Outlook is one of the best tools for users to manage work and files on the computer. Check this article to discover how to setup Gmail in outlook 2016.
Many people choose to have accounts from both Google and Microsoft for their unique advantages. However, the biggest problem is that using two accounts separately will take more energy and time for some users to keep up with all their documents, files, and events.
Therefore, we believe things will be easier for Microsoft and Google users to check their mail in one application. Read our post carefully to get complete information about all the steps to setup Gmail in Outlook 2016.
Configuring Your Account First To Setup Gmail in Outlook 2016
You now don’t have to spend too much time manually dealing with port configuration and setting processes, as performing various settings in Outlook is pretty easy.
However, in some specific cases, you still have to configure your accounts from Google and check their validity in Outlook.
Your accounts will work perfectly with the default settings from the system. Still, we want to show a checklist to help prevent all the unnecessary issues when connecting Outlook with Gmail:
- Log in to your Google account by opening Gmail from your preferred browser on a computer.
- Look at the screen’s top-right corner, click on the small gear symbol. This step will open the setting window of Gmail; then, you can check the proper configuration here.
- Choose the tab “Forwarding and POP/IMAP.”

- From the “IMAP Access Settings,” please enable the IMAP protocol. We hope you will go for the IMAP as this tool is getting more popular.
Another option is POP, yet this protocol is quite outdated. If you still prefer POP, remember to enable the corresponding options.
The list above contains all the procedures you have to perform to guarantee that Outlook can work properly with your Gmail account.
How To Set Up Gmail On Outlook 2016
The first thing to do is to choose one of the two protocol types: IMAP and POP.
With IMAP, the system will sync the Gmail server with all your mails. And each time you perform any change, the system will apply them automatically for all your devices.
Moreover, in IMAP protocol, the Outlook server will receive the emails simultaneously with the Gmail server and sync your mailbox immediately and in real-time.
If you use only one computer to keep all your Gmail box’s mails, POP3k would be a better choice. Yet, with this tool, your mails are not in sync in real-time. The Outlook client will download them in your preferred frequency.
In case you still don’t know which protocol is appropriate for you, please consider using IMAP.
Now, we will show you the manual setting-up Gmail account process for both POP and IMAP.
POP3 Settings from Gmail to Outlook 2016
- Click “Manual Setup,” then select “POP or IMAP” on the window.

- Do not leave any field blank; you should fill with all the required information: “smtp.gmail.com” is for the outgoing server and “pop.gmail.com” is for the incoming server.
- After providing those details with your username and password, there will be a “More Settings” button. Select it for the POP Gmail’s configuration in Outlook.

- When the following window shows up, head to the tab of “Outgoing Server,” then click to put a checkmark for the “My outgoing server (SMTP) requires authentication” option.
- After that, go to the “Advanced” tab and set up these ports: “Outgoing server” with “465”, “incoming server” with “995”. Besides, please ensure that you will check the status “This server requires an encrypted connection.”
- Before heading to “Use following type of encrypted connection,” please choose “SSL/TSL.”
- Now, use the button “Test Account Settings” for the testing process.

After these setting-up actions, you may have trouble trying to log into the incoming server. The reason could come from the settings of your Gmail account. Let us help you deal with this problem.
The first thing to understand is that you have to give the password for the Google account whenever you want to open your mailbox. Therefore, emails that come from outside, like Outlook, will be unsafe to Google.
If you want to remove this issue, you can create another password for only Outlook, or there’s still a different way for other applications to access your google account:
- First, open your preferred browser and access your Google account.
- Select “Profile,” then choose “My account.”
- There will be a section of “Sign-in & Security.” In that section, open “Connected apps & sites.”
- Turn the switch to “ON” in the section: Allow less secure apps.

After the final step above, please return to Outlook and check the connection between the mailbox and the app. We believe all the tests are in successful status at this stage.
Hit the “Finish” button, and the Outlook app with your Gmail account is ready for you.
If your Outlook version is on the Microsoft terminal server (RDS), it stores several temporary documents and files. Use PowerShell to remove all of them.
Gmail IMAP Settings Outlook 2016
This tool setting up’s process is quite similar to the POP account in Outlook 2016. However, choosing other ports and protocols will be the difference when using IMAP.
- First, you need to start creating a brand-new account exactly like how we describe the way above. Choose “IMAP” in the expanded list of the “Account type” section.

- Choose suitable information for every field. In the Outgoing server section, type “smtp.gmail.com,” and in the Incoming server section, type “imap.gmail.com.”
- Choose “More Settings” after providing the necessary information.
- Put the checkmark in the box of the section “My outgoing server (SMTP) requires authentication” in the tab “Outgoing server.”
- Then, you need to choose to enable the option “Use same settings as my incoming mail server.”
- Type “465” for “Outgoing server (SMTP)” and choose TSL for the encrypted connection. And type “993” in the section “Incoming server (IMAP)” and choose SSL for its encrypted connection.

- In the section “Do not save copies of sent items,” put a tick in its box. This step is quite essential to stop the situation of copying all the mails from your Sent folder.
The reason behind this action is that when you are sending new emails, Gmail will put those emails in a suitable folder later. In comparison, Outlook will move your emails to the Sent folder after sending them.
- Save all your changes.
FYI: Every thirty minutes, the IMAP system will sync your mails in your mailbox. Outlook needs at least ten to fifteen minutes to synchronize your mails via IMAP. Hence, you might have problems if trying to reduce the interval.
Two-factor Authentication And Google Account
There may be some errors and troubles when you try to set up a Google account in the 2016-version Outlook (or older ones) if you enable your Google account with the two-factor authentication.
However, our advice is to use the app-specific password, and you should not disable the two-factor function. Make sure to follow our instructions correctly if Outlook can’t set the connection with your Google account and you have other difficulties.
Now, we will see how to create a special Gmail app-specific password for Outlook:
- From your computer, open the setting page of your Google account.
- Select “App passwords” in the tab “Security.”

- Choose “Others” in the expanding list. You can give a new and easy-to-remember name for your new password so that you can quickly recognize its purpose next time when using it. For example, you can set the name like in the picture below.

- Next, you will go to another window by clicking on “Generate.” A password for the app will be there, with four-character groups (these groups have a total of sixteen characters).

- Copy and paste the password in the area in the red-line square like in the picture below (remember to remove all the spaces among the characters).

After performing the final step, your Gmail account will connect to Outlook without any errors.
FYI: The newest version comes with two-factor authentication. Thus, from the 2019 version, you don’t have to use the app-specific password in Outlook. And when you enable 2FA, there is no error when making the connection from your Gmail account.
Is It Safe To Set Up A Gmail Account In Outlook 2016?
To answer this question, we need to see how you set your authentication. All the third-party applications with no OAuth 2.0 will be less secure to Gmail.
If you try to access Gmail through those applications, the Gmail system will automatically warn you of harmful consequences.
When it comes to authentication, OAuth 2.0 is the essential open-standard protocol. We use this gadget to approve other applications, and websites can get their information from other sources without providing passwords.
According to Google, their system will block any sites or apps that try to sign in to the user’s account if those applications can’t reach Google’s standard.
The only way to connect Gmail and Outlook accounts is to allow Google to grant access from other less secure applications. You will perform this action on the Google settings site.
To allow less secure apps:
- Google Account > Your email address > Password.
- Find “Less secure app access” in the “Security” section.
- Choose “Turn on access (not recommended).”
When you don’t use those settings, Google can turn them off automatically. Therefore, if you have problems with Gmail settings for outlook 2016, please ensure the function is on.
Besides, the most important thing is to protect your password from any other sources. You can use the management tool for passwords in case yours are too long to remember (do not use paper to write on).
By keeping your Google password safe, you also protect your Outlook account from hackers.
Final Thoughts
Hopefully, our post provides you with all the necessary information, tips, and advice to properly setup Gmail in Outlook 2016.
We believe you can easily finish this task and quickly deal with all the issues during the connecting process with our detailed instructions.
Thank you for reading!
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