Thursday, November 13, 2008 - Getting All Your E-mails on Multiple Computers

These days many people use multiple computers.  You may have a computer at work which your company provides, another desktop computer at home, and even a laptop for when you are on the go.  What a lot of these people don't know is that you CAN receive all your e-mails from all your accounts on each of these computers!

If you setup one of your accounts on two (or more) different computers, and don't alter any advanced settings, both computers will 'compete' for your e-mail.  When you check e-mail on one of your computers, you will get the e-mail that is waiting for you on your mail server.  When you go to check your e-mail on the other machine, that computer will only download mail that has arrived since you last hit the 'Send/Receive' button on the other machine.  This causes confusion as to which computer has which mail stored on it.  Neither computer will have access to ALL of your e-mail.

Well, there is a solution!  Outlook (and most other e-mail clients) will allow you to store a copy of your e-mail on your mail server, allowing the other computer(s) a chance to receive the exact same set of messages.  If you choose to use this feature you will need to make the setting change (below) on all computers you use.  I also suggest selecting an extra option that automatically removes your e-mail from the server after a certain number of days so that you don’t fill up your mailbox on your e-mail provider’s server.

Other people who might use this feature are people who frequently visit their mail server (sometimes referred to as 'Web Mail') to check their e-mails remotely from a computer other than their own.  Leaving a copy of e-mail on the server would allow you to access it when you aren't at your machine.

Here is how you make this change if you are using one of the versions of Outlook listed below:

Outlook Express (and some older versions of Outlook):
Go to your ‘Tools’ menu and choose ‘Accounts’
Double click on the name of the account you wish to alter
Select the ‘Advanced’ tab
Check the box under Delivery that reads ‘Leave a copy of messages on server’
     (I suggest also checking the box below that reads ‘Remove from server after # days’ and selecting the number of days it would normally take you to check your e-mail on all your computers.  This will allow you to get a copy of everything on all your computers, but your mail will be deleted from the server after this number of days so that you don’t fill up your mailbox.)
Hit ‘Apply’ then ‘OK’ to save your changes.

Outlook 2003:
Go to your ‘Tools’ menu and choose ‘E-mail Accounts’
Choose ‘View or change existing e-mail accounts’ (usually selected by default) then click ‘Next’
Double click on the name of the account you wish to alter
Click the ‘More Settings…’ button
Select the ‘Advanced’ tab
Check the box under Delivery that reads ‘Leave a copy of messages on server’
     (I suggest also checking the box below that reads ‘Remove from server after # days’ and selecting the number of days it would normally take you to check your e-mail on all your computers.  This will allow you to get a copy of everything on all your computers, but your mail will be deleted from the server after this number of days so that you don’t fill up your mailbox.)
Hit ‘Apply’ then ‘OK’ to save your changes.

Outlook 2007:
Go to your ‘Tools’ menu and choose ‘Account Settings’
Double click on the name of the account you wish to alter
Click the ‘More Settings…’ button in the lower right corner
Select the ‘Advanced’ tab
Check the box under Delivery that reads ‘Leave a copy of messages on server’
     (I suggest also checking the box below that reads ‘Remove from server after # days’ and selecting the number of days it would normally take you to check your e-mail on all your computers.  This will allow you to get a copy of everything on all your computers, but your mail will be deleted from the server after this number of days so that you don’t fill up your mailbox.)
Hit ‘Apply’ then ‘OK’ to save your changes.

Now keep in mind there is a small downside to this method... Spam and other e-mail you delete will have to be deleted on each computer, but for most people that's a small price to pay for the convenience of being able to access all your e-mail from every computer you use.

Questions? Comments? Concerns? E-Mail our Customer Service Team at CustomerService@RealTown.com

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