Change password in Outlook 2010
Unlike other pieces of software in the Microsoft Office family, the Outlook email program transitioned slowly to the ribbon: in Outlook 2003, menus were used everywhere; in Outlook 2007, the main window kept its menus, while the rest of the program used ribbon-type interfaces. But in Outlook 2010, the ribbon is used everywhere, which makes finding options and settings more challenging. In this tutorial, we will show you how to change password for various email accounts in Outlook 2010.
Tip: Outlook 2010 is just an email "client" - this means that it is a desktop program that works by connecting to an online service, namely your email provider. So, before changing you email password in Outlook, you'll need to have updated your email account itself. How you do that depends on your email provider or webmail service you are using - here are a few examples:
• Change Hotmail password;
• Change Gmail password;
• Change Yahoo Mail password - for current version (2011), formerly "Beta 2010".
How do I change email password in Outlook 2010?
Once Outlook is running, follow these simple steps:
- From the main window, click on the "File" menu (button on the left of all tabs in the ribbon).
- The "Office 2010 Backstage View" will open, and display various buttons: the "Info" tab should be automatically selected on the left (if not, click on it). Now click on the "Account Settings" button, and choose "Account Settings" (one of these quirks!)
- Outlook 2010 will then open a dialog that looks familiar to anyone who has used the past few versions of Microsoft Outlook: the "E-mail" tab will be automatically selected, and display a listing of all email accounts you have already setup in Outlook. Just double-click on the one whose password you want to change, and you'll get a summary screen of that account.
- Under "Logon Information", notice that your current password is filled in as asterisks (stars), to prevent someone else from following these steps and finding out what your password is.
- Erase the current value inside the "Password" text field, and type in the new one in its place; since you are only typing it once (as opposed to having a second, confirmation field), pay particular attention to typos, which you won't see since only asterisks are showing!
Optionally check or uncheck the "Remember password" checkbox. - Once you've changed password, click on the "Test Account Settings": Outlook 2010 will generate a sample email, and automatically send it to yourself (the email address in question), and then see if it receives it, also using the new credentials.
- You will receive a confirmation message indicating whether the test message could be sent, received, or both; in case of issue, re-enter the new password to rule out typo as reason for the problem, and click the "Test Account Settings" button once more.
Tip: some email providers make you use different credentials for sending and receiving messages (the incoming and outgoing mail server settings). If this is your case, click on the "More Settings" button, and check the "Outgoing Server" tab and the "Advanced" tab, which control credentials for outgoing emails (messages you send), and port / security information.
Once you have changed email password and confirmed that it worked properly, click on the "Next" button, and click on "Finish" to save the new settings and return to Outlook. From this point on, the email account you just updated will use the new credentials (and remember them if you chose that option!)
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