How to Connect Microsoft Outlook to WordPress (Step-by-Step Guide)

Sending emails is a crucial part of running any WordPress site. Emails help you connect with your audience, drive traffic, and increase sales.

That‘s why it‘s important to use a reliable email service when sending WordPress emails. One great option is Microsoft Outlook.

In this detailed guide, we‘ll walk through the complete process of connecting Microsoft Outlook to your WordPress site.

With over 15 years of experience using WordPress, I‘ll explain each step clearly with screenshots to help you integrate Outlook into your website.

Why Use Microsoft Outlook for WordPress Emails?

Here are some of the key benefits of using Outlook with WordPress:

• Improved deliverability – Outlook uses proper SMTP authentication and security standards so your emails are more likely to reach subscriber inboxes rather than getting flagged as spam. This helps ensure your messages get delivered.

• Higher sending limits – Outlook allows you to send up to 10,000 emails per day. This is much higher than default WordPress which has a limit of just 500 emails per hour.

• Avoid issues with default WordPress mailing – The default WordPress mailing method using PHP can have problems with configuration on some hosts leading to bounced messages. Outlook avoids this.

• Leverage your existing Office 365 account – If you already pay for Microsoft Office 365, you can use the same account credentials to send emails avoiding an added monthly cost.

• Professional email branding and controls – Outlook lets you customize emails with your brand logo, color schemes, and more. You also get tracking and analytics.

According to SparkPost, over 15% of emails sent from domains without proper configuration get flagged as spam.

Using Outlook can help improve your inbox placement and email deliverability by up to 8%, ensuring more messages reach real users.

Video Tutorial

Here‘s a quick video walking through the steps:

How to Connect Outlook to WordPress (Step-by-Step)

We‘ll be using the WP Mail SMTP plugin to connect Outlook to WordPress.

Here are the steps:

Step 1: Install and Activate WP Mail SMTP

First, you need to install and activate the WP Mail SMTP plugin on your WordPress site.

You can manually upload the plugin ZIP file, or even easier, install it directly from the plugin repository within your WordPress admin dashboard.

To do this, log into your WordPress site and go to Plugins » Add New.

Next, search for "WP Mail SMTP", install it, and click Activate.

Upon activation, you‘ll see the WP Mail SMTP settings page available in your WordPress admin dashboard.

Step 2: Configure Outlook Settings

Within the WP Mail SMTP settings page, you first need to configure the Outlook connection details.

Under "Mailer" settings, choose "Outlook" from the dropdown menu as your mail delivery method.

This will reveal additional fields where you can enter your Outlook credentials:

• Client ID – This is the Application ID from your Azure app registration that we‘ll set up next.
• Client Secret – The password for your Azure app registration.
• Redirect URI – The redirect URL which will be provided by WP Mail SMTP.

We‘ll go over how to get these values in the next steps. For now, you can leave these fields blank.

Step 3: Create an Azure App Registration

To generate the Client ID, Client Secret, and Redirect URI needed by WP Mail SMTP, you need to create an app registration within the Microsoft Azure Portal.

First, go to the Microsoft Azure Portal and log into your account. If you don‘t already have an account, you can sign up for free.

Next, click on "App registrations" in the sidebar menu.

Then click the "+ New registration" button to create your app.

Give your app a name like "WP Mail App" and under Redirect URI, paste the URL that WP Mail SMTP provides.

Hit Create and your new app will be registered.

Copy the Application (client) ID value and paste it into the Client ID field back in the WP Mail SMTP settings.

Next, from your app in Azure, go to "Certificates & secrets" and click "+ New client secret".

Set an expiry time and description, then hit Add to generate a client secret password.

Copy this password and paste it into the Client Secret field in WP Mail SMTP.

Step 4: Add API Permissions

You also need to configure API permissions for your Azure app registration.

Go to API permissions within your app registration, and click "Add a permission".

Select Microsoft Graph and click on "Application permissions".

Next search for "Mail" and select both the "Mail.Send" and "Mail.Send.Shared" permissions before hitting Add permissions.

Do this one more time for Delegated permissions, and add "Mail.Send".

Step 5: Authorize the Plugin

Once you have added the API permissions, go back to the WP Mail SMTP settings and click "Save Changes".

Then under "Authorization", click the button to "Allow plugin to send emails using your Microsoft account and approve the permission request.

You can then send a test email through the plugin‘s email test tab to confirm everything is working properly.

The test email will be sent from your Outlook email, with the reply going to your inbox so you can validate the connection is successful.

And that‘s it! Microsoft Outlook is now connected to your WordPress site.

Next Steps After Connecting Outlook to WordPress

Now that you have Outlook integrated with your WordPress site, here are some next steps:

• Update your other plugins like contact form and email marketing tools to use the Outlook mailer and credentials. This ensures all emails are sent through Outlook.

• Take advantage of Outlook features like email tracking, templates, and branding to level up your email marketing.

• Review Outlook analytics to see your top engaging emails and subscribers. Use this to optimize your ongoing email performance.

• Set up Outlook rules and filters to organize incoming emails like comment notifications.

• Configure additional inboxes as shared mailboxes for your team to collaborate.

• Check out Microsoft docs for more ways to leverage Outlook.

Using Outlook for your WordPress site‘s emails helps improve deliverability, avoid issues common with default WordPress mailing methods, and provide professional email functionality.

Give it a try and let me know if you have any other questions!