Outlook for Mac - cannot revise IMAP settings

Hi,

I have a similar issue, but it's not resolved by the answers here.

My email server provider has updated both the incoming and outgoing mail server address and port, however when I try to change this in Outlook (on my Macbook), via Preferences > Accounts, the incoming and outgoing server fields are greyed out with the original server information. "Advance" gives me no options, and if I try to "Reset Account", I also can't change the server or port fields.

I do notice that "Microsoft sync technology" is written in grey below "Advance" - but I can't turn this on or off.

From what I've ready, syncing with Microsoft cloud is a good feature, but most importantly I need to update my incoming and outgoing mail server address and ports, as advised by my server provider, so that I can send and received emails again from Outlook. And I don't want to delete the whole account and re-add, as I don't want to loose all the old emails.

Can someone please help, even if it means turning off "Microsoft sync technology" - and if so, how to do that!?

Many thanks,

Adam

Not a solution, but a further comment on how the Outlook for Mac is flaky in this regard. This weekend I added a new domain and IMAP email account in my hosting and tried to add the account to Outlook - it refused but I kept repeating the same process and finally at about the fourth attempt, and for no accountable reason, it accepted and set it up, even though i was following same process....

Dear Maggie Taylor,

Good day! Many thanks for your kind response,

We greatly appreciate your time and effort to resolve this issue and we are glad that your issue resolved with the workaround.

For your question "What is generally the difference in the two options and any idea on finding the setting?!!??"

Syncing your IMAP account to the Microsoft Cloud means that a copy of your email, calendar, and contacts will be synchronized between your email provider and Microsoft data centers. Having your mailbox data in the Microsoft Cloud lets you use the new features of the Outlook client (Outlook for iOS, Outlook for Android, Outlook.com, or Outlook for Mac) with your non-Microsoft account (IMAP account), just like with your Microsoft accounts.  Your experience on your native account and within any apps from that provider will remain unchanged. For additional information, you can refer to Sync your account in Outlook to the Microsoft Cloud - Microsoft Support

However, if you add an IMAP account and disable synchronization with the Microsoft cloud, Microsoft won't store copies of your email, calendar, and contacts for synchronization. As a result, your account on Outlook will retrieve/sync data directly from your mail provider's server instead of from a Microsoft datacenter. Regarding the settings, at the moment the only setting that we can change the synchronization status is when adding an account.

Thank you for your precious time and understanding. Please feel free to let us know if there are any questions or if we've got you wrong. We will keep assisting you based on the information you provide. We sincerely appreciate your patience and cooperation.

Stay safe and healthy.

Have a good day!

Sincerely,

Libeamlak | Microsoft Community Moderator

Thanks - your query about legacy vs new outlook reminded me that I had similar problems when I first set up some IMAP accounts on this Macbook and I overcame the problem by reverting to legacy, creating the accounts then swapping back to new outlook at which point MS would 'create and import'. Have just done the same and as a workaround it did the trick so that resolves today's problem, but is not a real solution. As I have a few accounts to deal with I will have to try the dedicated resource you suggest.

Meantime, I do have a question about sync to MS cloud or IMAP. When I imported the IMAP account into new outlook it asked whether I wanted to MS or IMAP sync and I selected IMAP based on your suggestion, but now that the account is set up I cannot find access anywhere to the setting for that other than during the import. I can see in settings that MS sync is on for another IMAP account but there is no way to toggle / amend the setting.

What is generally the difference in the two options and any idea on finding the setting?!!??

Dear Maggie Taylor,

Good day!

Thank you for posting to Microsoft Community. We are happy to assist you.

As per the description you have shared, we understand that you have a concern with adding IMAP account in Outlook for Mac.

To better understand the issue and provide possible solution, we need more details from you, please kindly provide us the following information. Thank you.

• May I please confirm if you are using New Outlook or Legacy Outlook for Mac version?
• May I please confirm if sync with Microsoft cloud option is enabled? if yes, please kindly disable this option and check if there is any difference. To disable sync with Microsoft cloud option, add your account --> while Outlook set up your account, select “Not IMAP” option --> toggle the sync with Microsoft cloud option key and disable it**.** Then, again select IMAP to add your account. You can refer to the screenshot below.

If the issue still persists after disabling this option, we do understand your query here but, as you your query related to Outlook for Mac application and since Microsoft has specific support channel resource for certain different support scope and attributes, we are belong to Microsoft Forum Community mainly focused on Micrsoft 365 Exchange online related queries only. Therefore, we provide some limited knowledge about some aspects of Outlook for Mac related scenarios. For Outlook for Mac, we have a dedicated team with special expertise in Outlook for Mac queries, so would you mind to connect and place your query on our dedicated in-app support by going to the Help menu and click Contact Support or please check Contact support within Outlook for Mac? We believe they will give you accurate and efficient solution for your concern.

We look forward to your update. Thank you so much for your precious time.

Stay safe and healthy. Have a nice day!

Sincerely,

Libeamlak | Microsoft Community Moderator