If you're trying to sign in to Office with your Microsoft account, you may get a message asking you for parental permission or to verify your age.

For more information about why you're seeing this and how to resolve it, see Parental consent and Microsoft child accounts.

Set up email on your Windows Phone 8.1, Windows Phone 8, Windows Phone 7.5, or Windows Phone 7.

If you're looking for steps for Windows 10 phones, see Set up email in Mail for Windows 10.

Set up mail on a Windows 8.1 or earlier phone

Image of a grey line Open the App list on your phone or tablet and tap Settings.

Then tap Email + accounts > Add an account

Image of a grey line Choose your account type:

  • Outlook.com account: tap Outlook.com or Outlook (or tap Windows Live if you're using Windows 7/7.5).

  • Microsoft 365 account: tap Exchange (or tap Outlook if you're using Windows 7/7.5).

  • Use Google for Gmail, Yahoo! for Yahoo Mail, etc.

Image of a grey line Enter your full email address, for example tony@contoso.com.

Then add the password you use to sign into your email and tap Sign in.

Note: If there's a problem connecting the email account, you might need to Set up email with IMAP or POP. You can also view the Windows Phone 8 or Windows Phone 7 help pages.

Image of a grey line If two-step verification is set up for this account, you might be asked to verify your identity before you can continue.

Follow the instructions to get a code. To learn more, see Why is Microsoft texting me?

Image of a grey line You're done setting up email on your Windows Phone!

Syncing emails and calendar may take a few minutes.

Checkmark

Set up mail on a Windows 8.1 or earlier phone

Image of a grey line Open the App list on your phone or tablet and tap Settings > Email + accounts

Select Add an account > Outlook.

Image of a grey line Enter your full email address, for example tony@contoso.com.

Then add the password you use to sign into your email and tap Sign in.

Image of a grey line Select OK if Exchange ActiveSync asks you to enforce policies or set a password.

And you're done!

Related information

Note: If you are setting up a POP account, only your email will sync to your device. All your calendar and contacts remain stored on your local computer.

  1. In the App list, tap Settings > email+account > add an account > other account.

  2. Add you email address and password, then tap Sign in. Windows Phone will try to set up your email automatically, but if it can't, make sure your username and password are correct, then select Try again. If it still cannot connect, select Advanced > Internet email.

  3. In Account type, select POP or IMAP and enter your incoming and outgoing server names. Type in the full name of the server for your email provider. If you need help finding the necessary settings, see our commonly asked questions for mobile setup here.

    If you're adding your work or school account and your organization uses Microsoft 365 for business to host your email, the settings are listed in the table below.

    Type of server

    Server name

    Port

    Encryption method

    POP3 (incoming server)

    outlook.office365.com

    995

    SSL

    IMAP4 (incoming server)

    outlook.office365.com

    993

    SSL

    SMTP (outgoing server)

    smtp.office365.com

    587

    TLS

  4. Select Advanced and select the boxes Require SSL for incoming mail and Require SSL for outgoing mail, then select sign in.

  1. On Start, swipe left to the App list, select Settings and then select email + accounts.

  2. Select Add an account > Other account.

  3. Enter your email address and password and select Sign in. Windows Phone will try to set up your email account automatically. If setup completes successfully, skip to step 6.

  4. If you see the message “We couldn’t find the settings for the account information you entered”, make sure the email address and password are correct, and then select Try again. If setup completes successfully, skip to step 6.

  5. If your email account can't be set up automatically, select Advanced, and then select Internet mail. Enter this:

    • Account name This is a descriptive name for your account.

    • Your name Type your name as you want it to appear when you send email messages from your phone.

    • Incoming e-mail server This is the incoming email server for your account. If you’re connecting to your Microsoft 365 email, the IMAP or POP server name is partner.outlook.cn. If you’re not using Microsoft 365, see the Find your POP or IMAP server settings expando in this article.

    • Account type This will be either POP or IMAP.

    • User name This is your full email address, for example, tony@contoso.cn.

    • Password This is the password for your email account.

    • Outgoing (SMTP) e-mail server This is the outgoing email server name. If you’re connecting to your Microsoft 365 email, the SMTP server name is partner.outlook.cn. If you’re not using Microsoft 365, see Find your POP or IMAP server settings later in this article.

    • Select Advanced and select the boxes Require SSL for incoming mail and Require SSL for outgoing mail.

  6. Select Sign in.

If you’re connecting to your Microsoft 365 email, the server name for IMAP, POP and SMTP is partner.outlook.cn. These settings can be used if you are using the latest version of Microsoft 365.

If you’re not connecting to Microsoft 365 email, or if you aren’t sure if you are using the latest version of Microsoft 365, do the following to look up your settings.

  1. Sign in to your account using Outlook on the Web.

  2. In Outlook on the Web, on the toolbar, select Settings Settings icon > Mail > POP and IMAP.

  3. The POP3, IMAP4, and SMTP server name and other settings you may need to enter are listed on the Settings for POP and IMAP Access page under POP setting or IMAP setting, and SMTP setting.

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Outlook email accounts include @outlook.com, @hotmail.com, @msn.com, or @live.com as well as international domains such as @outlook.co.uk or any custom domains hosted on Outlook.com.

If your email account is the type that requires registration, you must register it the first time you sign in to Outlook on the Web. Connecting to your email account through a mobile phone will fail if you haven't registered your account through Outlook on the Web. After you sign in to your account, sign out. Then try to connect using your mobile phone.

  • If you’re prompted to create a passcode and don't create one, you won't be able to send and receive email.

  • If you don't accept the policies sent to your mobile phone, you won't be able to access your information on your mobile phone.

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