The newest builds of Outlook 2016 have a new, simplified account dialog. It’s definitely simple and easy to use (although a little slow IMHO). Just type in your email address and wait for Outlook to find the account and ask for your password. It’s a couple more steps if you want to or need to create the account manually; you need to enter your email address, expand Advanced to choose manual setup, wait for Outlook to look for the account information then choose the account type you want to create.
If you use a POP account, the new dialog makes setting up the account with an existing Outlook Data File (.pst) much file easier. If the pst file is in the Outlook Files folder and the name is your email address, Outlook uses it instead of creating a new pst file. You don't have to select the .pst, Outlook picks it up automatically. If you leave mail on the POP server, Outlook also appears to do a much better job at not downloading the old mail.
Honestly, in the end, for most of us, it’s just a prettier version of the old dialog, but some people prefer the older, familiar dialog. I think the old dialog is faster, as you don't need to wait for Outlook to search for accounts, but POP users definitely benefit from the new dialog.
You can turn off the simplified version and revert to the older Add Account dialog by editing the registry. While this is not necessary for most situations, it is necessary to set this key if you want to create a send-only account. This will allow you to create an account with "mail" as the incoming server name and the actual SMTP server name in outgoing.
As always, if the keys don’t exist, you’ll need to create them.
Users, especially those with consumer accounts should use this key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Outlook\setup DWORD: DisableOffice365SimplifiedAccountCreation Value: 1
The GPO key is here:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Outlook\setup DWORD: DisableOffice365SimplifiedAccountCreation Value: 1
If you don't want to edit the registry, I have this ready-to-use reg file available:
Disable Office 365 Simplified Account Creation (user key)
Disable Office 365 Simplified Account Creation (policy)
Debbie says
Thank you so much for finding that registry key.
I've spent so many hours trying to find a way around the stupid Autodiscover Fisher Price interface before I found your post.
There doesn't seem to be any way to get into the proper advanced mode anymore, as even the advanced mode checkbox still just takes you to the Fisher Price setup that creates a separate pst file for every account.
I wish they'd just speak to some advanced users first before they plow ahead with all this dumbing down of the interfaces.
SB Wotton says
How to link Contacts on a MacBook Pro to Outlook?
Diane Poremsky says
They are in Apple's contact app? You can't link them - you can copy them to outlook's contact folder. I think when I did it, I needed to drag to the desktop then to the app to move contacts (and calendar events) between the apps.
David says
Thank you for this fix. I was going bananas trying to figure out it wasn't working. You are fantastic.
Phil says
hi, how do i do the same for Outlook 2019, i dont have office 365 but outlook 2019 isnt allowing me to setup my dodo email either.
Nelson Pardee says
This is one of the fixes for the latest version of Outlook not wanting to login imap clients- getting continuous login popups. Maddening. I can't imagine someone not well PC savvy trying to deal with this.
Diane Poremsky says
If the account is Outlook.com or Gmail, it's because microsoft turned on OAuth for all users and there was a bug of some sort that affected some users. I haven't heard if they figured it out yet - some people said the recommended solution did not work.
>>
You could try deleting the account's entry under this registry key and see if it helps. [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Common\Identity\Identities\
>>
Del says
As a simple husband trying to set up a computer for his wife, I am trying to control when Outlook receives e-mail. I simply would like to only receive e-mails when my wife selects (send receive). Should outlook continue to receive e-mails continuously after (send receive) is requested? I only want the current batch at my charter account to be received. After that batch, I would like it to wait until I request (send receive) again.
Kevin says
Thank you for the registry keys. Giant time saver.
James says
And the old interface is always available via Control Panel and "Mail"
Kristian says
One thing I noticed is using the old Account wizard, when adding a POP account the browse button doesn't work when trying to browse for an old data file.
Diane Poremsky says
Yeah, that's been a problem for a while, before the new design. y experience is that if the pst name is the email address and its in the default location, it should pick it up.