By John Dixson
Do you use multiple computers regularly for email with Microsoft Outlook? If you do, you may have found yourself requiring information from an email message downloaded to Outlook on another computer that you didn't receive on the computer on which you are working.
One obvious way to retrieve this information is to simply forward the message to your other computers (with unique email addresses) so each has a copy of the message. Obviously, this can become a tedious process after some time and require you to break away from your workstation to perform this task.
This article will explain how you can configure Outlook so that your email messages are all downloaded simultaneously onto each computer you're using. In order for the following tip to work keeping your incoming messages balanced among all computers, you should ensure that each computer is on and connected to the Internet with the Outlook application open.
Configuring when to check for email
To configure Outlook to download your messages to each PC, it's first necessary to ensure that Outlook is configured to check for new mail on the server frequently. It is really up to you to determine this interval, but I recommend having each computer's copy of Outlook configured to check for email on the email server every 1 minute.
This is a simple, brief, behind-the-scenes operation that occurs while you are working and, if you work frequently on a computer throughout the day, you are instantly notified of important new email messages as they arrive.
To configure the time frequency that Outlook checks for email on your email server, select Options from the Tools menu. On the Mail Setup tab, check the checkbox for Send Immediately When Connected. Next, select the Send/Receive button.
On the Send/Receive Groups properties page, under Setting for Group "All Accounts," check the box labeled Schedule An Automatic Send/Receive Every and use the arrow buttons to set this value to 1 minute.
This value can be higher as preferred, but keep it less than an hour and ensure that each copy of Outlook is configured with the same value for consistency across computers. Keeping it at a low frequency prevents message congestion on the email server and ensures you get your messages and that you do not exceed your email server's storage capacity set for your email account.
Once you have finished configuring the Outlook email check frequency, select the Close button on the Send/Receive Groups properties page, and then select Okay on the Options properties page to exit out of the configuration.
