synchronize Outlook Mail across 3 computers and my mobile phone

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synchronize Outlook Mail across 3 computers and my mobile phone

John Porter 0

I am trying to synchronize my email across 3 computers and my mobile phone

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Answer 1

Julie Huynh 3,770 Independent Advisor

Dear John Porter,

Good day! Welcome to Microsoft Q&A forum!

Based on your description, I understand you are trying to synchronize your email across 3 computers and mobile phone.

Could you please help me with the following details:

What type of account are you using - personal or one provided by your organization?
Is your email account configured for IMAP, POP3, or Exchange/Microsoft 365?
Could you describe the issue in more detail? For example, does one computer show the emails while the other does not? If possible, please provide a screenshot of the issue, making sure to mask any personal information.
Which Outlook application are you using - desktop or web? Classic or New?

Your confirmation would be very helpful in ensuring you receive the most suitable support!

Any updates you’re able to share would be really helpful. I appreciate your time and look forward to hearing how things are going!

Thank you for your time and patience.

Julie Huynh 3,770 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-09-21T10:25:47.6833333+00:00

Dear @John Porter,

Good day! I hope everything is going well on your end.

It’s been a little while, so I just wanted to follow up and see how things are progressing with your concern. If you've run into any challenges or if there's anything further that I can help with, please don’t hesitate to let me know. Any updates you’re able to share would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again for your time and attention! I look forward to hearing from you.
John Porter 0 Reputation points

2026-09-22T07:24:14.93+00:00

Hello Julie,

Thank you for following up. I have been working on the problem over the weekend and have managed to sync my gmail and outlook.com accounts. The problem remains with my legacy POP accounts.

Any assistance would be welcomed. Regards, John
Julie Huynh 3,770 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-09-22T16:13:02.29+00:00
Dear @John Porter,

Thank you for your update.

Based on your latest findings, it sounds like the synchronization issue is now limited to your legacy POP email accounts.

As explained in What is the difference between POP and IMAP? | Microsoft Support, POP3 is an older email protocol that downloads messages to each device separately rather than keeping them synchronized across all devices.

Because of this, when using POP3, you may notice that:

An email appears on one device but not on another

A message marked as read on your phone still shows as unread on a PC

Sent items, folders, and other mailbox changes are not synchronized between devices

Emails may be stored locally on a specific device instead of being consistently available everywhere

If your goal is to keep Outlook mail synchronized across multiple computers and a mobile phone, you may want to check whether your email provider supports IMAP or Exchange and consider switching from POP3. These protocols are designed to keep email status, folders, and messages synchronized across all devices.

Please refer to the article above for more details.

Thank you for your kindness and understanding!
John Porter 0 Reputation points

2026-09-22T17:20:28.99+00:00

Unfortunately these legacy POP accounts were created in the 1990s with a Company called "Ireland on Line". Unfortunately this company no longer exists. since then administration was passed on to 2 other companies and finally to Blackight Ltd. I contacted this company told me that although they are keeping these accounts alive at no cost, they are no longer supported. Therefore they told me that they cannot be changed from POP to IMAP accounts. As I still receive probably 30 or 40 emails a day, on these accounts, it looks as if I will be unable to synchronize them on my 3 computers and my telephone, unless you can suggest an alternative. Kind regards,
Julie Huynh 3,770 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-09-23T16:52:30.7033333+00:00
Dear @John Porter,

I appreciate you taking the time to investigate this with your email provider and to share the background of these legacy accounts.

Based on what you've described, the limitation appears to be related to the type of account itself rather than Outlook. Since these mailboxes are only available as POP accounts and the current provider has confirmed that they cannot be converted to IMAP, there is unfortunately no setting within Outlook that can enable full synchronization across multiple computers and mobile devices.

As POP was designed to download messages separately to each device, true multi-device synchronization would need to be supported by the email provider.

As a possible workaround, you may wish to consider:

Asking your regular contacts to send future emails to an email account that supports IMAP or Exchange (such as Outlook.com or another modern email service).

Creating a forwarding rule, if available, so that messages received by the legacy POP account are automatically forwarded to a modern account that can synchronize across all of your devices.

I hope this helps clarify the situation.

Thank you for your patience and effort.