Outlook is a popular email client many individuals and businesses use for managing their emails. If you are a Gmail user and prefer using Outlook to access your emails, you’ll be glad to know that setting up Gmail in Outlook is possible. In this blog post, we will guide you through step-by-step instructions on how to set up your Gmail account in Outlook.
Configure Your Gmail Account
Before you can set up Gmail in Outlook, you must ensure you have enabled the appropriate access settings in your Gmail account. Two options are available: POP (Post Office Protocol) and IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol). Both options have advantages, so choose the one that best suits your needs.
- Open your web browser and navigate to the Gmail website.
- Sign in to your Gmail account using your credentials.
- Click on the gear icon in the top-right corner and click “See all settings” from the dropdown menu.
- On the Settings page, click the “Forwarding and POP/IMAP” tab.
Enable POP Access
To enable POP access in your Gmail account, follow these steps:
- In the POP Download section, select “Enable POP for all mail” or “Enable POP for mail that arrives from now on”, depending on your preference. In this example, I’m choosing the first option.
- In the “When messages are accessed with POP”, select your preferred action after accessing the messages. The options are:
- Keep Gmail’s copy in the inbox — The email is left untouched in your Gmail. The read/unread status does not change.
- Mark Gmail’s copy as read — The email is marked as read in your Gmail.
- Archive Gmail’s copy — The email is archived in your Gmail.
- Delete Gmail’s copy — The email is deleted from your Gmail.
In this example, I’ll select to mark the email as read in Gmail.
- Click on the “Save Changes” button to apply the settings.
Enable IMAP Access
To enable IMAP access in your Gmail account, follow these steps:
- In the IMAP Access section, select “Enable IMAP.”
- Choose what happens “When I mark a message in IMAP as deleted”. In this example, I choose to auto-expunge the email from Gmail.
- Select whether to apply “Folder size limits”. I selected “Do not limit the number of messages in an IMAP folder (default)” in this example. This option means that Outlook can download all emails from any IMAP folder.
- Click on the “Save Changes” button to apply the settings.
Generate an App Password
Note. This step only applies if 2-Step Verification is enabled in your Google account AND you plan to configure the POP or IMAP settings in Outlook manually.
Important. Using app passwords is not recommended. It is less secure and can bypass blocked app access.
- Log in to https://accounts.google.com.
- Switch to the Security tab and click 2-Step Verification.
- Scroll to the bottom and click App passwords.
- Select the Mail app and Windows Computer device and click Generate.
- Copy the app password once it is generated and click DONE. Store this app password securely.
You’ve now generated a new app password.
Related. What to Do if Outlook Cannot Connect to Gmail Account?
Set Up Gmail in Outlook (Automatically using “Sign in with Google”)
Once you have configured the access settings in your Gmail account, you can proceed with setting up Gmail in Outlook. The recent versions of Outlook already support modern authentication and automatic email setup for Gmail.
In this scenario, we’ll create a new profile in Outlook for your Gmail account.
- Open Outlook on your computer.
- Click on the “File” tab in the top-left corner.
- In the Info section, click on the “Add Account” button.
- Enter your Gmail email address and click on the “Connect” button.
- Enter your Gmail email address and click on the Next button.
- Enter your Gmail account password and click on the Sign in button.
- Complete your 2-Step verification if needed.
- Since now is your first time logging in to Gmail using Outlook, you’ll see a consent window saying what access the Outlook client will have to your Gmail account. Click Allow to confirm.
- You’ve successfully added your Gmail account in Outlook. Click Done to exit the account setup.
Note. Notice that Outlook configured IMAP by default as the access protocol using the automatic setup.
Set Up Gmail in Outlook (Automatically using App Password)
If you prefer to set up Gmail in Outlook without using the “Sign in with Google” authentication method, especially if you plan to use POP, follow these instructions.
- Open Outlook on your computer.
- Click on the “File” tab in the top-left corner.
- In the Info section, click on the “Add Account” button.
- Enter your Gmail email address, check the “Let me set up my account manually” box, and click the “Connect” button.
- Depending on your preference, click POP or IMAP.
- Enter the app password you previously generated and click Connect.
- Outlook automatically configures your Gmail settings. Click Done to exit the setup.
Set Up Gmail in Outlook (Manually using App Password)
If you’re unhappy with Outlook’s automatic email configuration, you can do it manually. But this method will only work with app passwords, which is not a recommended authentication method.
1. Open the Mail applet in the Control Panel. Click Add, enter the Profile Name, and click OK.
2. Select Manual setup or additional server types on the next page, and click Next.
3. On the Choose Your Account Type page, select POP or IMAP and click Next.
4. Fill in the following information to set up Gmail in Outlook.
Setting |
POP |
IMAP |
---|---|---|
Account Type |
POP3 |
IMAP |
Incoming mail server |
pop.gmail.com |
imap.gmail.com |
User Name |
Gmail email address |
Gmail email address |
Password |
App password |
App password |
5. Now click More Settings → Outgoing Server. Enable “My outgoing server (SMTP) requires authentication” and select “User name settings as my incoming server”.
6. Click Advanced and configure the Server Port Numbers as follows. Click OK.
Setting |
POP |
IMAP |
---|---|---|
Incoming mail server (port) |
995 |
993 |
Outgoing mail server |
smtp.gmail.com |
smtp.gmail.com |
Outgoing mail server (port) |
465 (SSL) or 557 (STARTTLS) |
465 (SSL) or 557 (STARTTLS) |
7. Click Next, and Outlook will test your account settings. If all goes well, you’ll see the following status.
8. Click Finish.
Conclusion
Setting up your Gmail account in Outlook allows you to access and manage your emails seamlessly within the familiar Outlook interface. By following the instructions outlined in this blog post, you can easily set up Gmail in Outlook and choose between POP and IMAP access options based on your preferences.
Whether you opt for POP or IMAP, Outlook provides a convenient way to consolidate your email accounts and enhance productivity. Enjoy the benefits of using Gmail in Outlook and streamline your email management experience.
18 comments
Unbelievable we still have to jump through this many hoops in 2016 and that it doesn’t automatically detect settings and support 2-factor authentication… Looks like only the Android and iOS versions of Outlook get those features!
Thank you so much for the help. You are the only one that got it right!
That’s great news! We are glad that it helped you!
I have successfully connected my Gmail account to my iPhone 6 Plus and I have been trying to connect it to Outlook 2016 on both my Windows laptop and my MacBook but no matter what I do or what advice I follow I am just not able to get connected on either of those devices. I’m not getting ‘Allow less secure apps:’ I’m only getting ‘Apps connected to your account’ and ‘Saved passwords’ on both devices.
Are you using 2-factor authentication? If so, you need to set up an ‘app password’ since Outlook cannot handle 2FA.
Even when you get it hooked up in this way, search is not very good and you still don’t have calendar or contacts sync without third party plugins (I know there is gsyncit on Windows, not sure about MacOS).
Personally I wouldn’t even bother, there are other email clients out there that support gmail better!
Hi,
I have add my gmail account to outlook mail account(Office 2016).
But I can’t see sent items folder or even sent mails.
Can you please help me to sort it out
Excellent instructions – information easy to follow and execute but –
The following instruction need updating. “It’s a problem with Gmail, but don’t worry – we’ll will show you how to fix it. To fix this sort of problem, open up your Gmail account and then click on your Profile. Now, go to the My account option. In the following window you will see a lot of settings, but we need to go to Sign-in & Security. From here go to Connected apps & sites tab and you will see the option which says Allow less secure apps: OFF. What we need to do now is just enable this option.”
Instead, instructions should be – click on the google account, circle located at the top right of the page. Click the ‘Google Account’ tab. Click on ‘security.’ Scroll down to ‘Less Secure app access’ and click ‘Turn on access.’ On the next page, click on the empty space on the right of the button causing it to the right and turn blue
thanks, this definitely worked
Using Outlook 2010.
Followed instructions as best as I could. Some different screens in 2010 version.
I had a non-working configuration (PoP) and deleted config before trying clean account establishment. Went thru the complete configuration 3 or 4 times and could never get the account establish. In the Gmap ..Imap in Outlook 2016, I never found a “Save” setting. I entered all server settings and after bypassing repeated pop-up screens asking for Email and password values (did not work) I closed down the account creation. Restarted account info in Outlook nd a/c was not established. What next. I was ready to establish the Google Accounts and two-factor Authentication but with no a/c established I gave up.
By the way, I have two step authentication off in Google/Gmail.
bob Sterbenz
My Outlook/Gmail link stopped working after changing my Google password. Al attempts to restore failed. Fount your helpful article and tried to re-establish Outlook connection to Gmail. Followed your steps to connect to Gmail via Pop and IMAP Prior to starting your steps, I deleted the existing account info (My Mistake?). I went thru New Pop and new Imap installs a number of times. In every case a new Account was not created – why? I’m using MS Office 2010 on an updated Win 10 version 1903. I still get my Email via Gmail but can’t seem to connect Outlook to Email. Outlook still partially works. My saved emails in a second folder are still there. user addresses and calendar appointments are still there. No new Email.
Is it time to give up and buy/install MS Office 365?
Followed the guide step-by-step, but keep getting the error message: Something went wrong. We couldn’t connect to the incoming (IMAP) server. Please check the incoming (IMAP) server settings and try again. What can I do? Please help!
Brilliant assistance, clear and comprehensive.
Hi very good comments here. I am on Office 365 with Outlook 2016. I used a pop a/c in Outlook for decades then went to a Gmail a/c two years ago. I recently changed my Outlook a/c to an IMAP.
I have a Gmail address only because I had to get one to set it up. No one uses my Gmail address.
Outlook and Gmail have certain advantages so I have been running both. Seeing all my emails come to my optusnet address is there any justification in setting up Gmail in Outlook? Just that from experience I find when I start playing around in Outlook I get into a lot of strife!
Thanks
Excellent!
Hi, thanks for the detailed step by step guide, but still did not work for me. Approaches that did not work (pop-up message requiring password, never made it past that point):
1. Automatic setup from outlook without touching the gmail settings (default IMAP enabled, POP disabled)
1.1. Manual setup with POP3 settings (all combinations of the listed)
1.2. Manual setup with IMAP settings (all combinations of the ports listed)
1.3. Tried also both setups above by using the login without the “@gmail.com” suffix
2. Change of gmail settings to POP enabled, all 3 approaches above
3. Adding 2-factor authentication in google account settings, all combinations above, on top of this not working started freezing Outlook
The only thing that worked like a charm was to setup an app-specific password in Google account settings: Go to your google account security settings and click on “App passwords” select “Mail” in apps and relevant device in devices. Then just go to Outlook/File/Add account/E-mail account, use your name, email and the copied 16 digit password generated in google app passwords and it is done in few seconds.
Excellent worked like a charm
Thank You,Thank You,Thank You!
I never would have been able to figure out how to connect to my Outlook Desktop Client without your Clear instructions!
The Outgoing server (SMTP) should be 465 and the encrypted connection SSL (NOT TLS).
That worked on me.