Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 provides support for five different types of e-mail servers. We’re going to get into each type of server into more detail in a moment, but here’s a quick overview.

 

1.    Microsoft Exchange Server: A central server holds user’s mailboxes. Your mailbox in Outlook is a direct reflection of the mailbox on the server. This configuration allows for extra features, like public folders and shared calendars. This is mostly used by large businesses.

2.    POP3 (Post Office Protocol-3): This is the most common type of e-mail account. Your mailbox is held on a server, but Outlook downloads mail from it at intervals into your personal folders. Most Internet Service Providers use POP3 accounts.

3.    IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol): Similar to Microsoft Exchange Server, this type of account sets up a separate mailbox in Outlook. However, user collaboration features (like shared folders and resource management) aren’t available. This protocol is most commonly used in universities and other large institutions.

4.    HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol): This is another type of e-mail account where your mailbox resides on the server, and the mailbox you will see in Outlook is a direct reflection of the server’s mailbox. This is the most limited type of account; some Outlook features (like rules) won’t work with HTTP accounts. Hotmail and MSN are the main providers of HTTP accounts.

5.    Additional Server Types: This is used to manage extra software that allows Outlook to connect to different types of mail servers that wouldn’t normally be supported. Examples of these types of accounts include the Lotus Notes Connector, the MSN Connector, and fax server software. This option will not be discussed in detail as by default, no additional server types are included with Outlook.