Outlook FAQ

Here is some info to help make Outlook work with your DreamHost email.

If our info isn't enough, you can always visit Microsoft's official product support FAQ!

I get a Socket Error: 10051 when trying to send mail!
The socket error, 10051, translates to 'Network is unreachable.' This is often the case if your ISP blocks sending mail (blocking port 25) through anyone other than their OWN smtp server.

If your outgoing mail port is set to 25, try changing that to port 587.

Can I use Outlook to read mail at DreamHost?
But of course! See: Outlook Express

Setting up Microsoft Outlook Express with DreamHost email
The first step is to add a new "Account" to your outlook settings. This is usually under the "Tools > Accounts..." menu. Once you open up the Accounts window, click the "Add" button (and then Mail if prompted) to begin configuring your DreamHost email account!

Your "display name" should be the name you want your emails to come from.. usually just your name.

Your "E-mail address" should be the email address you want your emails to come from. This can actually be ANY valid email address in the world, even "president@whitehouse.gov". But you probably don't want people who reply to your emails to send them there! So, pick an email address that you've already set up through our Mail > Addresses area to forward to your DreamHost mailbox!

Decide if you'd like to connect to our mail servers via POP3 or IMAP (follow that link to learn more about each one). Then enter your incoming and outgoing mail server names. They are both the same, simply mail.yourdomain.com.

Now, you'll have to enter your "Account name" and password. This is your mailbox username, which is just your full email address (e.g. you@yourdomain.com .. the whole thing!). If you don't know your mailbox password, you can get it or set it to something new at the Mail > Addresses area of our web panel!

MAKE SURE "Log on using Secure Password Authentication (SPA)" IS NOT CHECKED

When you're finished, you should be brought back to the main "Account" page. You're not quite done! You won't be able to send email through our SMTP servers unless you do this: Highlight mail.yourdomain.com and click "Properties". Click the Servers tab. Make sure "My server requires authentication" is checked! Click ok!  We use authenticated SMTP (so that only our clients may send email through our servers and not spammers!) so you won't be able to send email without doing this! If you still get an error message when trying to send email, your ISP may block port 25!.

That's it, you're done configuring Outlook to use DreamHost's email services! Remember that if you JUST added a mailbox or email address through our web panel it may not be active yet. Please try and wait an hour or two before contacting support about problems with new email accounts not working!

Using Outlook 2000 to help filter spam
Although it won't stop all spam, Outlook 2000 does have a few features that will help you automatically filter out SOME unwanted messages.

To automatically move, delete, or color-code junk e-mail and/or adult-themed email messages:  Click Inbox. Click Organize. Click Junk E-mail. Use the drop-down menus to automatically color junk and/or adult email messages, or to direct them to a different folder. Click Turn on. 

To automatically move or delete all e-mail messages from a particular sender  Click Inbox. Click on a message from the sender whose messages you want to automatically move or delete. On the Actions menu, point to Junk E-mail, and then click Add to Junk Senders list. </ol>

Microsoft also makes filters that can be incorporated into Outlook Express. For more information, visit: [http://www.microsoft.com/windows/oe/]