Unable to connect IMAP account to Outlook for iOS8

Anonymous
2015-07-28T22:44:23+00:00

I have installed the Outlook app on an iPad and iPhone with the latest iOS8. I have an IMAP email account but the app is unable to connect to it. 

The native iOS email client on both devices will connect to this IMAP account OK.  But when I enter the same settings in the Outlook app's Advanced Settings entry screen (which are the server, etc. settings provided by my ISP), it comes back with a message that it cannot connect.

I note that the entry screens in the current Outlook app differ from those shown in the relevant Office365 knowledge base article here:

https://support.office.com/en-au/article/Set-up-email-on-iPhone-iPad-or-iPod-Touch-b2de2161-cc1d-49ef-9ef9-81acd1c8e234?ui=en-US&rs=en-AU&ad=AU&fromAR=1#BKMK\_IMAPorPOP

The article shows screenshots with options to select/deselect SSL and enter port numbers. These options don't appear when I use the IMAP setup option in Outlook for iOS. 

Note that when iOS makes the connection, it does not use SSL or ask for port numbers. These parameters can only be accessed via the advanced account settings for the account AFTER the device has added the account.

I should add that I also have an Exchange email account, which can be set up in both the iOS email client and the iOS Outlook app without difficulty. 

And also that the Outlook app exhibits the same behaviour on Android - i.e. the Android email client lets me set up the IMAP account but Outlook for Android is unable to connect.

Outlook | Outlook for mobile | Outlook for iOS | For business

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  1. Anonymous
    2016-04-05T04:29:08+00:00

    Had the same issue on my iOS device once my mailbox was migrated from O365 to on-prem Exchange 2016 (don't ask...). Specifically, I was getting "Unable to log on" in the iOS app, despite having all of the entries (email address, password, Exchange) set correctly.

    For some reason, I needed to go into Advanced Setting and specify both the domain and my ActiveDirectory UserID. Tricky bit: even though the same text seems to indicate that the "domain" they're looking for in the Advanced Settings is the FQDN (i.e. sample.com) what they really want is your ActiveDirectory domain (i.e. "sanfrancisco"). Further, while the sample text in the username field indicates that they want the first part of your email address (i.e. first.last) what they really want is your ActiveDirectory userID (i.e. fname). Once I entered these bits, I was able to authenticate no problem.

    Hope this is useful for someone in the future!

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-04-21T06:38:31+00:00

    IMAP account in Outlook application isn't the full-featured one as for instance native Mail application in iOS is. As others report in this thread while I have successfuly set up company's IMAP mail in Mail application I cannot do it in Outlook because I need a full manual IMAP set up options and these are missing in Outlook. Outlook developers, you should inspire in native Mail application as far as IMAP account settings are concerned.

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-05-14T03:13:41+00:00

    That is what worked for me too!  Thanks for the post. Simply remove from all devices and run it again.

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  4. Anonymous
    2016-05-30T13:35:12+00:00

    Completely random process but it completely worked.  Thank you for posting!

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  5. Anonymous
    2016-06-18T16:04:37+00:00

    I got mine to work using the syntax mail.server.com:993 AND mail.server.com:587

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