How can I find my incoming mail server?

Hello,

First time posting here. I have what I would think is a really simple problem that I can't find a solution to. I'm using outlook 2003 on a dell windows xp system. My goal was simply to setup my comcast, gmail, and work email accounts through outlook to be able to check and manage them all more simply. I was able to set up the others fine, but the problem is with my work email.

The simple question is this; is there any way that I can find out myself what the incoming server name is?

The explanation. I work at a public school and they use microsoft exchange server. I asked the IT guy and he gave me the server name to set it up in outlook as an exchange server but, A. I don't like the way it functions like that and B. It only will work inside the school and once I go home is useless. So I wanted to configure it as a POP3 just to send and recieve my work email. I figured out the outgoing server name just by trying myschool'sname.k12.nj.us and it works. I've tried every combination I can think of to configure the incoming server name such as mail.myschool'sname.k12.nj.us, pop.myschool'sname.k12.nj.us, exchangeservername.myschool'sname.k12.nj.us and none of them will work. I've asked the IT guy and he says it won't work as a POP3 which I don't think is true since I'm able to send mail that way and that either he doesn't want me doing it for some strange reason or he just doesn't know himself.

So back to my question. I would simply like to know if there's any way to find out myself the name of my incoming mail server to configure outlook 2003 to recieve my work email. It would seem like there has to be something that can track or view the server mail is sent and received through, but I'm only an intermediate user and don't really know of it myself.

Any suggestions?

 

Hi,

I'm not an expert on Exchange servers but your IT guy is probably telling the truth, you're not sending "mail that way" (POP3), you're sending using SMTP which is an entirely different protocol.

Hopefully this helps.

 

Well you may be right, but is there a way to check by finding the incoming server address? I am not the most advanced user, but it seems rational that if there is an outgoing server address that works then there would be an incoming one and if there is I would just like to try.

 

It doesn't work like that, I may not know much about exchange servers but I did run my own mail servers for a few years

Any server could be set up with any or all of MAPI, POP3, SMTP and even if those services are running they could well be restricted to specific users/IP Addresses even times.

As this is a professional environment we're talking about I wouldn't be comfortable helping you even if I did know how to get the information you requested.

 

Set up a connector account or use Web mail, G mail or Hot mail

I recently set up a Microsoft connector account to link Outlook with a Microsoft Hot Mail account. This solves my problem of not being able to send email when I'm out of town and my ISP is not around; I suspect it would solve your problem also.

If you're interested here is a link for information on setting up a connector account: Microsoft Office Outlook Hotmail Connector overview.

Another way to solve the problem is to use a web based email account such as Web mail, G mail or Hot mail.