Step by Step Guide to Configure Gmail POP Settings

Arvind Kukreti

3 years ago

What to Know

In Gmail: Settings > See all settings > Forwarding and POP/IMAP. POP download > Enable POP for mail that arrives from now on.
Next configure email. Outlook: File > Info. Account Settings > Email > New > enter name, Gmail address, and password > Next.
POP settings: server = pop.gmail.com; enter Gmail name and password; port = 995; SSL = yes

This article explains how to set Gmail POP settings to receive email from Outlook or any email client.

If you want to view your Gmail messages in an email client such as Microsoft Outlook, configure your Gmail POP server settings on the client. After you do so, configure the email client to download your messages from the Gmail server.

Important: POP settings are needed only to access incoming messages. To use your email effectively, configure the Gmail SMTP server settings for outgoing messages.

Enable POP in Gmail

Before you configure your email client with the Gmail POP settings, enable POP in your Gmail account.

Select Settings (the gear icon), then choose to See all settings.

In the Settings screen, select the Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab.

In the POP download section, choose Enable POP for all mail or Enable POP for mail that arrives from now on.
Select the When messages are accessed with POP dropdown arrow and choose what will happen when your Gmail messages are accessed through the email client.

If you select keep Gmail’s copy in the Inbox, when you delete messages in the email client, they’ll still be there when you open Gmail in a web browser.

Important: This method can cause your account storage to exceed the limit and possibly prevent emails from being delivered to your inbox.

If you choose to delete Gmail’s copy, when a message is downloaded to your email client it is deleted from Gmail and not accessible from the Gmail website.

When you’ve made your selections, select Save Changes.

Configure Your Email Client With Gmail POP Settings

To configure your email client with the Gmail POP settings, create a new account. The exact way to perform these steps is different for each client (though the settings you enter will always be the same).

Here’s how to set up Gmail in Outlook:

In Outlook, go to the File tab and select Info.
Select Account Settings > Account Settings.

3. In the Account Settings dialog box, go to the Email tab and select New

4. In the Add Account dialog box, enter your name, Gmail address, and password. Outlook fills in the rest of the server details for you. If that doesn’t work, select Manual setup or additional server types. Then choose Next

5. Choose POP or IMAP, then select Next.

6. Enter the following settings:

Note: You may need to go to an Advanced Settings or More Settings screen to enter the required information.

Gmail POP server address: pop.gmail.com
Gmail POP username: Your Gmail address (e.g. example@gmail.com)
Gmail POP password: Your Gmail password
Gmail POP port: 995
Gmail POP SSL required: yes

7. Select Next. Outlook runs a test and informs you when it’s able to download messages from Gmail.

With some clients, you may need to enter POP and SMTP settings on the same screen.
If the email client isn’t able to connect to Gmail, enable the Less secure app access setting in Google. To do so, go to your Google account home page and select Security. Scroll down to Less secure app access, and follow the prompts to enable this feature. Be aware that, when you perform this action, you allow your Google account to be more vulnerable to external access.
If the email client isn’t able to connect to Gmail, enable SMTP authentication on the outgoing server.