[SOLVED] How to remove & reinstall Outlook?

[Martin1001]

My Outlook account---installed (I believe) by default in Linux Mint---has never had a File button, and yesterday the Send button disappeared. All I could see was: Home View Help Message Insert Format Text Options. I tried to recover 'Send', but now all I see is Home View Help.

It would be simplest, I think, if I knew how to remove Outlook completely, then reinstall it. How do I do that without losing all contacts and emails?

[Moem]

There is no Outlook for Linux, did you install it with WINE? It was most certainly not pre-installed.

[Martin1001]

Then I must have typed outlook.live.com in the address bar, and made use of my pre-Linux account from there. Given that I have many contacts who link to me via Outlook, there are then two options, with associated questions.

1--- If I wish to continue with Outlook, any suggestions as to how I might restore everything to a default setup without losing contact details and emails?

2a--- If I decide to move to a different email client which works well in the context of Linux, and given that I require nothing beyond the ability to sent emails with attachments, which email clients might be suitable? Software Manager "Email" generates a long list of which I see Thunderbird is installed by default.

2b--- If I do move to a different email client, is there then a neat way to let all my contacts know of the changeover with the minimum of keyboard time?

2c--- Is there any way in which the last few months of emails could be transferred over?

[Moem]

I don't know anything about Outlook, as I have never used it, but I can answer this question:

If I do move to a different email client, is there then a neat way to let all my contacts know of the changeover with the minimum of keyboard time?

You don't need to. You will be able to keep the same email address and your contacts have no need to know you'll be receiving and sending mail with different software.

[karlchen]

Hello, Martin1001.

Sorry. But I still do not understand whether

• you use a dedicated Outlook software client, i.e. the Windows software Outlook running on Linux Mint through Wine
  or
• you use a browser (which one?) and inside the browser you use the Outlook Web Application. - https://outlook.live.com/owa/

Karl

[Martin1001]

Sorry. But I still do not understand whether

you use a dedicated Outlook software client, i.e. the Windows software Outlook running on Linux Mint through Wine
or
you use a browser (which one?) and inside the browser you use the Outlook Web Application. - https://outlook.live.com/owa/

Your second option: My browser is Firefox, with email accessed from outlook.live.com. I've never used Wine.

You don't need to. You will be able to keep the same email address and your contacts have no need to know you'll be receiving and sending mail with different software.

Is this still a possibility given my answer to Karlchen? If so, how?

[Pjotr]

It's really very simple. Webmail is OS agnostic. Just use it within your web browser of preference, whether it be in Windows, Linux or MacOS. Because it's just another website.

No need to install anything (well, obviously you need to have a web browser, duh....). No one receiving your e-mails will notice anything different. Nor will you.

You may have installed add-ons or extensions in your web browser that get in the way. Try accessing your webmail with the default settings of your web browser. Or install a second web browser for this purpose, like Google Chrome.

[Martin1001]

It's really very simple. Webmail is OS agnostic. Just use it within your web browser of preference, whether it be in Windows, Linux or MacOS. Because it's just another website.

I just ran Thunderbird from the Menu. After 'Account successfully created' the following window has appeared:

How do I respond? (And would there have been a simple way to display that window without having to capture a whole-screen shot, crop in GIMP and save it?)
Or can't thunderbird link with outlook.live.com?
In which case I should click on 'Cancel'?
If that's the case, could we go back to questions 1, 2a, 2b, 2c above.

[Pierre]

my Thunderbird works just fine with the Outlook eMail setup
- without that particular error, in fact.

since you asked, though:
[confirm security exception] NOT the [Cancel .. is the correct response.

[Moem]

Do note that a dedicated email client is very different from using webmail in a browser, with as the main difference that your emails will get saved on your computer. Some people don't see a need for this, some prefer it, but it's the nature of the beast.

(Unless you use IMAP, which means the emails get kept on the server and you use the email client to view, manage and write them. But POPmail is more standard.)

[The Muffin Man]

Pop mail may have been "more standard" when people had just one device. I don't think that's the case anymore and I haven't encountered a mail server in quite a while that doesn't support IMAP.

In case I buried the lede, choose IMAP where possible. Especially if you have a computer and a phone that accesses email.

[Martin1001]

since you asked, though:
[confirm security exception] NOT the [Cancel .. is the correct response.

Right, I've now got thunderbird set up, and the emails received are there, and I've got the contacts.

Will it be necessary to go into outlook.live.com from time to time to prevent that half of the system from closing down? If so, once a year?

[decrepit]

Make sure you can send emails with thunderbird. I had to use a 3rd party app called "owl" to send emails from Thunderbird using an outlook.live account. Although it received them fine.

[Pierre]

it would be prudent to log-into outlook.com .. every so often,
- maybe monthly ?
just to check that you can still remember it's pass-code . .


NB: can send & receive just fine with T/bird.

[Martin1001]

Yes, I can both send and receive. So I'm ok for dealing with today's emails.

I see that emails still arrive in Outlook, then some time later a copy arrives in Thunderbird.

If I want to get rid of the in-between stage, I'll need to

1---get rid of that outlook>thunderbird link
2---find out what my thunderbird email address is
3---inform everyone on my contacts list (now on thunderbird) of the new email address. (Hopefully there's an efficient way to do that?)

In what order must those steps be done, and how?

[Moem]

2---find out what my thunderbird email address is

There isn't one. Thunderbird is email software, for handling email; it is not an email provider. There is no Thunderbird email server and there are no Thunderbird email addresses.
People use Thunderbird to handle the email that they receive from the email server that is managed by the email provider of their choice. There is no reason NOT to keep your current email provider (Hotmail? Outlook? Not sure).

[Martin1001]

There is no reason NOT to keep your current email provider (Hotmail).

So although there's a lot wrong on the Outlook screen (no 'send' button etc etc), that's no problem, emails will continue to arrive through thunderbird?

I have two more email addresses that I use very occasionally: I'm guessing that thunderbird might be able to display anything that arrives in those, and if I reply to such emails, will send those to the right place? So that all I need to deal with is thunderbird? But which of the three email addresses would it be using? The one of the three to which it had been sent?

[Moem]

So although there's a lot wrong on the Outlook screen (no 'send' button etc etc), that's no problem, emails will continue to arrive through thunderbird?

That's what I expect.

I have two more email addresses that I use very occasionally: I'm guessing that thunderbird might be able to display anything that arrives in those, and if I reply to such emails, will send those to the right place? So that all I need to deal with is thunderbird?

Where they get sent to should not change. If the address is the right one, they will arrive where they should.
Yes, it's very much possible to set up Thunderbird to use with email from different accounts and/or providers. That is one of the reasons why some of us (incliding me) like it so much: all email arrives in the same program.

But which of the three email addresses would it be using? The one of the three to which it had been sent?

If you set up the different accounts each with their own identity, each identity has its own default 'From:' address. You can always easily switch the identity that's being used during the writing of an email, but once it's properly set up, it would default to sending your replies from the email address they were sent to.
There are many settings and it takes a bit of getting used to, but Thunderbird can be made to do pretty much anything you want or need, mail-wise. It's worth taking the time to go through the settings to get familiar.

[Martin1001]

once it's properly set up, it would default to sending your replies from the email address they were sent to.

It looks as if I have in hand all I need.
Many thanks to all contributors.