Setup O365 mailbox access on MACs

You can use a web browser or an email program on your computer to connect to your email account.

Web browser access

You connect your Apple computer to your email account by using a web browser in the same way that you connect a Windows computer.

Mail program access

You can connect to your account automatically, or you can connect by using IMAP or POP.

There are three programs you can use to connect to your email account by entering your email address and password:

  • Outlook for Mac 2011
  • Entourage 2008, Web Services Edition
  • Mail (the email application included with Mac OS 10.6 Snow Leopard and Mac OS 10.7 Lion)

Connecting to your email account by using Outlook for Mac 2011 or Entourage 2008, Web Services Edition provides a more complete email experience than connecting to your email by using IMAP or POP. For example, if you connect using Outlook for Mac 2011 or Entourage 2008, Web Services Edition, you'll be able to synchronize Notes, Tasks, Calendar items, or Categories between Outlook Web App and Outlook for Mac 2011 or Entourage 2008, Web Services Edition.

Note: If you're running Entourage 2008, you must install Entourage 2008, Web Services Edition, a free update for Entourage 2008 users.

If you're running Mac OS 10.6 Snow Leopard, you can use the Mail program that's included with Snow Leopard to connect to your account without using IMAP or POP. As with Outlook for Mac 2011 and Entourage 2008, Web Services Edition, the steps for connecting to your account with Mac Mail for Mac OS 10.6 Snow Leopard only require you to enter your email address and password.

For more information about how to use these email programs to connect to your account, follow the steps in one of these topics:

Set up Outlook for Mac 2011

  1. Open Outlook for Mac 2011. On the Tools menu, click Accounts. If this is the first account you're creating in Outlook 2011, under Add an Account, click Exchange Account.

If you've previously created an email account for a different email address, in the lower corner of the Accounts dialog box, click NEW, and then click Exchange.

  1. On the Enter your Exchange account information page, type your email address.
  2. Under Authentication, make sure User Name and Password is selected.
  3. In the User name box, type your complete email address. In the Password box, type your password.
  4. Make sure Configure automatically is selected, and then click Add Account.
  5. After you click Add Account, Outlook will perform an online search to find your email server settings. In the dialog box that asks if you want to allow the server to configure your settings, select the Always use my response for this server check box, and then click Allow.
  6. If Outlook is able to set up your account, you'll see the account you set up in the Accounts dialog box. Close the Accounts dialog box. If Outlook isn't able to set up your account, see the next section in this article.

Set up Entourage 2008, Web Services Edition access to email using an Exchange account

  1. Install Entourage 2008, Web Services Edition.
  2. Open Entourage 2008. In the Entourage dialog box, under Select an identity, click New, type a name for your email account, and then click OK.
  3. On the Welcome to Entourage page, make sure Start using Entourage without importing anything   is selected. Click the right arrow button.
  4. On the Set Up a Mail Account page, in Email address, enter your full email address, for example, john.doe@email.kpu.ca.
  5. Select the My account is on an Exchange server check box. Click the right arrow button.
  6. The Entourage Setup Assistant will try to set up your account automatically based on your email address. If Entourage is redirected to the server to get your settings, click Always use my response for this server, and then click Allow.
  7. The Entourage Setup Assistant page will appear. Then you'll see the Configuring Account screen while Entourage tries to set up your account automatically.
  8. If a message that asks you if you want to allow to configure your settings appears, select Always use my response for this server, and then click Allow. The server name listed may be similar to https://autodiscover-s.outlook.com/autodiscover/autodiscover.xml.
  9. In the Optional: Verify Settings dialog box, click Verify My Settings. Read the results of the verification process.
  10. In the Account Information dialog box, do the following:
    1. Make sure the Domain text box is blank.
    2. In the Account ID text box, enter your full email address, for example, john.doe@email.kpu.ca.
    3. In the Password text box, enter your password. If you want to save your password, select the check box next to Save password in my Mac OS keychain. Click the right arrow button.

Note: The Autodiscover process may populate the LDAP server text box with a server name. This information isn't needed. If a server name is present in the LDAP server text box, delete the server name.

  1. Do one of the following:
    1. If the results show that verification succeeded, click the right arrow button, and then, in the Setup Complete dialog box, click Finish.
    2. If the results show that verification failed, click the right arrow button and repeat the previous step, and then click the right arrow button. If the results show verification succeeded, click the right arrow button, and then, in the Setup Complete dialog box, click Finish. If the account setup fails again, see the section "What else do I need to know?" at the end of this article.
  2. If the verification process succeeded, Entourage 2008 will try to synchronize with your email account. If you're prompted with the Account Information dialog box, do the following:
    1. Make sure the Domain text box is blank.
    2. In Account ID, enter your full email address, for example, john.doe@email.kpu.ca.
    3. In Password, enter your password. If you want to save your password, select the check box next to Save password in my Mac OS keychain.
  3. If a warning message appears that indicates that your account information couldn't be retrieved, click Yes in the dialog box, and then re-enter your email address and password.
  4. To view your mail, click your account name in the Entourage console tree and expand the folders.

Set up Entourage 2008, Web Services Edition access to email using POP or IMAP

You can connect Microsoft Entourage for Mac OS X to your email account using POP3 or IMAP4. This procedure applies to Entourage 2004 and Entourage 2008.

Set up Entourage for access to email using POP or IMAP

  1. In Entourage for Mac, on the Tools menu, click Accounts > New.
  2. In the New Account window, under Add new mail account, select IMAP or POP from the drop-down menu next to Account type, and then click OK. You might want to use IMAP because it supports more features.
  3. On the Edit Account page, do the following:

Under Account name, type a name for this account.

Under Personal Information:

  1. Next to Name, enter the name you want people to see when you send them email.
  2. Next to E-mail address, enter your full email address, for example, john.doe@email.kpu.ca.

Under Receiving mail:

  1. Next to Account ID, enter your full email address.
  2. If you're using IMAP4, next to IMAP server enter the IMAP4 server name. If you're using POP3, under POP server, enter the POP3 server name. If you're connecting to your Office 365 email, the IMAP or POP server name is outlook.office365.com.
  3. Next to Password, enter your password. If you want to save your password, select the check box next to Save password in my Mac OS keychain.
  4. Click Click here for advanced receiving options. In the pop-up window that appears, select the check box next to This IMAP service requires a secure connection (SSL), and then click the close button in the upper-left corner of the pop-up window.

Under Sending mail:

  1. Next to SMTP server, enter the SMTP server name. If you're connecting to your Office 365 email, the SMTP server name is smtp.office365.com.
  2. Click Click here for advanced sending options. In the pop-up window that appears, do the following:
    • Select the check box next to SMTP service requires secure connection (SSL).
    • Select the check box next to SMTP server requires authentication.
    • Select the Use same settings as receiving mail server option, and then click the close button in the upper-left corner of the pop-up window.
  1. On the Options page, select the options you want. If you're using IMAP4, you can also select options on the Advanced page.

Note: If you're using POP3, on the Options page, under Server options, select Leave a copy of each message on the server if you want to keep a copy of your messages on the server. If you don't do this, all messages will be removed from the server and stored locally on your computer.

  1. In the Edit Account window, click OK to save your settings.
  2. Close the Accounts dialog box.

Find your POP and IMAP server settings

If you're connecting to your Office 365 email, you don't need to look up your settings. For Office 365, the server name for IMAP and POP is outlook.office365.com and the server name for SMTP is smtp.office365.com.

Set up Exchange account access using Mac OS 10.6 Snow Leopard or later

If you're running Mac OS 10.6 Snow Leopard or later, follow these steps to set up an Exchange email account:

  1. Open Mail, and then do one of the following:
    • If you've never used Mail to set up an email account, the Welcome to Mail page opens. Go to step 2.
    • If you've used Mail to create email accounts, on the Mail menu, click Preferences. On the Accounts tab, click Add + to open the Add Account window.
  2. In the Welcome to Mail or Add Account window, do the following:
    • In the Full Name box, type the name you want to display to people who receive your email messages.
    • In the Email Address box, type your primary email address.
    • In the Password box, type the password for your email account, and then click Continue.

The Mail program uses the information you entered to try to set up your email account automatically.

  1. Next choose the Mac apps you want to use with this account. Available choices are Contacts, Calendar, Notes, and Reminders.
  2. Click Done to finish setting up your account.

If the Mail program isn't able to set up your account automatically, wait a few minutes or a few hours, and then repeat these steps.

Set up POP or IMAP on Mac OS X

If you just want to manage your Exchange email on the Mac, you can set up POP or IMAP access to your account.

  1. Open Mail, and then do one of the following:
    • If you've never used Mail to set up an email account, the Welcome to Mail page opens. Go to step 2.
    • If you've used Mail to create email accounts, on the Mail menu, click Preferences. On the Accounts tab, click Add + to open the Add Account window.
  2. In the Welcome to Mail or Add Account dialog box, do the following:
    1. In the Full Name box, type the name you want to display to people who receive your email messages.
    2. In the Email Address box, type your primary email address.
    3. In the Password box, type the password for your email account, and then click Next.
  3. You'll see a message stating that the account must be configured manually. Click Next.
  4. In the Incoming Mail Server Info dialog box, enter the following:
    • Next to Account Type, choose POP or IMAP. IMAP supports more features.
    • In the Mail Server box, type the IMAP or POP3 server name. If you're connecting to your Office 365 email, the IMAP or POP server name is outlook.office365.com.
    • In the User Name box, type your primary email address.
    • In the Password box, type the password for the email account if necessary.
    • Click Next. Mail uses default settings to test your connection to the incoming server.

Note: If the test isn't successful, you can you can go to Mail > Accounts to verify your settings after you complete this procedure.

  1. In the Outgoing Mail Server Info dialog box, do the following:
    • In the SMTP Server box, type the SMTP server name. If you're connecting to your Office 365 email, the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) server name is smtp.office365.com.
    • Enter your User Name and Password again. Most outgoing email servers use this information for security purposes.
    • Click Create. Mail uses default settings to test your connection to the outgoing mail server.

Note: If the test isn't successful, you can you can go to Mail > Accounts to verify your settings.

Find your POP or IMAP server settings

If you're connecting to your Office 365 email, you don't need to look up your settings. For Office 365, the server name for IMAP and POP is outlook.office365.com and the server name for SMTP is smtp.office365.com.