While we have many other posts explaining how to set up a new email account in your mail client, there are times when you would need to alter the settings for an existing email address in your mail client. We’ve provided quick steps below to update your SMTP settings in a variety of widely used mail clients.
Outlook Express
- From the Tools menu, choose “Accounts.”
- Select the “Mail” tab.
- Double-click the email account you need to update. (i.e. mail.yourdomain.com).
- Select the “Servers” tab.
- Check the box next to “My Server Requires Authentication.”
- Click “Ok.”
Outlook ’98 and 2000
- From the Tools menu, choose “Accounts.”
- Select email account you need to update. (i.e. mail.yourdomain.com).
- Click “Properties”.
- Select the “Servers” tab.
- Check the box next to “My Server Requires Authentication.”
- Click “Ok.”
Outlook 2002 and 2003
- From the Tools menu, select “Email Accounts.”
- Select “View or change existing email accounts” and click “Next.”
- Select your Email account and click the “Change” button on the right.
- Click the “More Settings” button in the bottom-right corner of the E-Mail Accounts window.
- In the Internet Email Settings window, click the “Outgoing Server” tab.
- Check the box next to “My outgoing server (SMTP) requires authentication.”
Outlook 2007
- From the Tools menu, select “Account Settings.”
- Select your Email account and click the “Change” button.
- Click the “More Settings” button in the bottom-right corner of the E-Mail Accounts window.
- In the Internet Email Settings window, click the “Outgoing Server” tab.
- Check that the box next to “My outgoing server (SMTP) requires authentication” is checked and “use same settings as my incoming mail server” is selected.
Outlook 2010
- From the File menu, select “Info” and choose “Account Settings.”
- Select your Email account and click the “Change” button.
- Click the “More Settings…” button in the bottom-right corner of the E-Mail Accounts window.
- In the Internet Email Settings window, click the “Outgoing Server” tab.
- Check that the box next to “My outgoing server (SMTP) requires authentication” is checked and “use same settings as my incoming mail server” is selected.
Mac Mail for OS X
- Open Mac Mail.
- From the “Mail” menu, choose “Preferences.”
- Click the “Accounts” icon at the top of the window.
- Next to “Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP):” click on the drop-down menu and go to “Edit SMTP Server List”
- Check to make sure you have the correct SMTP server selected at the top.
- Verify that “Authentication” is set to “Password.”
- If the “User Name” and “Password” fields are not set, enter your full email address as the username, and your password.
- Click “Ok.”
- Close the accounts window by clicking on the red circle in the far upper left hand corner of the “Accounts” window.
- Mac Mail will ask you if you wish to save your changes, make sure to click the “Save” button.
Outlook 2011 (Mac)
- Click Tools then select Accounts.
- Select your account.
- Click to select Override default port box under the Outgoing server.
- Change the outgoing server port to 587 for SSL
- Click the More Options button.
- In the Authentication drop down box, click to select Use Incoming Server Info.
- Click “OK”.
- Close the Accounts window.
Mac Mail (iPhone)
- From the Home screen click ‘Settings’ and then ‘Mail, Contacts, Calendars’
- Select the email account you wanted to modify.
- Scroll down to ‘Outgoing Mail Server’ and click ‘SMTP’.
- Click on the ‘Primary Server’ and make sure the slider is ‘ON’
- In the ‘Authentication’ section set it to ‘Password’
- Go back to the main ‘Settings’ page and then get out of the config all-together.
Thunderbird
- Go to “Tools -> Account Settings -> Outgoing Server (SMTP)”
- Select the server and press the “Edit” button
- Check the “Use name and password” option
- Add your username. Your username will be your full e-mail address (e.g., “you@yourdomain.com”)
- Click “OK”