Are you one of the millions of Americans who likes to stay connected to work, even during personal time? This tutorial will guide you through connecting your work email to your iPhone, so you’re always in the know.
Before you begin setting up your email, you’ll need to navigate to the Mail settings on your iPhone. To do this, select the Settings icon, scroll down and select Mail.
Click on “Accounts,” then select “Add Account.”
I’ll explain how to add email accounts using Exchange and Google, as these are the mail servers most often used by businesses. If you’re unsure of which server your company uses, generally, Exchange is accessed through Outlook on your desktop, or a website with the URL base for Outlook Web Access or for Mail with Microsoft Office 365. Google emails are easier to identify, as you likely sign into your account here.
Setting up Exchange emails
To add an Exchange email to your phone, select “Exchange.” You’ll be prompted to enter your email address and a description. If you have multiple email addresses, use the name of the company or “My Work Email” as your description. Select “Next,” then enter your password.
If your company uses Office 365, that’s all you’ll need.
If your company utilizes Outlook Web Access (OWA) or another Office version that isn’t part of the cloud-based Office 365, you’ll need to enter the server and domain names before adding your email address. The server and domain information can be provided by your company’s network administrator. Generally, if you’re able to access your email though a link such as “mail.companyname.com/owa,” the portion of the address preceding “/owa” is the server name. The domain name, though optional, can only be left blank if the network permissions allow. The username entered should be your email address in full. Enter your password, then select “Next.” On the following screen, select which account options you’d like to make accessible on your phone, including mail, contacts, calendars, reminders, and notes. Select “Save” and you’re done!
It’s important to note that with Exchange emails, the default option for syncing new emails is one week. This means that you’ll only have access to the last seven days of emails via your Mail app. To change this option, select the newly added email address from the Accounts menu, and change “Mail Days to Sync” to the option that best fits your needs.
Once you’ve selected an option, click “Exchange” (or the other name you’ve entered as the email’s description), and verify that the newly-selected option appears on the Account Details page.
Setting up Google emails
Even easier than setting up Exchange emails is setting up emails hosted by Google (or Gmail). From the “Add Account” page, select “Google.” You’ll be taken to an external webpage at accounts.google.com screen where you can sign in.
Here, enter your email address then select “Next.” You’ll be prompted to enter your password and complete a two-step verification process if your company has elected to have one. Once completed, you’ll be returned to the Gmail settings page, where you can select which features will be accessible on your phone. Click “Save” to add the account.
To change the description associated with the Google address, click the account titled “Gmail” on the Accounts screen.
Select “Account,” then change the description accordingly. Be sure to choose a description that uniquely fits the account, as these descriptions are what will be used on the homepage of the Mail app.
Select “Done.” You’ll be taken back to the Account Details page, where the title should now reflect the new description.
Adding an email signature
Navigate back to the Mail settings homepage to select settings that best fit your needs, including how to organize email threads and how many lines of an email to preview on your inbox screen. Most importantly, at the very bottom of the Mail settings page is an option to add a signature. Select “Signature” and choose whether you’d like that signature to apply to all of your accounts, or whether each account will have a unique signature. Assuming you have personal emails set up on your phone, select “Per Account” to create a signature for your work email. The name of each email account that is set up on your phone will appear, along with a text box. Navigate to the text area for your work email, and create a unique signature. Usually, professional signatures for emails sent from mobile devices include language that indicates that the email may be brief because it is being sent from a mobile phone.
Once you’ve updated your signature, select “Mail.” From there, you can close the app, and return to the iPhone’s home screen.
Syncing all emails
On the home screen, find the Mail app. The first time you open the app, you’ll likely see a page that says “No Email.” Don’t be alarmed. It can take a few seconds up to a few minutes, depending on the contents of your inbox, for all emails to sync to your phone. Once synced, you’ll be able to interact with your emails as normal.