Configuring Microsoft Outlook to use on-line folders
The first couple of steps in this procedure will differ depending upon whether or not you already have an E-mail account defined in Outlook. If you don't, begin with "First Time Account Setup" below. If you already have one or more Outlook E-mail accounts set up, skip down to "Adding an Account to Outlook".
If this is the very first E-mail account in your Outlook setup, you should be presented with the Account Configuration dialog when Outlook starts. If you don't see this dialog, skip to the section entitled "Manual Account Settings" below. If this screen is presented, click the "yes" radio button and click "Next >"
The "Add New E-mail Account" dialog opens. Do not fill in any information here. Instead, click the checkbox in the lower left corner to begin manual configuration of this new account, then click "Next >".
Skip over the next section and proceed with the section titled "Manual Account Settings."
If you don't see the "New Account" dialog, click "Tools" on the menu at the top of the Outlook screen. Then click on "Account Settings....". You'll see a screen like the one above. On the E-mail tab, click "New...".
In the "Add New E-mail Account" dialog, make sure the "Internet E-mail" radio button is selected and click "Next >".
Enter the following information in the account form:
User Information
- Your Name:
- Enter your name as you'd like it to appear in outgoing E-mails
- E-mail Address:
- Enter your PSU e-mail address - Example: jdoe@pittstate.edu
Server Information
- Account Type:
- Select IMAP
- Incoming Mail Server:
- imaps.pittstate.edu
- Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP)
- smtps.pittstate.edu
Logon Information
- User Name:
- Enter the part of your address to the left of the @ sign. If your e-mail address is jdoe@pittstate.edu then enter "jdoe" in this space.
- Password:
- Enter your e-mail password. Note: If you've forgotten your e-mail password, you can reset it by visiting https://go.pittstate.edu/iss/account.management/pref.mail/pref.mail.pw.change located on the "Computer Accounts and Passwords" menu in GUS.
Don't click "Next >" yet. Instead, click the "More Settings" button in the lower right section of the form.
On the Internet E-mail Settings (more settings) page, select the General tab. Optionally, replace the default account title with something else - like "PSU E-mail". Optionally, fill in the organization.
The most convenient way to cause Outlook to purge and permanently delete IMAP items marked for deletion (a strikethrough indicates such a message), is to check the "Purge items when switching folders while online" box. With this option turned on, users can get rid of (strikethrough) messages marked for deletion simply by switching from one folder to another and back again. This seemed the simplest way to make Outlook actually delete a "deleted" message. If you leave the box unchecked, it will be necessary to use the "Purge" command in Outlook to make these strikethrough items disappear. E-mails that are only marked for deletion can be undeleted - but they also continue to count against a user's disk quota. Personal preference will govern, of course. Just be aware of the implications both ways.
After completing any desired items on this tab, don't click OK yet... Click on the "Outgoing Server" tab.
On the Outgoing Server tab, check the box next to "My outgoing server (SMTP) requires authentication." Make certain that the default option - "Use same settings as my incoming mail server" is also selected.
Note: Since both the incoming and outgoing servers require a user name and password and since both connections are encrypted, we've made this e-mail setup globally accessible. That means that laptop or home users don't need the VPN to use a desktop E-mail client. Outlook (or any other properly configured e-mail client) can communicate with the server directly from any Internet connection, anywhere.
We're still not quite done here. Don't click OK... click on the "Advanced" tab.
On the Advanced tab, in the Server Port Numbers section, under "Incoming server (IMAP)" enter port number 993. Select SSL as the type of encryption from the drop-down list. Similarly, select port number 465 and SSL encryption under "Outgoing server (SMTP)."
Lastly, under "Root folder path" enter "My_Folders" just as you see it above, including the underscore ( _ ) character. If you leave this space blank, you'll actually see two folders listed in your new account: My_Folders and OldStyle_Folders. The latter is there to permit "old" style IMAP users to drag and drop their old online IMAP folders into the new style (My_Folders) name space using a single account. If you're in that category, you might want to leave this blank initially and come back and change it after you complete your migration.
When you've finished here, finally, you may click "OK."
Back on the Add New E-mail Account page, click "Test Account Settings ..." to make certain everything's working. If all goes well, you'll see the notice below.
Click "Close." You may see this notice. If you do, click "OK."
Lastly, you'll see the "Contratulations" window appear. Click "Finish."
Basic account setup is now complete.
Now take a look at your folder list on the right side of Outlook's main window...
You'll see your new account (mailtest.pittstate.edu in this example) listed.
Creating a New Online Folder
In this example, we'll create a new online folder. The procedure will be the same no matter the parent container. It's perfectly legitimate to create folders within folders, for example.
To begin, right-click on the "parent" container, in this example the account itself - mailtest.pittstate.edu Select New Folder...
On the Create New Folder form, enter the folder name and click OK.
You'll see your new folder listed under its parent.
Moving E-mail folders to the server
Next, let's go through an example explaining how to move your local e-mail folders up to the server.
Moving local folders to the server has two distinct advantages:
1. All your saved e-mails will be backed up every night using the OIS centralized backup system.
2. All your saved e-mails will be available from home or anywhere else you happen to be. You can access your account - including these saved-email folders using the "GorillaMail II" web client or by using a traditional e-mail client like Outlook Express. The former is preferable for quick access from any PC. The latter is more convenient on remote PC's that you want to use routinely - like a home PC or laptop.
Let's look at an example of local folders containing saved e-mails:
Here we have four user-created folders in the "Personal Folders" section of Outlook called Stuff-1, Stuff-2, Stuff-21 and Stuff-22. The e-mails stored in these folders reside on the hard drive of the local computer - not on the server. This is the case with everything in the "Personal Folders" section of Outlook. Now let's expand the PSU E-Mail account there at the bottom of the list and see what it contains.
In the PSU E-Mail on-line folder setup you see folders named Folder 1, Folder 2, Folder 21 and Folder 22. These folders reside on the mail server and are available on-line. We'd like to make the "Stuff" set of folders and their contents go take up residence on the mail server as well. Moving these folders is very straightforward using the Drag-and-Drop method. The term "Drag-and-Drop" is probably one you've heard in the past, even if you're not sure what it means or how to do it. Let's move the Stuff-1 folder onto the mail server. The instructions below lead you through a "Drag-and-Drop" procedure. If you're uncomfortable with this method, an alternate procedure appears immediately after the Drag-and-Drop procedure explained below. Here's how to Drag-and-Drop a folder: 1. Put the mouse pointer on the Stuff-1 folder and click the mouse once. The background around Stuff-1 should turn light blue - indicating that the folder has been selected. We do this first step simply to give you a more visible target for the following step. 2. With the mouse pointer still in the Stuff-1 folder, hold down the left mouse button. Don't let up on the button yet. 3. While holding down the left button, move the mouse pointer downward toward the PSU E-Mail section. You'll notice that a semi-transparent ghostly image of Stuff-1 is now hooked to and following your mouse pointer as you move it. You're now doing the "drag" part of "drag-and-drop." 4. Watch as you move the mouse pointer past other folders. Most of these turn light blue as you pass over. This indicates that the folder you're dragging along with you could be dropped into the light-blue-highlighted location were you to let up on the mouse button you're still holding down. 5. When you release the mouse button with the pointer on a highlighted destination, the item you're dragging will be moved inside that container. If you wanted Stuff-1 to live inside Folder-1 for example, you would drag Stuff-1 down to Folder-1 and release the mouse button. Alternatively, if you want Stuff-1 to be a "top level" folder, you should highlight the account name - in our example that's the line that says "PSU E-Mail." That's what we'll do in the example below. This step completes a drag-and-drop operation for the folder named "Stuff-1."
Here you see the formerly "local" folder named Stuff-1 has been moved to the mail server. Here's the alternate method mentioned above. This procedure doesn't require holding down a mouse button. It's not as fast or intuitive but it might feel more comfortable to those who don't feel very proficient with a mouse - or for those using a touchpad on a laptop computer: 1. Click on the folder you want to move so that its background turns light blue. 2. Right click on the folder. 3. On the menu that appears, click on "Move {folder}..." 4. A new window will open showing all available target locations. 5. Click on the target location of your choice. 6. Click the OK button. A word of caution: If you have large numbers of e-mails stored in your local folder(s), be prepared to wait quite a while for the data to be moved onto the mail server. In extreme cases where a folder contains thousands of saved e-mails, it can take an hour or more to transfer all the data. Be patient. If you don't see any error messages, the process is just taking some time to complete. A quick note on web access: To work with your in-box and your saved e-mails from a remote location, you can use the GorillaMail II web client. You'll see GorillaMail II listed near the bottom-right on the e-mail login page at the PSU web site. The web E-mail system is an open source product named RoundCube. RoundCube seems to be very user friendly and intuitive. It also has an on-line help system. You may access RoundCube directly by going to: https://roundcube.pittstate.edu Note: Remember to use https - not http when entering the address.
For assistance contact your Comptuer Support Technician
or the Gorilla Geeks Help Desk