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Microsoft Outlook sharing a mailbox at home and work?

I am trying to set up my microsoft outlook 2000 at home to be able to receive the same e-mails I get at work... How would I do this? I tried setting up the servers as the same but it doesnt seem to be working. What would I need to do to set this up to work correctly. Again I am trying to set up my microsoft outlook 2000 to receive the same e-mails at home as I do at work.


Dave's Answer:

This is similar to how I have things set up on my two main computers (I have two offices, truth be told).

The real answer to this is simple: IMAP. Using the Internet Message Access Protocol you can have all your messages live on the mail server but be accessed by both of your mail clients in different locations. Delete the message in one mailer and it automatically is deleted from the other client too because it was never on either computer in the first place.

I'm not a big fan of IMAP, however, because I don't like having my messages live on the server rather than on my own local computer where it's very easy to do backups, burn archival copies to a DVD-ROM, search through the messages with Mac or PC-based tools, and more. Further, I worry that if the server crashes, I now lose my email archive, which would be a significant problem.

Finally, IMAP takes lots of resources on the server - my email archives are in the gigabytes - and are also accessible to any other user, administrator or hacker who might sneak onto the server, versus my own computers where I know exactly how it's all protected and secured.

So how do I have mine set up? I use the common POP (Post Office Protocol) and on my "main" computer I download messages as they arrive. On the secondary computer, I get a copy of the messages instead (that is, I have selected "leave a copy on the server" as part of the POP account configuration. Actually, I also have "delete from server when deleted from local mailbox" too, so I can at least trim down the daily tsunami a bit)

I'm the first to admit that this is a mediocre solution because I then have to actually remember to turn off my main computer when I'm not in the office (or it grabs incoming email without me ever being able to see it on the secondary computer) and I also have to transfer pending messages onto the secondary machine so I can continue fielding them.

Those are the only two meaningful solutions I know about, though I have heard from some folk that they use tools like VNC and other "virtual desktop" tools to actually hook one computer directly up to the app running on the other computer: then it'd be like the email app itself bounced onto the appropriate screen without any fuss. That'd be easy to do with the X Window System, but PC and Mac users don't quite have that level of flexibility, plus there are security issues with having to breech the firewall at work, etc.

So I'm afraid I don't have any great solution for you, but perhaps someone else reading this can offer some novel ideas for having two email programs in two physical locations stay in sync on a single mailbox?


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Categorized: Windows PC Help   (Article 6381, Written by )
Tagged: email administration, email servers, microsoft outlook
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Reader Comments To Date: 5

T.K. said, on March 21, 2006 5:46 PM:

I have my two computers set up exactly as you Dave, with the exception that I have 1 computer set up as my main computer that gets all of my email for archive purposes and the other is set up to leave mail on the server without the 'delete from server' function enabled.

Another useful tool is a nifty little app called ePrompter (www.eprompter.com) which "checks and retrieves your email messages from up to sixteen password protected email accounts and lets you read, delete and respond to any of your messages with a simple click on the account of your choice - without ever having to launch your email program or go to your webmail's site." It's quite useful, easy and it's free. It also allows me to read emails before downloading so it's handy for deleting suspecious or junk email before download.

Stacy Brice said, on March 24, 2006 2:56 AM:

Dave,

When I read what you go through it hurt my head! I used to do something similar, but was always forgetting one step or another in the process, and it was, well... beyond cumbersome.

That's why I'm delighted to have finally found something that actually works effortlessly for me; a hosted Exchange account with Mailstreet.com. For a whopping $12.95/month, Outlook is synchronized on all my computers. What I see on one, I see on the others, and I don't have to remember to "do" anything to make it all happen.

Hope this helps!
Stacy

mounesh said, on October 6, 2006 8:37 AM:

I TRIED TO CREATE OUTLOOK ACCOUNT ON MY OCCOUNT .. BUT IT IS ASKING SOME INCOMING AND OUTGOING MAIL SERVERS SO WHAT NAMES TO BE GIVEN..?

Brian Gascoigne said, on August 30, 2011 5:23 AM:

I've been doing this for years with Eudora on Mac OS by simply making an alias of the inbox on one machine and putting it in the mailbox folder on the other, linked via the router. But this doesn't seem to work in any of the current email apps for OS 10.7. I haven't been able to make it work with Lion Server or Mailserve either, but that's probably my ignorance.)

Regards

Brian

hardyansyah said, on December 4, 2011 7:05 PM:

help open cap lock

Starbucks coffee cup I do have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but first I'd like to say thank you, Dave, for all your helpful information by buying you a cup of coffee!

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!











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