Understanding Outlook e-mail account options

Microsoft Office Outlook 2003

Show All Show All

Understanding Outlook e-mail account options

Microsoft Outlook supports a variety of e-mail server types and communicates with these servers in different ways.

A MAPI-based architecture is provided if you use Outlook with Microsoft Exchange Server or with a MAPI-based store, such as a Personal Folders file (.pst). In general, the Outlook object model and developer-related features were designed for this environment. MAPI uses profiles to configure how an e-mail message is transmitted and where it is stored. Exchange server also provides many of the collaborative capabilities in Outlook, such as the Organizational Forms Library and public folders.

If Outlook is configured with an Internet service provider (ISP), typically using the POP protocol, you can create many types of Outlook solutions. However, some of the topics in this documentation apply only when Outlook is used in conjunction with Microsoft Exchange Server, because that is the mode most commonly used to develop solutions based on Outlook.

Note  Developing custom forms with Outlook configured with only an HTTP-based server is not supported.