How do I setup Microsoft Outlook 2016 to read UMBC legacy email (Cyrus)?

The following instructions are for non-Gmail accounts. For Gmail accounts, visit How do I setup Microsoft Outlook to read UMBC Gmail?

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PS: Before starting, make sure that you have Turned ON/Allowed Less Secure Apps Access by following this link (https://myaccount.google.com/lesssecureapps)


  1. Start Outlook.
  2. On the Welcome to Outlook page, click Next on the bottom right
  3. Select Yes on the next page that asks if you want to setup Outlook to connect to an email account and click Next on the bottom right
  4. Select Manually configure server settings or additional server types and click Next.
  5. Select POP or IMAP and click Next.
  6. Enter Your Name in the box labeled Your Name.
  7. Enter your Full myUMBC email (myUMBCusername@umbc.edu) in the box labeled E-mail Address.
  8. Set the Account Type to IMAP.
  9. Enter imap.umbc.edu in the box labeled Incoming mail server (IMAP).


  10. Enter smtp.gmail.com in the box labeled Outgoing mail server (SMTP).


    Due to recent issues involving spamming, we recommend configuring your mail client with the following outgoing server configuration. This will ensure your sent mail does not get caught by any sites that have blacklisted our mail servers for spamming.

    • Host Name: smtp.gmail.com
    • User Name: username@umbc.edu (You must use your FULL UMBC email address.)
    • Password: your account password
    • Port: 587
    • Connection Security: STARTTLS



  11. Enter your myUMBC username only (without the "@umbc.edu" part) in the box labeled User Name.
  12. In the box labeled password type in your myUMBC password.
  13. Remove the check box next to Remember password.
  14. Click More Settings.
  15. In the window that appears, click on the Outgoing Server tab.
  16. Click the check box next to My outgoing server (SMTP) requires authentication.
  17. Select Logon using.
  18. For the username enter your Full myUMBC email (myUMBCusername@umbc.edu) and for the password type in your myUMBC password.
  19. Remove the check box next to Remember password.
  20. Click on the Advanced tab.
  21. Under Incoming server (IMAP) select SSL for the box labeled Use the following type of encrypted connection:
  22. Confirm that the server port number for the incoming server changed to 993 (this will happen automatically when you check the box in the previous step).
  23. Change the port number to 587 under Outgoing server (SMTP), and select TLS for the box labeled Use the following type of encrypted connection (After you select TLS, confirm that the port number remains 587).
  24. Change the Server Timeouts from 1 minute to 10 minutes by moving the slider all the way to the right. Anything lower than 5 minutes will bog down the server and give error messages.
  25. In the Folders section, in the box labeled Root folder path, type mail.
  26. Click OK to close the Internet E-mail Settings window.
  27. Click Next in the Add New E-mail Account window.
  28. At this point you will be prompted for your myUMBC password, to allow you to log in to your newly created account. Type your password in the box labeled password, and click OK
    You may be notified that the root folder path has changed, and that "Outlook has flushed all cached folders". This is normal. Click OK to continue.
  29. Click Finish in the E-mail Accounts window.