What is Microsoft Outlook?

Microsoft Outlook is available with the MS Office Suite. It is a desktop email application for Windows and Mac users. Users can smoothly configure multiple email accounts in Outlook. It comes with several features like calendar, contact management, journals, emails, etc. You can send or receive emails through free POP, SMTP, and IMAP Mail servers with Outlook.

File extensions and location of Outlook file

OST (Offline Storage Table) and PST (Personal Storage Table) are two file extensions used by Microsoft Outlook. OST is an offline data file of MS Outlook created when Outlook is not connected with Exchange Server whereas PST file is generated when users are connected to Exchange Server. However, other file extensions are also used by Outlook that are discussed below –

MSG– Outlook single mail file

EML– single email message, easily import to Outlook

VCF– Contacts file

ICS– Calendar file

WAB– Windows Address Book

Location of Outlook data files –

For Outlook 2007 and 2010

C:\users\username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook

For Outlook 2013, 2016, and 2019

C:\users\username\Documents\Outlook Files

Types of Outlook data files

Generally, Outlook data file, i.e. PST are of two types –

ANSI PST– Outlook 2002 and earlier versions generate ANSI PST files and they have a size limit of up to 2 GB.

UNICODE PST– Outlook 2003 and other version files are UNICODE PST files and the limit for storage has been extended up to 50 GB now in later versions of Outlook.

Versions available with MS Outlook

Microsoft introduced several versions of Outlook and the latest version is Outlook 2019.

Configuration of Email accounts

Email accounts accessed by MS Outlook –

• Open Outlook and go to Tools menu. Select Add account
• Enter your email account details like –
• Select POP3 or IMAP (IMAP is recommended)
• Enter mail.example.com in incoming mail server
• Then, enter mail.example.com in outgoing mail server
• Enter the full email address
• Enter the mail account password
• Now, configure outgoing server settings. Go to More options and then provide authentication. By selecting Incoming server info. Common authentication issues with Outlook have been resolved using Port 465 for SMTP and SSL. Click OK.
• Test Account Settings and then hit Close button
• Your email account has been set up. Click Finish to close the wizard.

General Questions Asked by Users

Conclusion

The article helps you to know what is Microsoft Outlook, MS Outlook features, problems with Outlook, etc. You can get all the necessary information related to Outlook with this article.