Gmail and Outlook
 

I have a long distant memory of adding a gmail account to Outlook. Just tried again and can't get it to work. Tried both POP3 and IMAP with lots of different port options as suggested by Googling the subject. Whatever I try gets the same 'unable to connect' response from Outlook. Are our fiends at Google deliberately preventing Outlook connecting to force people to use the whole Gmail shebang - or am I missing something obvious?

I suspect the former. Although most of my g.mails arrived in Outlook, some persistantly refuse to do so. Yyes, I suspect.....

Tone, which Outlook are you using? I mean, is it Outlook.com email service or just Outlook, the thick client app.

have a good one, FD.

I gave up on Outlook when it crashed and lost my whole address book, e-mail history, etc. Apparently it kept them all in one great big encrypted file, and the crash hosed that.

Outlook went, a better backup routine came (my own batch file one)!

I use Thunderbird now for mail, and keep the diary and address book on Gmail, accessed via Firefox on here and via PI on the iPhone and iPad.

Not backing up your Users folder eh? Stand by for a spanking from you-know-who! :}

Outlook - the thick client app, not sure which way to take that. I'm just using outlook, part of Office 2010. Just for the hell of it I installed Thunderbird and tried that - it works seamlessly with Gmail. Must be a Google/Microsoft thing.

So that's exactly what I am using with no problems from the day one. Sure, Outlook 2010 lacks the "auto" setup from G-mail which some other programs have.


Intrestingly, I seem to like Gmail web environment that I do not open MS Outlook most of the time, but offline mail is essential for travels so I need a proper app for that.


PM me if you wish, I can crosscheck my settings with yours, should be the same.


FD

I am - indirectly - accessing a gmail account via Outlook 2010. My email provider is "Virgin", but it's actually gmail under the hood.

I occasionally get authentication problems for a few hours, which is a Virgin-gmail problem, but overall it works just fine.

SD

So how does one do that ? I've been singularly unsuccessful at backing up e-mails.

All (I think!) your Outlook stuff is in the PST files. Normal location is:

C: Drive>Users>Bloggs>AppData>Local>Microsoft>Outlook.

:ok:

Yes, it's a PST, but no, that's not necessarily the location.

For example, mine is at: C:\Users\SD\Documents\Outlook Files - I believe that's the default for Win 7.

You can also have other PSTs (besides the "root" pst) almost anywhere.

Easiest thing to do is go into the Outlook account settings and see the specific paths for your installation.

SD

... all of which confusion, and the fact that my prehistoric backup system missed the (one and only!) .PST file is why I abandoned Outlook to its fate.

I did find the lurking .PST but it was too late.

Thunderbird puts the mail into a directory that I choose (I:\Mail, me being a bear of little imagination). Within that are subdirectories for each e-mail address, plus a few other items such as address book. Each mailbox subdirectory has files for inbox, outbox, and the various filed messages categories.

It's easy to drive, backs up up quickly, is unlikely to be damaged - and if it is, the backup for that specific file drops straight in. None of the other mail is affected. Each to his own, but it works for me.