This guide covers the classic Outlook ribbon interface used in both Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365) and standalone Outlook 2021 for Windows. The steps are identical for both versions.
What you will need
- Your full email address (e.g. you@yourdomain.com)
- Your email password
- Your incoming and outgoing mail server — find this in cPanel under Email Accounts → Connect Devices. It is typically mail.yourdomain.com.
Add the account
- Open Outlook. Click File in the top-left ribbon.
- Under the Info tab, click Add Account.
- Type your full email address in the box.
- Expand Advanced options and tick Let me set up my account manually.
- Click Connect.
- When asked to choose an account type, select IMAP.
Enter the server settings
Fill in the incoming and outgoing server details as follows:
- Incoming mail (IMAP)
- Server: mail.yourdomain.com
- Port: 993
- Encryption: SSL/TLS
- Outgoing mail (SMTP)
- Server: mail.yourdomain.com
- Port: 465
- Encryption: SSL/TLS
Click Next, enter your password when prompted, then click Connect. Outlook will verify the settings and display a confirmation screen. Click Done.
Troubleshooting
- If the connection fails on port 465, try outgoing port 587 with STARTTLS encryption instead.
- Confirm your exact server hostname in cPanel: go to Email Accounts → Connect Devices and expand your account. The correct hostname is listed there.
- Make sure IMAP access is enabled for the account in cPanel under Email Accounts.
