The Gmail app or the Outlook app for your domain mailbox: phone and computer compared

Comparisons and alternatives·· 23 views· 4 min read

The short answer: both apps read a mailbox on your own domain over IMAP, with the same settings: server mail.yourdomain, IMAP on port 993 with SSL/TLS, SMTP on 465 with SSL/TLS (or 587 with STARTTLS), user name equal to the full address and the mailbox password. The real differences lie elsewhere: who connects to our server (your phone, or a service in the middle), what happens on the computer, and whether you also want calendar and contacts. On the phone, pick the one you already use for personal mail. On the computer the answer is different, because Gmail on the web no longer fetches mail from outside mailboxes.

Side by side

Point Gmail app Outlook app
Adding the domain mailbox Add another account, then Other, and choose Personal (IMAP). Add account, type the address and choose IMAP if it does not detect it.
Who connects to our server The app connects to the mailbox over IMAP, as explained in using your mailbox inside Gmail. The exact way can change with the version: check Google’s help. Microsoft explains that, for other providers’ accounts, mail is synced through its cloud service, as in the new Outlook for Windows: why a copy goes through the Microsoft cloud.
On the computer Gmail on the web no longer fetches mail from other mailboxes. On the computer, use webmail or a mail program. Classic Outlook connects straight to the server; the new Outlook goes through Microsoft’s cloud. See classic or new Outlook.
Calendar and contacts from cPanel The Gmail app is mail only. The cPanel calendar and contacts (CalDAV and CardDAV) are added in the phone’s settings or with a sync app. Shows calendar and contacts for Microsoft accounts; it does not connect to the cPanel CalDAV and CardDAV on its own.
Personal and work mail together Yes, each account in its own inbox, switched from the picture in the corner. Yes, with one inbox per account or all of them together.
Changing the mailbox password You must update it in the app. You must update it in the app, which also keeps it on Microsoft’s service.

Choosing and setting it up

1 Start from what you already use. If your personal mail is Gmail, the Gmail app keeps everything in one place. If the company uses Outlook on the computer, the Outlook app gives you the same look on both devices.
2 Check whether the company accepts copies outside our server. If mail must not pass through third-party services, the phone’s own mail app is the alternative: iPhone or iPad and Android.
3 Always add the mailbox as IMAP, never POP, with server mail.yourdomain, IMAP on port 993 with SSL/TLS, SMTP on 465 with SSL/TLS (or 587 with STARTTLS), user name equal to the full address and the mailbox password. Menu names change with the app version and the phone’s language: look for the equivalent if you cannot find the exact name.
4 Test both ways: send yourself a message, reply from the phone and check in webmail that the reply is in the Sent folder.
5 On the computer, choose separately between webmail and a mail program: webmail or an e-mail app.
6 Set the signature in each app. The signature lives on each device, not in the mailbox: adding a signature to your e-mails.
A lost phone with the app open is an open mailbox. Lock the phone with a code. If you lose it, change the mailbox password in cPanel: every app, including the service the Outlook app relies on, is shut out. See how to change the password.
You do not have to pick just one. The same IMAP mailbox can sit in the Gmail app on a phone, in Outlook on the computer and in webmail, all at once. They all show the same messages, because the messages live on the server.

The app will not accept your mailbox? Tell us which one you use, on which phone, and the error message.

Open a support ticket

SEE ALSO

Other e-mail apps on your phone: Gmail, Samsung Email and Outlook, with the same settings

Using your mailbox inside Gmail, after the Gmailify shutdown

The new Outlook and your IMAP mailbox: why a copy goes through the Microsoft cloud

Webmail or an e-mail app: which one to read your mail with

POP or IMAP: which to choose, and what you lose by picking wrong

Forwarding to a personal Gmail or Hotmail, or reading the domain mailbox directly

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