Use your Local Outlook with Office 365

An Office 365 tutorial by Peter Kalmström

In this tutorial Peter Kalmström, shows how to set up a client based version of Outlook to work with your Office 365 Exchange mailbox. With such a set up you can work with Outlook in your PC even if you are not connected to the internet. Your local PC will synchronize with Office 365 once you are online again.

Peter uses Windows 10 for the demo, but if you have a lower Windows version you can go directly to the second step below. It will also work, even if you will have to enter your Office 365 e-mail address and login details.

Connect Windows 10 to Office 365

The first step is to set your Windows 10 PC to connect to your Office 365 account. When that is done, Windows will handle your Office 365 login details.

On your PC, click on the Windows icon to open the start menu.
Click on the Settings icon and then on 'Accounts'.
Click on 'Connect work or school'.
Click on 'Connect' and log in to your Office 365 account.

Open Office 365 Outlook in local Outlook

Next step is to open your Office 365 Outlook in your local Outlook on the PC.

If it is the first time you use Outlook, answer Yes to connect to an e-mail account.

If you are already using Outlook with another account, click on 'Add account, under the File tab, and enter the e-mail address of your Office 365 account.

In both cases, enter your password to have the connection established.

Settings

By default Office 2013 and 2016 saves e-mails from the last 12 months on the computer. To change this setting, open the Account Settings under the File tab and select the account that you want to change. Click on Change and drag the bar at the checked box for Use Cached Exchange Mode to the desired value. Click on Next and Finish. The change will take effect when you have restarted Outlook.