Reading Your Email With Outlook or Other Email Clients

Introduction

This article explains how to connect your University of Pittsburgh email account to common email programs on your computer, phone, and tablet: Microsoft Outlook (Windows and Mac), Apple Mail, the built-in Mail apps on iPhone, iPad, and Android, and the Linux clients Thunderbird and Alpine. No matter which program you use, you will sign in through Pitt Passport with your University Computing Account, so it helps to have your username, your password, and a device set up for Duo Mobile within reach before you start.

Information

Select a section below to jump to setup steps for your program or device.

• Outlook for Windows and Mac
• Older versions of Outlook
• Apple Mail (macOS)
• iPhone and iPad (iOS)
• Android
• Linux (Thunderbird and Alpine)
• Troubleshooting

Outlook for Windows and Mac

There are now two versions of the Outlook desktop app: new Outlook and classic Outlook. New installations of Microsoft 365 open new Outlook by default, so most people setting up a new device will see it first. Both versions connect to Pitt Email the same way, through Pitt Passport, so just follow the steps that match the version you have. To check which one you are using, look at the top-right corner of the window for a Settings (gear) icon. If you see it, you are in new Outlook.

New Outlook (Windows and Mac)

1. Open Outlook.
2. The first time you open it, type your University email address when prompted and select Continue.
3. If Outlook already has another account set up, select Add account at the bottom of your folder list, or open Settings (the gear icon), choose Accounts, then Add account, and type your University email address.
4. When the Pitt Passport login screen appears, enter your University Computing Account username and password, then approve the Duo Mobile prompt.
5. When the confirmation appears, select Done.

Classic Outlook (Windows and Mac)

1. Open Outlook.
2. If this is the first account you are setting up, you may be asked to accept the Microsoft Licensing Agreement. Select Accept to continue.
3. A Welcome to Outlook box will appear. Type your University email address in the Email address field and select Continue.
4. If the Welcome to Outlook box does not appear because Outlook is already set up for another inbox, select the File tab, then select Add Account under Account Information. The welcome box should appear so you can enter your email address.
5. When the Pitt Passport login screen appears, enter your University Computing Account username and password, select Submit, and approve the Duo Mobile prompt.
6. When the box says Account setup is complete, select Continue.

New to Outlook? You can watch the Outlook Essential Training course, available at no cost through LinkedIn Learning.

Older versions of Outlook

To keep uninterrupted access to your Pitt Email, use a current, supported version of Outlook. Older releases gradually lose the ability to connect to Microsoft 365. Support for connecting Office 2016 and Office 2019 to Microsoft 365 ended on October 10, 2023, and Microsoft is moving everyone from classic Outlook to new Outlook, which is now the default on new installations.

The recommended path is the current Microsoft 365 version of Office, which the University provides at no cost through Office 365. To check your current version, open Outlook and select File > Office Account > About Outlook on Windows, or Outlook > About Outlook on a Mac.

Apple Mail (macOS)

On current versions of macOS, you set up accounts in System Settings. (This was called System Preferences in macOS 12 Monterey and earlier.) These steps work on any supported version of macOS.

1. From the Apple menu, choose System Settings.
2. Select Internet Accounts in the sidebar. You may need to scroll down to find it.
3. Select Add Account, then choose Microsoft Exchange from the list of providers.
4. Enter your name and your University email address, then select Sign In.
5. When prompted, choose to sign in through Microsoft. When the Pitt Passport login screen appears, enter your University Computing Account username and password, then approve the Duo Mobile prompt.
6. Choose the apps you want to use with the account, such as Mail, Contacts, and Calendars, then select Done.
7. Open Mail from the Dock, and your messages will begin to appear in your inbox.

iPhone and iPad (iOS)

Add your Pitt Email account

1. On your device, open the Settings app.
   
2. Select Passwords & Accounts, then select Add Account.
   
3. Select Exchange.
   
4. Enter your full Pitt email address and password, then select Next.
5. When prompted, select Sign In and complete Pitt Passport authentication, including the Duo Mobile prompt.
6. Another restart may be needed to finish the process.

Remove your Pitt Email account (for troubleshooting)

Removing and re-adding the account resolves many iOS email problems. Restarting the device after removal is an important part of the process.

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Select Passwords & Accounts.
   
3. Select your Pitt email account (commonly named Exchange).
   
4. At the bottom, select Delete Account.
   
5. Confirm the deletion when prompted.
   
6. Wait for the deletion to complete.
   
7. Restart the device. This step is important on iOS.
8. Add the account again using the steps above.

Android

Add your Pitt Email account

1. Open the Settings app.
   
2. Select Passwords & accounts.
   
3. Select Add Account, then select Exchange.
4. Enter your full Pitt email address and select Next.
5. Complete sign-in through Pitt Passport, including the Duo Mobile prompt. The account should be added automatically.

Remove your Pitt Email account (for troubleshooting)

1. Open the Settings app and go to Passwords & accounts (or Accounts and Backup > Manage Accounts).
2. Select the account to remove, then select Remove account.
   
3. Confirm by selecting Remove account, then OK.
4. Add the account again using the steps above.

Linux (Thunderbird and Alpine)

Thunderbird

Pitt Email uses modern authentication, so Thunderbird must be set to use OAuth2 on both the incoming and outgoing servers. If Thunderbird defaulted to basic authentication, the Pitt Passport sign-in window will not appear until you make this change.

1. In the Folders Bar, right-click the top level of the Pitt account (labeled with your email address) and select Settings. You can also open Tools → Account Settings or Edit → Account Settings from the Menu Bar or the three-dot menu.
2. Select Server Settings under the Pitt account on the left.
3. Check the Authentication Method. If it is anything other than OAuth2, change it to OAuth2.
   
4. Select Outgoing Server (SMTP) on the left.
5. Select the Office365 entry and either double-click it or select Edit.
   
6. Check the Authentication Method. If it is anything other than OAuth2, change it to OAuth2, then select OK.
   
7. Close the Account Settings tab or window.

"NoSuchFlowExecutionException" error with OAuth2

This error usually means Thunderbird's cookie settings are blocking authentication.

1. In Thunderbird, go to Settings → Privacy & Security.
2. Under Web Content, make sure Accept cookies from sites is checked.

If the error continues, creating a new Thunderbird profile often resolves it:

1. Close Thunderbird and restart it with the Profile Manager. On macOS, for example:
   /Applications/Thunderbird.app/Contents/MacOS/thunderbird -ProfileManager
2. Create a new profile and add the Pitt email account.
3. Import Local Folders and other items from the previous profile.
4. Restart Thunderbird and make the new profile the default.
5. Restart again to confirm the settings.
6. Send a test message to verify that sending works.
7. Check the Address Book and Local Folders to confirm everything imported.

Alpine

Alpine is a text-based email client for Linux. Configuration guidance is available in Purdue's guide to using Office 365 with clients other than Outlook.

For best compatibility, run Alpine version 2.24 or later. To check your version, run:

rpm -q alpine

The output should read alpine-2.24-1.el7.x86_64 or higher.

Troubleshooting

First step: remove and re-add the account

For most connection, authentication, or syncing problems on a phone or tablet, the most reliable first step is to remove the account and add it again. You may need to repeat this more than once. On an iPhone or iPad, restart the device after removing the account. See the iPhone and iPad (iOS) and Android sections above for the remove-and-re-add steps.

"Unable to verify account information" on iOS

Removing and re-adding the account sometimes resolves this. If it persists:

1. On a computer (not a mobile device), sign in to Outlook on the web.
2. Go to Manage Mobile Devices (Settings > Manage Mobile Devices).
3. Remove the iPhone or iPad from the list. If you are not sure which device to remove, select the pencil icon for more details. You can remove all devices if needed; they will reappear once they re-sync.
4. Remove and re-add the account on the device again.

The Duo prompt does not appear during iOS setup

This usually happens when JavaScript or content restrictions are blocking authentication.

1. Enable JavaScript for Safari: Settings > Apps > Safari > Advanced (near the bottom), then turn on JavaScript.
2. Check Screen Time restrictions: Settings > Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions > Content Restrictions > Web Content, and set it to Unrestricted Access.

Missing emails or emails not showing in folders

Check the Mail Days to Sync setting for the account. Set it to No Limit if you want to sync all of your email rather than only recent messages.

Missing contacts after removing your account on iOS

Removing a Pitt account from iOS makes contacts appear "lost," but they are not actually deleted.

If you use the native Mail app: your contacts will reappear when you re-add the account (supported on iOS 11.3.1 and later).

If you are switching to the Outlook app, you can keep your Exchange-synced contacts in one of two ways:

1. Re-add the account in the native Mail app and turn off the Mail option during setup. This keeps contacts syncing while you use Outlook for email.
2. Import contacts from the Outlook app to the device:
   1. Go to Settings > Contacts and confirm that Default Account is set to iCloud (if available).
   2. Open Outlook for iOS and go to the Settings gear, select the account, and turn on Save Contacts.
   3. Saved contacts are added to iCloud and sync to all devices signed in with the same iCloud account.

No "Mail" option in iOS Settings

The Mail app may have been uninstalled. Re-download and install Mail from the App Store. Once it is installed, the Mail settings will appear again.

Trouble removing an account in the Outlook mobile app

If you cannot remove the account from within the Outlook app:

• On Android: open the app settings and clear the app's data and cache.
• On any device: delete and reinstall the Outlook app.