addresses, but here it is, remove PII @ outlook.com,
Hornblower409-4652 2,295 Reputation points

2025-11-06T03:41:41.9+00:00

remove PII*@ outlook.com*

That is an auto generated address when you use a non-Microsoft account as your Primary during setup. You need to add an outlook.com alias and remove the auto generated one.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/outlook-com-email-account-appears-as-outlook-long-series-of-letters-and-numbers-outlook-com-in-outlook-for-windows-90ed7938-7f21-4cb5-a69d-a3b79ea4eafd

[https://video2.skills-academy.com/en-us/answers/questions/4707767/my-account-has-this-weird-address-outlook-(a-few-n](https://video2.skills-academy.com/en-us/answers/questions/4707767/my-account-has-this-weird-address-outlook-(a-few-n)

Answer 2

Hornblower409-4652 2,295

-- Mail Server: mail3.prohosting.com

I will assume that you verified that you have the correct mailX.prohosting.com server number using the Netadmin control panel for your account. https://www.prohosting.com/support/tutorial_email/email_software_settings.htm

Are you attempting to use IMAP or POP on the New Outlook Advanced Setup?
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And then using the suggest settings from ProHosting for your server?
https://www.prohosting.com/support/tutorial_email/email_software_settings.htm

G. Ray Howell 5 Reputation points

2025-11-06T03:23:05.7033333+00:00

yes, I did all of that.
G. Ray Howell 5 Reputation points

2025-11-06T03:30:37.7833333+00:00

ALTHOUGH the error message is different now after INVALIDCREDENTIALS it says TEMPORARILYUNAVAILABLE but the result is the same, no workie.
Hornblower409-4652 2,295 Reputation points

2025-11-06T04:08:16.52+00:00

You may be hitting a problem with the Microsoft email IMAP connection process.

I've seen some other recent reports of the same problem. No solution that works for everyone. Seems to be account (not domain) dependent, but no one has a root cause.

https://video2.skills-academy.com/en-us/answers/questions/5579850/i-am-receiving-errors-while-trying-to-add-imap-acc

https://video2.skills-academy.com/en-us/answers/questions/5574952/how-to-add-an-pop-or-imap-e-mail-on-the-new-outloo

Ignore any of the suggestions from Microsoft about:

Adding the account to Outlook Web. (Non-Microsoft accounts not allowed)

Using an "App Password". As far as I can tell ProHosting doesn't do that.

Long** standing problem with New Outlook for Windows and custom domains.**

https://video2.skills-academy.com/en-us/answers/questions/4624282/invalid-credentials-interaction-required-when-addi

https://community.opalstack.com/d/1511-using-mail-in-the-new-outlook-app

For some people the only solution was to go back to Classic Outlook which is much more forgiving about custom domains.

You can try an IMAP connection tester.

But it may give you a False Negative for ProHosting domains because of the way they have their email servers partitioned. (I assume, they have to play fast and loose with their DNS and MX record setup to make it work. But that's just a guess).

https://testconnectivity.microsoft.com/tests/exo
https://dnsexit.com/it-tools/email-tools/check-imap/
G. Ray Howell 5 Reputation points

2025-11-06T06:00:49.9766667+00:00

Thank you for all the help, I really appreciate it!
G. Ray Howell 5 Reputation points

2025-11-06T06:04:04.0833333+00:00

Ok, you won't believe this, but.... I got the email account set up in the New Outlook, and I set the email address to the name I registered with. I redirected my prohosting email to forward to the named outlook account, so I can send and receive emails now, through the Outlook app, but they keep going to the Junk folder. I have told it three times, to NEVER send those emails to the junk, and the first two times, it moved the file to my inbox, but the third time, it wouldn't. I had to move the email manually to the inbox. AND, at the top of every message it says, "We can't verify that this email came from the sender so it might not be safe to respond to it. Learn More" and in the incoming listing of emails, it says UNVERIFIED. It is doing so because I set up the app to respond using my prohosting email address as my FROM element. Also at the top is says my name via outlook.com But, I am now able to send and receive the prohosting emails, just with caveats.

Answer 3

G. Ray Howell 5

posted to the wrong location

G. Ray Howell 5 Reputation points

2025-11-06T05:58:20.8166667+00:00

woops
Sophie N 6,140 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-11-06T06:27:18.06+00:00

Dear @G. Ray Howell,

I’m glad to hear you were able to set up your email account and get things working. Thank you for your patience throughout this process.

If possible, could you share more details about your experience, especially how you configured the account and forwarding? Your insights can help others facing similar issues find a clear solution.

If you have any further questions or need assistance, feel free to reach out, we’re always happy to help.
G. Ray Howell 5 Reputation points

2025-11-06T06:30:38.52+00:00

To do the forwarding, I had to be the admin of the website, and use the admin tools to forward the emails and leave them on the prohosting server as well. So, I can delete a message in Outlook, but go to the email account on prohosting, and the message will still be there. This can be annoying, but until I am sure everything is fully functional, I will retain copies on the server.
Sophie N 6,140 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-11-06T06:34:22.5433333+00:00

Dear @G. Ray Howell,

I’m so glad to hear that everything is now working for you! Thank you for your patience and effort in getting this set up.

If you have any other questions or need further assistance, feel free to reach out, we’re always happy to help.
G. Ray Howell 5 Reputation points

2025-11-06T06:34:30.38+00:00

I believe that setting the IMAP allowances also had something to do with the connection, but since it did not resolve the issue until I corrected the outlook email address, I don't know for sure.
Sophie N 6,140 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-11-06T06:35:47.02+00:00

Dear @G. Ray Howell,

I’m so glad to hear that everything is now working for you! Thank you for your patience and effort in getting this set up.

If you have any other questions or need further assistance, feel free to reach out, we’re always happy to help.
Sophie N 6,140 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-11-06T06:44:23.3233333+00:00

Dear @G. Ray Howell,

Thank you for sharing your experience. IMAP allowances can help enable synchronization between your email client and the server, but connection issues often occur if the server settings or authentication details are not fully aligned. In your case, correcting the Outlook email address was likely the key step because accurate configuration ensures proper authentication and message flow.

IMAP works best when both the server and client settings are correctly configured. If you continue to experience difficulties, you may want to review your IMAP settings or refer to this official guide: Add an email account to Outlook for Windows

Please let us know if you have any further questions, we’re happy to assist.
G. Ray Howell 5 Reputation points

2025-11-06T13:05:19.32+00:00

Well, only one in 10 emails are actually being forwarded! I still have to log on using the Internet to see my emails. Well, so long Microsoft, maybe Linux will work better.

Answer 4

G. Ray Howell 5

I have another question, but the system doesn't provide for asking about REMOTE DESKTOP. For years I have used RD to connect to the other computers on my home network (I maintain Win 7, 8.1 and in a Virtual Machine on the Win 7 a Win XP because I am a programmer and may need to test my software on older systems) Now, on the new Win 11 Pro, I am unable to make that connection to my other computers. I was using the IP address and my set portal number to connect, now they won't.

Hornblower409-4652 2,295 Reputation points

2025-11-06T22:08:17.0833333+00:00

The coding for a Windows Remote Desktop question is:

Windows for business | Windows Client for IT Pros | User experience | Remote desktop clients
Sophie N 6,140 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-11-07T03:29:00.01+00:00
Dear @G. Ray Howell,

Thank you for sharing your Remote Desktop concern, it’s an important topic, and I’d love to help. To make sure you get the best and fastest assistance, could you please create a new question in the forum specifically for this issue?

When posting your new question, please include:

Your Windows version (e.g., Windows 11 Pro) and the versions of the other systems.

How you were connecting before (IP address, custom port).

Any error messages or behavior you see now.

Steps you’ve already tried.

This makes it easier for everyone to zero in on your question and provide the best answer quickly. If you prefer, you can also link your new post here so I can follow up directly.

Thank you for helping us keep the thread organized, looking forward to your new question!

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HOW DO I GET IMAP EMAIL WORKING IN NEW OUTLOOK

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