Last Updated May23rd, 2015 at 11:45AM
The following details how to reconfigure MS Outlook on a Windows 7 PC to connect to Microsoft Office 365 Hosted Exchange. With these steps, users will be adding a new MS Outlook profile and adding their new Hosted mailbox to it. They will then open MS Outlook with the new profile going forward. The advantage of this approach is the old MS Outlook profile, along with all data and settings will still exist on the system as a backup. Users can then later remove the old profile to save disk space once they are happy with the new profile.
- If you have not done so already, please open a browser and go to https://portal.office.com. Login with the credentials provided to ensure they are correct. If you are prompted to change your password, please do so and make a note of what you made it. Going forward, SYGNET will not be able to see what your password is, we will only be able to reset it. If you have difficulties logging into the portal site, please contact SYGNET for assistance.
- Close MS Outlook if you have it open.
- Click the Windows button (normally found in the lower left corner of the desktop) and select Control Panel. Note that your Control Panel may not appear exactly as shown below depending on the View by: setting.
- In the upper right corner of the Control Panel, type “mail” in the Search Control Panel field.
- Click the Mail (32-bit) icon to open the Mail dialog box.
- Click the Show Profiles… button.
- Click the Add… button.
- In the Profile Name: field, enter “Office 365″ and then click the OK button. The Add Account dialog box will appear.
- In the Add Account dialog box, type your first and last names in the Your Name: field. Enter the email address for the mailbox you are setting up in the E-mail Address: field. For the password, use the updated password you created in the Portal website, or stay with the SYGNET provided password if you were not prompted to change your password in the Portal site. Enter your password in the Password: and Retype Password: fields. Click the Next > button to proceed.
- You will notice that the Add Account window will attempt to configure itself with the account parameters provided. If everything has been added correctly, three green checks will appear as indicated in the screen capture above, and the message “Congratulations! Your email account was successfully configured and is ready to use” will appear. At this point click the Finish button and move to the next step. If the congratulations message does not appear, you may have entered your email address or password incorrectly. If that is the case, the system will prompt you with the Windows Security dialog box below so you can correct them.Verify you have the correct email address and password entered for the mailbox, then click the OK button to continue. If you are unable to move past the Windows Security dialog box, contact SYGNET for assistance.
- You will return to the Mail dialog box. To switch MS Outlook over to using the new Hosted mailbox, make sure the radio button is beside the option Always use this profile and use the drop down box to select Office 365. Click the OK button to commit the change. The Control Panel can be closed at this point.
- Start MS Outlook normally and it should connect to your new Hosted mailbox. Note that moving around the new mailbox may initially be slower until the system finishes caching the contents locally.
- Your email signatures will still be available on the system, however we recommend user check they are configured as desired. The easiest way to do so is by starting a new email and selecting the Messages tab. In the Messages tab there is a option for Signature that has a down arrow under it. Click the down arrow and select Signatures…. This will open the Signatures and Stationery dialog box.
- Use the drop down boxes in the Choose default signature section to select the appropriate signature options for each mailbox you have configured. Click the OK button when done.
- For user with more than one mailbox, you will want to configure Outlook so you can choose which mailbox to use when sending a new email. To do so, open a new email and select the Options tab, and then select the From option. Once you have clicked the From option, you will notice a new From button has appeared underneath. The From button allows the user to choose which mailbox will be used for the current message.
Congratulations, at this point MS Outlook should be fully configured to use your new MS Office 365 hosted mailbox!