Outlook Express Setup Guide

This guide describes the procedure for setting up your BIT.net email account with Microsoft Outlook Express 6. If at any time you get lost and need to see larger screenshots of what this guide refers to, please click the I'm lost link available at the end of every step, and a new window with a more detailed screenshot will be displayed. In this guide, text in italics indicates anything that you may see during the process of setting up your email, while anything in bold indicates anything that you should actually click on.

Step 1

Open Microsoft Outlook Express. Click Tools then Accounts. I'm lost!

Step 2

Outlook Express is not only an email client. It allows you to view newsgroups, as well as access online directory services. The page that you are currently looking out provides a list of all the different accounts you may have set up. The All tab allows you to get a quick overview of all your accounts, while the Mail, News, and Directory Service tabs allow you to view only accounts of that specific type. Clicking the Add button in the top right corner opens a menu from which you can select what type of account you would like to add. Seeing as it's an email account we are attempting to setup here, click Add and then Mail. I'm lost!

Step 3

This next page (entitled Your Name) requires only one setting, and that is your Display Name. This is your actual name that will be seen by people you send email to, ie this name will be displayed in the "From" field of your sent emails. If you are setting up an email address for personal use, then your name is fine (eg "John Smith"). If you are setting up a business email address, it may be a good idea to enter in the name of your business here (eg "Smith & Co. Pty Ltd") to make your emails look more official. Once you've entered your name, click Next. I'm lost!

Step 4

The next setting is your email address, which you should enter as username@bit.net.au where username is the username of your internet account. This is the same username that you selected when you signed up for your internet account. Once you've entered your email address, click Next. I'm lost!

Step 5

The two settings that need to be entered into this page are the incoming and outgoing mail servers. This tells your email client who to contact to send and receive your email.

Firstly, you need to specify what type of email server you are going to receive email from. POP, IMAP and HTTP are all different types of email servers available on the internet. The type of server that BIT.net provides is a POP or Post Office Protocol server. For Incoming mail server enter pop.bit.net.au. For Outgoing mail server enter smtp.bit.net.au.

Once you've filled in these details, click Next. I'm lost!

Step 6

This page requires you to enter the logon details for the mail server. In this instance, you must use your full email address as your logon username, ie you must enter username@bit.net.au into the Account name box, while the password you need to enter is the one you selected for your account when you signed up, unless it has since been changed.

Set Account name to your email address (eg. username@bit.net.au) and enter your password. Click Remember password if you would like Outlook Express to remember your password and not ask you for it again. If there are a number of people who use your machine regularly, you can deselect this box and enter your password each time you check your mail as a security measure. Click Next. I'm lost!

Step 7

You should now have successfully set up your new email account. Click Finish to exit the email wizard. I'm lost!

Step 8

Now that your email account is setup, Outlook Express should periodically check your email (assuming you are connected to the internet). Also, Outlook Express will check for new email every time you open the program. If at any time you would like to force Outlook Express to check your email, click Send/Recv in the main window to download your email. I'm lost!

Additional Resources

Here are some additional resources which may come in handy while you use Outlook.

Microsoft Outlook Express Support

If you're having problems using or installing Outlook Express, then this should be the first place you visit. Search the Microsoft Knowledgebase for the problem you're having and you're bound to come up with something useful.

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