centurylink email no longer working in outlook

Question

centurylink email no longer working in outlook

Karen Scott 15

my centurylink email no longer working in outlook. cant get server settings to work form centurylink

E Kraft 0 Reputation points

2026-02-15T14:02:28.7266667+00:00

Having same problem, in process of upgrading to Fiber and need to connect to outlook so can get all those email off of centurylink webmail. Support Centurylink is not working or do not care or play the blame game, blaming the user or Microsoft. (no do not use VPN nor trust them)
E Kraft 0 Reputation points

2026-02-17T12:20:51.0966667+00:00

Outlook Classic (forgot still had that already setup with CenturyLink mail servers). <-- it worked got everything off webmail.

Steps taken.

Create folders on Outlook Classic under ******@centurylink.net using the same folder structure you did with webmail.

Move all webmail email to webmail inbox <-- Outlook Classic will not download folders so you need to move ALL Email to webmail inbox

After all email is moved/copied from Century Link Webmail to Outlook Classic, there is one thing that you must do is DO NOT DELETE any email after the move (made that mistake and everything in Outlook Classic vanished and was forced to redo everything).

Note: Depending on your connection it might take several tries using the Send/Receive to get everything downloaded.

Outlook Classic inbox, move everything to correct folder.

After your done create a Archive as precaution.

Log out of Webmail and just use Classic Outlook

3 answers

Your answer

E Kraft 0 Reputation points

2026-02-15T14:02:28.7266667+00:00

Having same problem, in process of upgrading to Fiber and need to connect to outlook so can get all those email off of centurylink webmail. Support Centurylink is not working or do not care or play the blame game, blaming the user or Microsoft. (no do not use VPN nor trust them)
E Kraft 0 Reputation points

2026-02-17T12:20:51.0966667+00:00

Outlook Classic (forgot still had that already setup with CenturyLink mail servers). <-- it worked got everything off webmail.

Steps taken.

Create folders on Outlook Classic under ******@centurylink.net using the same folder structure you did with webmail.

Move all webmail email to webmail inbox <-- Outlook Classic will not download folders so you need to move ALL Email to webmail inbox

After all email is moved/copied from Century Link Webmail to Outlook Classic, there is one thing that you must do is DO NOT DELETE any email after the move (made that mistake and everything in Outlook Classic vanished and was forced to redo everything).

Note: Depending on your connection it might take several tries using the Send/Receive to get everything downloaded.

Outlook Classic inbox, move everything to correct folder.

After your done create a Archive as precaution.

Log out of Webmail and just use Classic Outlook

Answer 1

S.Sengupta 32,366 MVP Volunteer Moderator

IMAP/POP and SMTP server settings for CenturyLink email

https://www.centurylink.com/home/help/internet/email/how-to-set-up-your-email-server-settings-to-go-through-pop-and-smtp.html

0 comments

Answer 2

Douglas Rumbaugh 0

I have been having the same issue every once in a while. Outlook downloads my emails and then stops with no changes. After a while it starts working again only to stop in a month or 2. It only seems to happen with CenturyLink emails. After trying many things I turned on VPN and it connected and downloaded my emails. No idea why but after 2 weeks of not working I was happy to luck into a solution.

E Kraft 0 Reputation points

2026-02-15T20:18:10.8+00:00

How did you do that? Am looking at my settings (windows 11) and noticed VPN but not sure how to go about it. If do not use third party VPN should be ok.

Answer 3

Douglas Rumbaugh 0

I use McAfee for virus protection and the version I have provides VPN services which is what I used.

0 comments