Retrieving POP3 emails on the Microsoft Surface

The mail app that comes with Windows 8/RT does not support POP3 email retrieval.  It only supports IMAP.  So what do you do if your email server or your ISPs email server only supports POP3?  Here’s a quick way to configure the Windows 8/RT mail app so you’ll still be able to get your emails.

Using an Outlook.com account (or hotmail.com), jump into the web app. http://www.outlook.com

Click the Configure button and choose More mail settings.

In the Managing your account area, choose Sending/Receiving email from other accounts.

Choose the Add an email account option.

Enter the email address you want to setup, and then choose Advanced options.

Configure your POP3 server information, along with the SSL and Port number options.  Also, make sure to tell Outlook.com how to handle the message retrieval, i.e., leave it on the server or delete it after downloading.

Enter the user login name and password and choose Next.

After Outlook.com thinks a bit, you can then choose how Outlook.com should store the retrieve email messages.  Since I’ve setup multiple accounts, I prefer each account gets it’s own folder, but it’s completely up to you.

The next time the Windows 8/RT email app syncs, the new folder will show up as shown below.

 

You would think that by now, the account would be completely setup and you’d be done, but there’s one last step.  You will receive a verification email from Outlook.com to ensure that the account you setup is indeed yours.  Once you click the verification link, the new POP3 account is setup.  The email looks like this: