How to display Outlook 2013 notifications on Windows 8 lock screen

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I have Outlook 2013 connected to my HP e-mail address and a Microsoft account with which I log into my computer (my Microsoft account uses my same hp e-mail address). But my lock screen does not show me e-mail notifications. I know only the new apps can show notifications and the old desktop apps, like Outlook, cannot, but the Mail app seems to be not running, on the Start screen it is just an icon, pretty inactive, so I thought it just isn't hooked to my Outlook. When I open Mail it prompts me to add an e-mail account, but when I enter my credentials it just says that this e-mail is already added. There are no other options whatsoever. I just want my lock screen to display e-mail notifications, but i don't know how.

I've already checked "PC settings" > Personalisation > Lock screen, the mail notification is turned on.

Basically I want to know how to connect my Outlook HP.com account to the Mail app, when it tells me that it is already added, but it is neither displayed nor functioning.

mathgenius

Posted 2015-01-22T09:51:42.143

Reputation: 189

As far as I know, only Modern/Metro apps (like Mail) can show notifications on the lock screen. Desktop apps like Outlook 2013 cannot. You'll need to set up your email account in the Mail app so it can check for new emails and show notifications. Are you logging into Windows with a Microsoft account, or a local account? Are you using Outlook.com/Hotmail or another email provider? What accounts are already set up in the Mail app (Win+C, Settings -> Accounts)? – Indrek – 2015-01-22T10:09:46.233

@Indrek, edited question to clarify. But Win+C > Settings > Accounts only shows me the User Accounts (unless I am doing something wrong?) – mathgenius – 2015-01-22T10:27:51.463

Looks like you're going to PC Settings. Make sure to press Win+C while in the Mail app. The settings should open in a sidebar on the right-hand side, not take you out of the Mail app. – Indrek – 2015-01-22T10:37:01.723

@Indrek, oh, ok, thanks, didn't realise i could do that. I saw my account listed there and also the "sync email" checkbox, it was unchecked, so i checked it and set all the settings to update email and etc. I tried receiving a test e-mail but it didn't show up on the lock screen, i don't even see the envelope icon at all, it did not download my old emails, but i just set it to do so every 15 mins, instead of "when they arrive" to see if it will work. – mathgenius – 2015-01-22T12:53:36.270

Check that the "Show email notifications" option is set to "All email". I think by default it's "Only from favourites". As for downloading older email, check what the "Download email from" option is set to. – Indrek – 2015-01-22T12:57:17.460

@Indrek, yes the notifications are already set to "all email" and i set the "download email from" to any time, i even set the "download new email" to "manual" in the hopes that a magical "download now" button will appear so i can click it, but alas it did not and i reverted it back to "as new items arrive". Still no notifications on lock screen. – mathgenius – 2015-01-22T13:34:59.307

To manually download new messages, right-click anywhere in the app (or click on the "..." at the bottom right) to expand the app bar, then click More -> Sync. Alternatively, just hit F5 like you would in a browser. Anyway, does the Mail app actually download new emails? If yes, how long are you waiting to see if something shows up on the lock screen? "As items arrive" means the app uses push notifications, which should be pretty much instant, but there may be a limit to how often the app can update the lock screen. – Indrek – 2015-01-22T13:41:16.097

Let us continue this discussion in chat.

– mathgenius – 2015-01-22T14:33:15.957

testing, testing, @Indrek, 1, 2, 3 – mathgenius – 2015-01-26T07:10:42.237

Sorry for not responding earlier. I think we should keep the discussion here, that way it's easier for others to chime in and maybe offer a solution. Also, I'm afraid I've little time to actively participate in a chat. We can always clean up the comment thread later if we find a solution or at least manage to narrow down the problem. – Indrek – 2015-01-26T08:04:45.830

@Indrek, oh, ok, no worries, I just thought you might have not seen my update, you can write whenever you want to, don't feel obliged in any way, you are already doing a lot by helping me. :D so, my update was that I just told it to sync, and it did, even though it is set to download email from any date it did not download a single email. It took a couple of seconds to sync. – mathgenius – 2015-01-26T12:32:45.183

Answers

1

Well after some research and contacting Microsoft Support I found out the following:

Like Indrek said, only Metro/Live tile apps can show notifications on the lock screen, however the Mail app can NOT be simply synched with Outlook to display notifications on the lock screen. In order to do that you have to add your e-mail address manually and separately in the Mail app.

My problem stemmed from the fact that my e-mail address is a corporate e-mail and it does not use neither POP3 nor IMAP, it uses Microsoft Exchange. That is why it was unable to sync my emails. Please note it is an hp.com e-mail and not an Exchange e-mail address, as it appears there is a difference between Microsoft Exchange e-mail protocol and the Microsoft Exchange e-mail... program/service/whatever.

Short answer for tech savvy people: You need to manually set your mail server address and username in order to sync a Microsoft Exchange protocol e-mail.

To set up your Microsoft Exchange protocol email you need to add an account in the Mail app by opening the Mail app and pressing "Win + C" then going to "Settings" and "Accounts". Click "Add an account" and choose "Other" as the type of account. Choose "IMAP" and click "Show more details" on the next screen, here you need to fill out all the details, namely username and incoming/outgoing server - you may need to ask a system administrator to do this for you. After you do that your Mail app should sync.

mathgenius

Posted 2015-01-22T09:51:42.143

Reputation: 189

This is not correct, Mail has full Exchange support and you don't need IMAP to access an Exchange mailbox; please see here: http://superuser.com/questions/867944/how-to-display-outlook-2013-notifications-on-windows-8-lock-screen.

– Massimo – 2015-04-30T12:38:58.697

@Massimo, it seems you have posted a link to this very question. :) – mathgenius – 2015-05-04T12:55:21.937

You are right... here's the right one: http://superuser.com/questions/908079/how-to-get-email-notification-in-the-windows-8-1-lock-screen-and-start-menu-when.

– Massimo – 2015-05-04T13:15:10.760

@Massimo, well, I will take your word for it, but when I tried it - it did not work for me and currently I cannot reproduce it, in order to verify. – mathgenius – 2015-05-04T13:26:17.873

For newcomers - you may select Exchange when creating a new account, but will still need to your server information. – Martin – 2016-11-15T21:26:59.987

Asked: 2015-01-22T09:51:42.143

Viewed: 3 913 times

Active: 2015-06-06T05:00:45.983