Office 2013 --OUTLOOK 2013 requires Internet connection to set up

[jimbo45]

Hi there
Unless you have an ACTIVE Internet connection (or other Network Mail Server connection such as Exchange) you will NOT be able to set up OUTLOOK 2013.

Outlook 2013 requires (and there is no option unlike in Outlook 2010 to disable it by unchecking a box) a TEST email to be sent and working before your account(s) can be configured-- Once it's done you don't have to be online but if you need to set up several accounts and you don't have a working internet connection -- Tough luck.

Why on earth did Ms do this --it's not necessary and it is a Hassle for some people who are on the road, have purchased Office 2013 and want to set it up instead of having to wait until they get home.

Also a hassle if they want to prepare company laptop computers with email parameters in advance of the new Exchange email servers being rolled out to the users.

Even if your work policy has mechanisms where the USER can configure the email connections themselves they won't be able to set it up until the Servers are actually in place so you can't set the accounts up in advance.

The box I've shown here is from Outlook 2010. In Outlook 2013 the option is filled in and greyed out so you can't change it.

BTW I prefer and use Office 2010 myself but was trying to help a colleague to set up Office 2013.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[Kari]

Hi there
Unless you have an ACTIVE Internet connection (or other Network Mail Server connection such as Exchange) you will NOT be able to set up OUTLOOK 2013.

Outlook 2013 requires (and there is no option unlike in Outlook 2010 to disable it by unchecking a box) a TEST email to be sent and working before your account(s) can be configured-- Once it's done you don't have to be online but if you need to set up several accounts and you don't have a working internet connection -- Tough luck....
...
...

Of course you can uncheck the Test email box. It has been so in all Outlook versions, is still so in Outlook 2013.

The option is grayed out exactly as long as the NEXT button is grayed out i.e. as long as they could not be used due missing credentials, until the setup has all relevant information for an email account to work (email address, incoming and outgoing servers, username and password). When you have filled the needed credentials, both the Test box and NEXT button become visible and can be clicked / selected.

Although I could well understand that setting up an email account, which in any case needs a working connection, would require an existing connection, this is not the case with Outlook 2013. You can set your email accounts up while sitting in a pub in Brussels watching Premier League Football without Internet connection if you want to .

Screenshot from Windows 8.1 / Outlook 2013.

​

Kari