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How to Add AWS Workmail to Outlook? Step by Step Guide

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is an Amazon subsidiary offering on-demand cloud computing services. It also has an email service called Workmail, a safe business email and calendar service. In fact, many users plan to add AWS Workmail to Outlook, and why not? It gives them the flexibility to manage their AWS WorkMail emails alongside other email accounts they might have in Outlook. Other than that we’ve highlighted some other reasons as well.

Why Users Want to Configure AWS Workmail in Outlook?

Many reasons make Workmail users switch to Outlook, and some of these are:

• Fewer Features for Workmail Users – Even though Workmail offers 50 GB of storage at just $4, the lack of other features, added to Outlook’s comfortable working interface and more benefits, attract Workmail users to add their accounts to Outlook.
• Vague Email Retention Policies – Workmail’s email retention policies are unclear, confusing users. Workmail users can temporarily or permanently delete emails in the Inbox and other folders after specific days. That’s why users prefer to add AWS workmail to Outlook. But the thing is that where it falls behind is the lack of clarity in defining retention policies (like the IT department and accounts department in a company).  On the other hand, Outlook offers clear email retention policies for every company group based on specified periods (one week, one month, one year, and five years).
• No Email Encryption – This is another reason why users want to configure AWS Workmail in Outlook. Workmail lacks email encryption, meaning that Amazon can read every email Workmail users send and receive, highlighting Amazon’s inexperience in email service. Outlook offers encryption for individual emails and all outgoing emails, even for Microsoft 365 subscribers, strengthening the case for Workmail users to migrate their emails to Outlook.

These reasons call for quickly adding an AWS Workmail account to Outlook, and we will discuss the solutions for the same.

Add AWS Workmail to Outlook Manually

This approach involves using the Outlook app’s manual account setting feature. Here are the steps for adding your AWS Workmail account to Outlook:

1. Open the Outlook app on your computer and go to File. Click on Add Account to open an account creation window.
2. Enter your AWS Workmail account and click Advanced Options. Select the Let me set up my account manually box to enter your Workmail account details and click Connect to add AWS Workmail to Outlook.
3. Select IMAP as the account type, and the Account Settings screen pops up with many account settings pre-filled. Enter Workmail’s incoming and outgoing server details and click Next.
4. Enter your Workmail account password and click Connect.

This method to manually add your AWS Workmail account to Outlook may look easy, but it isn’t that easier since this method faces the risk of data loss. Hence, an automated tool becomes the perfect solution for adding Workmail emails to Outlook.

Important Note: When you add AWS Workmail to Outlook, it builds synchronization between the two platforms. Due to server issues, incorrect configuration, software updates, or Firewall or security software, the synchronization may break or in the worst scenario, you could lose your data. That’s why we suggested an alternate approach through which you can view your AWS Workmail items in Outlook. By the way, it’s a two-step approach – first, you perform the backup using an automated tool and then manually import it to Outlook. Let’s understand this in detail

Alternate Solution to Add AWS Workmail to Outlook

Due to the risk of losing critical data hampering the usage of the manual method for adding an AWS Workmail account to Outlook, an automated tool is the perfect solution. The software discussed here can help you in taking backups that can further help you to quickly configure AWS Workmail in Outlook. This blog recommends MacWareTools Mac IMAP Backup Software for Mac Outlook users for the backup pro.

Features of this Mac Automated Software

The following points highlight some features of this tool:

1. Pause And Resume Feature – The software has a Pause and Resume option that lets you pause the backup process anytime you want to stop it and continue it from where you left it.  This feature ensures complete data intactness, meaning that pausing and resuming the backup process won’t lead to data loss.
2. Backup New Emails Only – The tool has an Incremental Backup facility that lets you backup only recent emails to formats like PDF, PST, MBOX, and others.
3. Delete Emails From Server – Another feature of the tool is it can delete emails from the server once they get exported to the formats mentioned in the previous point.

1st Step to Add AWS Workmail to Outlook – Take the Backup

Download the Amazon Workmail Backup tool on your Mac desktop.

• Then, Select Other under the IMAP Host dropdown menu and enter your AWS Workmail account details.

• Select PST as the email export format under the Select Export Type option.

• Click Advance Settings and apply these filters to the resultant PST file(s): Split PST Option (to break the PST file into multiple files of smaller sizes) and Date Filter (for exporting emails between two selective dates). Click Save and save your preferred choices.

• Click the Change box to change the pre-decided location (Desktop) of the resultant PST file.

• Eventually, hit the Start Backup option to execute the task to add Amazon workmail to Outlook application. Once you complete the steps, the tool will begin the process immediately on Mac desktop.

2nd Step to Add AWS Workmail to Outlook – Import the PST File

Once you have the backup copy of your Workmail items in PST format, you can import it to Outlook using the following steps.

• Open Outlook and Select File tab.
• Click Open category and select Import.
• Now, in the Import-Export Wizard, click on Import from another Program or file and click Next.
• After that, Select the Outlook Data File (.pst) and select Next.
• Now, Browse to select the file to import.
• Finally, click on Finish.

Conclusion

This blog explored the reasons and solutions to add AWS Workmail to Outlook. The manual method for adding a Workmail account to Outlook looks easy but is not since the danger of data loss restricts users from using it. On the other hand, the automated tool can export your Workmail emails to a PST file, which can later on exported to your Outlook account, simplifying the entire account migration process.

FAQs

Q. What information do I need to add AWS WorkMail to Outlook?

Before attempting to add your AWS account, make sure to have your WorkMail email address, password, server settings (incoming and outgoing mail servers), and domain information handy and your AWS administrator should be able to provide the same.

Q. What version of Outlook is compatible with Amazon WorkMail?

Generally, Workmail is compatible with all versions of Outlook. But, it’s always good to use the latest version for a better experience in terms of features.

Q. Can I add multiple AWS WorkMail to Outlook?

Yes, you can add and manage more than one accounts in within the same interface of Outlook.

Q. Is offline access supported when using AWS WorkMail in Outlook?

Yes, you can access your Amazon Workmail emails and data offline in Outlook. In fact, if you make any changes then it will synchronize the same once you’re online again.