Change settings from IMAP to POP in Outlook

Question

Change settings from IMAP to POP in Outlook

Janet Demcoe 60

How to I change my incoming AOL email setting from IMAP to POP in Outlook.

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Answer 1

Virginia M 42,470 Independent Advisor

Hello, I’m Virginia fellow Windows user.

Usually a user would need to recreate the account & choose pop3 during setup. As pop is an old protocol it may not be possible to choose this on newer email clients.

Janet Demcoe 60 Reputation points

2026-01-16T12:05:44.63+00:00

I believe that was the problem when I set up the Outlook account, it wouldn't take the pop info. I also neglected to state I had 3rd party.net email. Thanks. I may ditch using Outlook as this has been a nightmare.
Virginia M 42,470 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-01-16T12:08:00.4966667+00:00

Thunderbird is highly recommended.

I still use Windows Live Mail for my non Microsoft accounts as it has features Outlook doesn’t have.
Janet Demcoe 60 Reputation points

2026-01-16T12:24:48.9166667+00:00

Thanks, everything with MS has been awful since Windows 11 had a melt-down on my laptop and was reinstalled. I have been unable to get OneDrive to work; I had phantom .pst files, fixed those and now OD has not been syncing, always looking for changes for 3 weeks without functioning and I can't get it to stop. MS support was not helpful. I probably will tediously save all my data to my HD and think about switching to MAC.

I appreciate your reply.
Virginia M 42,470 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-01-16T12:38:14.17+00:00

Sorry to hear of all the problems you’re experiencing.

Are you running any third party antivirus?

Is Windows up to date?

Check for any app updates via the MS App Store.

Is OD near capacity? Sometimes when nearly full it may pause or prevent syncing. Is there any error message if/when OS sync fails?
Janet Demcoe 60 Reputation points

2026-01-16T13:04:08.01+00:00

TY. Yep, all updates applied, yes to anti-virus(Norton). A good portion of the problem with Outlook appears to be my verizon.net issue. Not sure what's worse, changing to another email (held since the beginning of time) or ditching MS...I might have the same issue with Apple.

As to OneDrive it says nothing other than looking for changes. That's an improvement over the 4 days it displayed and synced every file including .dat and .dll files. There's plenty of storage. I don't have the knowledge to deeply troubleshoot and little patience whatsoever for the phone help; I'm not good understanding strong accents. I tried email with support but they only replied 1x daily and each reply was a new person who asked or told me the same things. They requested screen shots for 4 days in a row without looking at the previously sent items. I can only take so many apologies that I'm experiencing problems. I've uninstalled OD, re-installed, changed settings and lit candles.

I can follow basic instructions but everything is convoluted and as there are many variables, I can't get a straight path. It may be worth finding a 'genius' in real life who can help.

Ooh, sorry about the rant.
Virginia M 42,470 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-01-16T13:35:26.14+00:00

Try pausing sync, waiting a few minutes then unpausing.

Check the suggestions here:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/onedrive-stuck-on-processing-changes-b386b813-9b66-4e47-8c4c-2b45533edccd

Norton may be affecting synching, try disabling it temporarily & seeing if the problem remains, if it doesn’t then you may need to add OD to the allowed list.
Janet Demcoe 60 Reputation points

2026-01-16T16:31:46.8666667+00:00

Good ideas, thanks.
Virginia M 42,470 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-01-16T17:57:10.5433333+00:00

You’re welcome.

Answer 2

To change your incoming AOL email setting from IMAP to POP in Outlook, you will need to adjust the account settings in Outlook. Here are the general steps you can follow:

Open Outlook and go to the File tab.
Click on Account Settings, and then again on Account Settings from the dropdown.
In the Account Settings window, select your AOL account and click on Change.
In the Change Account window, you will see your account settings. Change the Server Type from IMAP to POP.
Enter the following POP settings for AOL:
- Incoming mail server: pop.aol.com
- Outgoing mail server (SMTP): smtp.aol.com
Make sure to enter your full AOL email address and password.
Click on More Settings, go to the Advanced tab, and set the following:
- Incoming server (POP3): 995 (check the box for SSL)
- Outgoing server (SMTP): 587 (check the box for TLS)
Click OK, then Next, and finally Finish to complete the setup.

After completing these steps, your AOL email should be configured to use POP instead of IMAP in Outlook.