Multiple email accounts?

[MiniGeek]

Can anyone tell me if it is possible to use the Outlook iOS app to fetch email from a different email server (not an outlook.com address) for an email address that is NOT the email address being used with Apple's native email app. So far, I've been reading the email from that other email address in a browser platform, but it's not very functional.

 

[eyoungren]

Not totally understanding your question.

It's possible to use BOTH apps to get email from a variety of email addresses. I have about ten email addresses in the stock email app.

 

[MiniGeek]

OK...I have a gmail address that is the default email address for my devices. We get our 'home' email on a Windows computer from a different email provider, not gmail. I had been wondering if I could use the iOS Outlook app to fetch THAT email from the email server. That server is not an Outlook.com address. I did some checking around, and it looks like I should be able to set up Outlook to get IMAP mail. I learned that one can have email coming to one's Apple devices from several different email addresses and keep them separated from each other using different apps, ie work email vs personal email.
Forgive me if this is a silly question, but would one have to set something up in the Settings of the Apple device as well to fetch the mail from other servers?

 

[eyoungren]

OK...I have a gmail address that is the default email address for my devices. We get our 'home' email on a Windows computer from a different email provider, not gmail. I had been wondering if I could use the iOS Outlook app to fetch THAT email from the email server. That server is not an Outlook.com address. I did some checking around, and it looks like I should be able to set up Outlook to get IMAP mail. I learned that one can have email coming to one's Apple devices from several different email addresses and keep them separated from each other using different apps, ie work email vs personal email.
Forgive me if this is a silly question, but would one have to set something up in the Settings of the Apple device as well to fetch the mail from other servers?

You don't have to use Outlook or multiple email apps just for multiple accounts.

You can use the default email app for all the accounts. All you need is the details. The IMAP server and port SMTP server and port, email address and password. If they aren't accounts covered by the defaults in the Settings app then just tap on other and enter your details there.

Each account you add gets a separate area in the email app or you can choose to view all.

See my screenshot below (ignore the colors, my iPhone is jailbroken, I'm just showing this as an example of how the email app has different accounts). Each of these is a different email address.

 

[MiniGeek]

Thank you.

I am learning a bit more about this, between your answer and what I am finding online. I think what I am after is an IMAP setup on the Apple devices and a POP setup on the computer. I would like the emails to reside on the computer's hard drive but not download to my Apple devices. I'll give this more thought. I can see that this is going to take some time to work out.

 

[eyoungren]

Thank you.

I am learning a bit more about this, between your answer and what I am finding online. I think what I am after is an IMAP setup on the Apple devices and a POP setup on the computer. I would like the emails to reside on the computer's hard drive but not download to my Apple devices. I'll give this more thought. I can see that this is going to take some time to work out.

If you do that, just keep this in mind.

If the computer using POP downloads an email before your device using IMAP, it will NOT appear on your device. That is because it will have downloaded from the server and therefore now only exists on the computer's hard drive.

If you have IMAP across all devices everything will sync because the emails (InBox, Drafts, Sent, etc) all stay on the server.

However you do this is of course up to you, but I just wanted to point that out.

 

[MiniGeek]

Thanks. That would probably be OK. Sometimes we are traveling and the laptop isn't used for several days. In that situation, we were thinking that we would like a more satisfactory way of dealing with those emails other than using a browser. The email server we use doesn't have the most user-friendly browser interface.

 

[nieks]

That doesn't matter, related to the pop/imap question. The best way to deal with your email while using multiple devices (e.g. iphone, macbook, pc) is setting up IMAP, not POP.

In the case that you use POP, as you suggested, on your PC, it will pull the email off the server, as @eyoungren states. There is no option for you to view that email on your phone! You should not use POP on one device, and IMAP on another. Use IMAP on both, or your inbox will become a mess.

I use my phone with:
- work related mail (a Microsoft Exchange acccount);
- personal mail (gmail)
- personal mail (icloud)
Then, on my Mac, I use only gmail and icloud, and on the work pc, I only use the Exchange account. None of these accounts uses POP on any device, because I want my mail accessible anywhere anytime on every device. This will only work with IMAP.

EDIT: you said you want it to download all the mail to your harddrive. IMAP does this, it just doesn't delete it from your server. I don't completely get why you do not want to download to your phone.

 

[MiniGeek]

An update: I ended up adding the home email account to my iphone and ipad and going with the native Apple email app, setting that up IMAP. I see that app does allow you to look at the email in separate inboxes, which is good. The home laptop is going to remain POP simply because I don't want my enormous email file trying to merge with the email provider's server. We are also going to be changing ISP's within the next year or so anyway and when we do, our current home email address will be closed down. In the meantime, we simply wanted a more user friendly way of viewing and replying to our home emails other than going through a browser while we are traveling. We are fine with everything downloading to the laptop once we get home.
When we do change ISP's, we will be changing to a web based email address, probably gmail. I'm glad I asked questions here before trying this through Outlook for iOS. I think that would have just needlessly complicated things.

Thanks for your help and input, @eyoungren and @nieks.