Set up Gmail in Windows 11 Outlook or Thunderbird

Although Gmail can be managed without problems from any web browser, it can be very useful for receiving and sending emails using an email client, which will immediately notify us of the receipt of new emails and allow us to respond without having to open the browser every time (which may be subject to limitations, especially on company computers).

Let’s see then how to configure receiving and sending emails with Gmail on Windows 11 Outlook and Thunderbird; in addition to the applications, we will show you how to obtain the manual configuration parameters, which are essential for configuring a personalized or corporate client with conditional access.

READ ALSO: Add Google Calendar to Outlook and sync calendars

Set up Gmail on the new Outlook Windows 11

The simplest and most accessible method for configuring Gmail on your computer involves using the new one Outlookwhich replaced the Mail app on Windows 11 and is available for free.

To use it, open the Start menu at the bottom left, search for the app Outlook and let’s open it; Once the app is open, click on the gear icon at the top right to take you to the menu Account and we press on Add account.

In the window that appears, click on the item Google and enter the login credentials for our Gmail account. Immediately after entering the credentials, our email account will be synchronized and we will have access to our emails directly from the app.

If we encounter problems with log in to our account with the Windows 11 Outlook appwe recommend that you read the suggestions collected in the chapter dedicated to problems, where we will show you how to activate IMAP, how to activate two-factor authentication and generate a specific password for the app.

2) Configure Gmail on Mozilla Thunderbird

Another widely used program for reading and sending mail from the computer is Mozilla Thunderbirdavailable free of charge for Windows and Mac. After installing the program on our computer, open it directly from the Start menu, looking for it among the various software available, then click on the icon with the three lines at the top right, then go to Options -> Account settings. In the window that opens, click on the bottom left Account Actions -> Add email accountthen enter the login credentials for the Gmail account we intend to add.

Thunderbird will automatically recover the access parameters and allow you to manage the account’s e-mail without having to open the web page every time. The advice shown in the dedicated chapter also applies in this case: in case of problems adding the account, make sure that IMAP is active and we set secure access with two-factor authentication and the specific password for Thunderbird.

3) Set up Gmail on Outlook (Microsoft 365)

If we have Microsoft Office installed on our system we will also have Microsoft Outlook, completely different from the free app present on Windows 11.

After opening Outlook for the first time, enter the email address for Gmail and the password when requested, so as to immediately gain access to the email inbox (the parameters will be configured automatically). If an account is already configured and we want to add another one, click on at the top left Filethen on the button Add account.

We enter the email address for Gmail, click Connect and enter the access password for the same account. The account will be automatically added to our Outlook and we will be able to manage incoming and outgoing mail directly from the program, without having to open the web page every time.

4) Manual Gmail configuration

If we have any other email client (even a corporate one) and we look for the parameters for manually set up access to Gmailwe recommend using the ones listed below:

IMAP (Inbox)

• Server: imap.gmail.com
• Requires SSL: Yes
• Porta: 993
• Account name: full Gmail address
• Password: the same as Gmail

SMTP (Outgoing Mail)

• Server: smtp.gmail.com
• Requires SSL: Yes
• Requires TLS: Yes (if available)
• Requires authentication: Yes
• Porta per SSL: 465
• Port per TLS/STARTTLS: 587
• Account name: full Gmail address
• Password: the same as Gmail

By entering these parameters into the email account setup screen, we will be able to access our Gmail account from any program or app that requires manual configuration.

5) What to do in case of problems

If we notice problems logging in to Gmail with any of the methods seen above, we recommend that you follow the following tips to be able to unlock Gmail in all its features:

• Let’s make sure IMAP is turned on: if this feature is not active on our Gmail account, we will not be able to access the inbox.
• Let’s make sure two-factor authentication is turned on: this will prevent further confirmation requests and repeated password requests when accessing Gmail from Outlook, as well as significantly increasing the security level of the account.
• We generate a specific password for Outlook: Gmail allows you to generate specific passwords for apps and programs, which will be able to use it for access but without giving up complete control of the account (dangerous). When you log in, we use your specific password instead of the password you normally use for Google or Gmail.

By following all the procedures described above you will be able to control your Gmail account without problems, whatever app you choose to manage.

Conclusions

Gmail is the most used email service in the world also thanks to the ease with which we can read and send mail via web browser, but we must not forget the possibility of using Gmail on classic email clients, very useful in the case of business PCs or of multi-user computers.

If we are looking for other guides that talk about Gmail, we recommend that you read the articles we have created on the topic, such as Read Gmail mail offline and without internet connection and how Save GMail attachments in Google Drive and offline access to files.

We remind you that in another article we have seen together with the step by step guide send and receive Outlook.com and Yahoo Mail emails with Outlook or other email programs.

If, however, we are looking for a way to view Gmail notifications on the desktop, we can read our guide notification of new Emails in Gmail on desktop, best tools.