I cannot get thunderbird to connect to Outlook.com

Question

Had to reformat my pc and have been unable to get Thunderbird to connect to my Outlook.com account again. I have no problem connecting to Yahoo. Using Windows 7 and have checked and double checked my in and outgoing server settings and they are correct. Any help would be appreciated.

Is there any specific error message it's giving you? – kazoni Jun 22 '15 at 23:41 — kazoni, Jun 22 '15 at 23:41
Login to server smtp-mail.outlook.com failed. – Kathy Jun 23 '15 at 00:57 — Kathy, Jun 23 '15 at 00:57

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 23 '15 at 00:04

1

Try the following:

1.       Open Thunderbird.
2.       From the Application menu, choose Add Account…
3.       Input your account information, choose Options… then Account Settings…
4.       Click the Account Actions button, then choose Add Mail Account…
5.       Input your account information.
6.       Click Continue.
7.       Click Manual config.
8.       Set the Incoming settings as follows:
          a.       Server hostname: imap-mail.outlook.com.
          b.      Port: 993.
          c.       SSL: SSL/TLS.
          d.      Authentication: Normal password.

9.       Set the Outgoing settings as follows:  
          a.       Server hostname: smtp-mail.outlook.com.
          b.      Port: 587.
          c.       SSL: STARTTLS.
          d.      Authentication: Normal password.

10.   Click Done.

The description is from here. If that doesn't work explain what errors you are receiving?

answered Jun 23 '15 at 00:04

Abraxas

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Login to server smtp-mail.outlook.com failed. – Kathy Jun 23 '15 at 00:51
it also suggests i re enter my password which i carefully do but that doesn't work either – Kathy Jun 23 '15 at 00:52
Are you putting username@outlook.com or just username for your account name? – Abraxas Jun 23 '15 at 00:55
my email address – Kathy Jun 23 '15 at 01:00
a rep from Outlook just walked me through all the settings and could not find anything wrong – Kathy Jun 23 '15 at 01:00
there does not appear to be any email or phone support for TB that I can find – Kathy Jun 23 '15 at 01:00
Still having issues? Made any progress? – Abraxas Jun 26 '15 at 17:33

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 12 '17 at 04:51

Try going into settings for the smtp outgoing server and change the port to 25 and try it. Try sending an email. Then try port 465. They will both attempt to connect rather than say it cant find smtp-mail.outlook.com. After that switch it back to port 587. Hopefully it works then. Mine Did. Works like a charm now.

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered May 03 '22 at 13:19

If you have two-step verification enabled on your account, you need to create a new app password and use that for authentication with thunderbird. Login into outlook -> go to your microsoft account settings -> security -> App passwords -> Create a new app password

Reasoning:

Some apps and devices (such as Xbox 360, Windows Phone, or mail apps on your other devices) don't support security codes for two-step verification. In these cases, you need to create an app password to sign in. Learn more about app passwords.

I cannot get thunderbird to connect to Outlook.com

3 Answers3