Microsoft Outlook is an app provided by Microsoft. It is not just an email app; it is much more than that. It acts as your personal information manager that helps to keep your life and work organized in one place. Most people use it for email, but its true power comes from how it connects our messages, schedule, and tasks.
What Is Microsoft Outlook Used For
Emailing- It helps you to send and receive emails. It helps to organize them and also flag them so that you can send them later. You can also use AI Co-Pilot. It is an AI-powered assistant built by Microsoft. Instead of doing all the work manually you can ask the Co-Pilot instead. It helps you to summarize long threads, draft Emails, email coaching and finding information.
Calendar – It helps you to set reminders, schedule meetings and even see the schedules of your teammates, so that you can find a good time to talk to them.
Contacts- Microsoft Outlook acts as a digital address book which stores all the phone numbers, addresses, and notes about the people you know.
Tasks- Outlook helps you to create lists of things that you need to do and set deadlines. It even lets you turn an email into a task just by dragging it.
Who All Can Use Microsoft Outlook
Microsoft Outlook is made for everyone. It is designed for different types of people and these include-
Professionals/Businesses: Microsoft Outlook is the industry standard for offices. Companies use it to coordinate meetings and keep internal communication secure.
Students: It is very useful for school as well as college going students. It is great for managing class schedules, assignment deadlines, and communicating with professors.
Personal Users: Anyone can use the free version that is available on the web (Outlook.com) to manage their personal life, sync their Gmail or Yahoo accounts with Microsoft Outlook and keep a family calendar.
How Can We Access Microsoft Outlook
Desktop App: On desktop Microsoft Outlook is available as a full-featured version for Windows and Mac.
Mobile App: On mobile it’s a very popular app for iPhones and Androids.
Web Browser: You can log in at Outlook.com from any computer in the world.
Delivery Systems
What Is SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol)
It is an outgoing worker that is used for sending mails. It is the system that carries the mail that we send to the receiver’s mail server. One interesting fact about SMTP is that the mail only goes out and it does not help you to download or read the mail. SMTP helps Microsoft Outlook in sending mails to the receiver’s mail server.
What Is POP3 (Post Office Protocol)
POP3 is used to receive mail by the receiver from their mail server. It grabs the email from the receiver’s server, downloads it to your computer and then generally deletes it from the server. It is good if you have a small mailbox limit or a bad internet connection as it helps you to read the mail offline once it is downloaded.
It only has one downside that once the mail is downloaded on your computer but you want to view the mail on some other device, POP3 doesn't allow this as the mail would be deleted from the server.
When you receive an email from some it would come in the form of username@outlook.com.pst. Although Microsoft Outlook has an option to use POP3 for receiving mails, it is rarely used nowadays. There are a lot of softwares out there that provide this service, but for me personally I would recommend the SysTools PST converter.
What Is IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol)
IMAP is also used to receive mail, but it works in a different way as compared to POP3. It leaves the mail on the receiver's mail server and simply generates a copy of the same on your device.
Everything is in sync in IMAP, for example if you delete the mail on your mobile then it is also deleted from your computer and mail server. It is widely used nowadays as it helps people to use multiple devices. Whenever a mail comes into your mail server Outlook uses the IMAP protocol to show it in your folder instantly.
When you receive an email from some it would come in the form of username@outlook.com.ost. There is a lot of software out there that provides this service, but for me personally I would recommend the SysTools OST converter.
Different Versions Of Microsoft Outlook
Classic Outlook- This is the powerhouse version and has been around for decades. It is used by professionals who need deep customization, offline access, and complex tools like Mail Merge.
The New Outlook- This is the modern, faster, and simpler version, which is currently replacing the old Mail and Calendar apps on Windows 11. This version of Microsoft Outlook looks almost exactly like the website version.
Outlook.com- This is the free version of Microsoft Outlook that you can access through a browser. This is the direct competitor to Gmail.
Smart Features Of Microsoft Outlook
Focused Inbox- It automatically learns which emails are important to you and puts them in a focused tab, while moving newsletters and receipts to another tab.
Microsoft Copilot (AI)- AI is a core part of Microsoft Outlook. It can summarize long email threads so you don't have to read 20 messages.
Quick Steps- You can create shortcuts for repetitive tasks using Microsoft Outlook Mail.
Snooze & Pin- If you get an email and can't deal with it yet, you can snooze it, and it will disappear and pop back into our inbox at a time of our choosing. You can also pin important emails to the very top so they never get lost.
Who All Cannot Use Microsoft Outlook
People in Restricted Countries
Due to trade sanctions and international laws, Microsoft services are not officially available in certain countries like: Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria, and Sudan.
Children Under the Minimum Age
One cannot create a Microsoft Outlook account if they are under the statutory age in their country without parental consent. The statutory age in the U.S. is 13 years old and in India it’s 18 years old.
Device lacks Modern Authentication- When you use an extremely old smartphone or mail app that doesn't support modern security logins, Microsoft Outlook will block the connection in order to keep your data safe.
The Operating System is too old- Outlook no longer supports any of Windows 7, 8, or 10. You would need Windows 11 or one of the three most recent versions of macOS to access Outlook.
Users with Third-Party Accounts
For someone who has created a Microsoft account using a non-Microsoft email but never added an alias, then that person cannot use the Outlook.com web interface. In order to fix this problem, Microsoft requires you to create an @outlook.com address to unlock the inbox features.
Full Storage
For someone who’s Microsoft cloud storage or Inbox is 100% full, Microsoft Outlook will stop sending and receiving emails. You cannot use the service until you delete files or buy more space.