Note
It is
possible to send a message using any of your accounts. However, sending
a message using anything other than the default account requires an
extra step.
3. Specifying Advanced Account Settings
Although the basic account settings that you
specify using the Internet Connection Wizard suffice in most cases, many
accounts require a more advanced setup. For example, your Internet
Service Provider (ISP) might require a different SMTP port or you might prefer to leave your messages on the server.
To work with these more advanced settings,
select an account and then click Properties. The property sheet that
appears contains a number of tabs, and most of the controls in this
dialog box are straightforward. The next four sections take you through
some of the other options and show how useful they can be.
Using a Different Reply Address
It’s occasionally useful to have replies sent
to a different address. For example, if you’re sending a message
requesting feedback from a number of people, you might prefer that the
return messages go to a colleague or assistant for collating or
processing. Similarly, if you send a work-related message from a
personal account, you might want replies sent to your work account.
To
specify a different reply address, display the General tab in the
account’s property sheet, and then type the address in the Reply Address
text box.
Enabling SMTP Authentication
With spam such a big problem these days, many ISPs now require SMTP authentication
for outgoing mail, which means that you must log on to the SMTP server
to confirm that you are the person sending the mail (as opposed to some
spammer spoofing your address). If your ISP uses authentication, display
the Servers tab in the accounts property sheet, and then activate the
My Server Requires Authentication check box. By default, Outlook Express
logs you on using the same username and password as your incoming mail
server. If your ISP has given you separate logon data, clicking
Settings, activate the Log On Using option, type your account name and
password, and click OK.
Specifying a Different SMTP Port
For security reasons, some ISPs insist that all
their customers’ outgoing mail must be routed through the ISP’s Simple
Mail Transport Protocol (SMTP)
server. This usually isn’t a problem if you’re using an email account
maintained by the ISP, but it can lead to problems if you’re using an
account provided by a third party (such as your website host):
Your ISP might block messages sent
using the third-party account because it thinks you’re trying to relay
the message through the ISP’s server (a technique often used by
spammers).
You might incur extra charges
if your ISP allows only a certain amount of SMTP bandwidth per month or a
certain number of sent messages, whereas the third-party account offers
higher limits or no restrictions at all.
You might have performance problems, with the ISP’s server taking much longer to route messages than the third-party host.
You might think that you can solve the problem
by specifying the third-party host’s SMTP server in the account
settings. However, this doesn’t usually work because outgoing email is
sent by default through port 25; when you use this port, you must also
use the ISP’s SMTP server.
To work around this, many third-party hosts
offer access to their SMTP server via a port other than the standard
port 25. To configure an email account to use a nonstandard SMTP port,
display the Advanced tab in the account’s property sheet, and then use
the Outgoing Mail (SMTP) text box to type the port number specified by
the third-party host.
Checking the Same Account from Two Different Computers
In today’s increasingly mobile world, it’s
common to have to check the same email account from multiple devices.
For example, you might want to check your business account not only
using your work computer, but also using your home computer or your
notebook while traveling, or using a PDA or other portable device while
commuting.
Unfortunately, after you’ve downloaded a
message, the message is deleted from the server and you can’t access it
from any other device. If you need to check mail on multiple devices,
the trick is to leave a copy of the message on the server after you
download it. That way the message will still be available when you check
messages using another device.
To tell Outlook Express to leave a copy of each
message on the server, display the Advanced tab in the account’s
property sheet, and then activate the Leave a Copy of Messages on the
Server check box. You can also activate the following options:
| Remove from Server After X Days | If
you activate this check box, Outlook Express automatically deletes the
message from the server after the number of days specified in the spin
box. |
| Remove from Server When Deleted from ‘Deleted Items’ | If
you activate this check box, Outlook Express deletes the message from
the server only when you permanently delete the message on your system. |
Here’s a good strategy to follow:
On your main computer, activate the Leave a Copy of Messages on the Server check box and the Remove from Server After X Days check box. Set the number of days long enough so that you have time to download the messages using your other devices.
On all your other devices, activate only the Leave a Copy of Messages on the Server check box.
This strategy ensures that you can download messages on all your devices, but it prevents messages from piling up on the server.
Note
There are other
occasions when you’d prefer to leave messages temporarily on the server.
For example, if you’re on the road, you might want to download the
messages to a notebook or to some other computer that you’re using
temporarily. By leaving the messages on the server, you can still
download them to your main computer when you return to the office or to
your home. Similarly, you might want to download your messages into
another email client for testing purposes or to take advantage of
features in that client that aren’t found in Outlook Express.
