Simplified POP, IMAP, and SMTP settings for Office 365

Good news, everyone! While previously we had to use a fairly long URL name for IMAP, POP, and SMTP settings on clients, Microsoft has now provided a standardized set of URLS for Office 365. In most cases, the client (e.g. Outlook) provided auto discover of the URL, however In some cases it still had to be entered manually. Instead of having to look up the correct URL for a given tenant, one can now use the standard URLs.

Here’s the official announcement:

Simplified POP, IMAP and SMTP Namespaces

It’s now much simpler to set up a POP or IMAP connection to an Office 365 account. If a phone, tablet, or desktop email program can’t take advantage of Exchange Online’s auto discover capabilities, the new Exchange Online now provides the ability to connect using unified server namespaces. Instead of being asked to locate unique POP/IMAP/SMTP server settings through Outlook Web App (which looked like “podxxxxx.outlook.com”), the following standard server names can now be used:

o POP & IMAP: outlook.office365.com
o SMTP: smtp.office365.com

Additional information
For specific steps for connecting your phone or tablet to your Office 365 email, see Phone and Tablet setup reference. For specific steps for connecting your desktop email program to your Office 365 email, see Email program setup reference.

Office 365 Service Updates (Note: this applies to all plans with an Exchange Online service, I’m linking to E/M/EDU here)