How to Access an AOL Email Account With POP3 or IMAP

Want to read your AOL email with something other than AOL?

by
Heinz Tschabitscher
Heinz Tschabitscher
Writer
A former freelance contributor who has reviewed hundreds of email programs and services since 1997.
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Heinz Tschabitscher
Updated on March 11, 2021

What to Know

  • There are specific steps to take to access your AOL email in macOS Mail, Thunderbird, Outlook, and Windows Mail.
  • IMAP settings to access AOL Mail: The server is imap.aol.com and the IMAP port is 993. Outgoing mail is smtp.aol.com and the port is 587.
  • POP3 settings to access AOL Mail: The server is pop.aol.com and the POP port is 995. Outgoing mail is smtp.aol.com and the port is 587.

This article explains how to access your AOL email via another service provider, such as Outlook, Windows Mail, Gmail, and many of the mail apps on your mobile devices.

Choose Your Email Program

The steps you need to take to set up your AOL email account differ from program to program. Here's how to:

If your program is not on the list above, enter the generic POP or IMAP AOL mail settings into the program you want to use to access your AOL email.

If you set up your AOL email account in any email client capable of IMAP, you can receive and send messages easily. Even the AOL folders, Spam, Saved, Sent Items, and Trash, appear there automatically. You can also use POP to fetch incoming mail.

Settings to Access AOL With Any IMAP Email Program

To access an AOL email account using IMAP, first confirm that your email client supports IMAP. If it does, create a new account and enter the following information in the relevant fields to configure the email client to access AOL email.

  • AOL Mail IMAP server: imap.aol.com
  • AOL Mail IMAP login: your AOL screen name
  • AOL Mail IMAP password: your AOL screen name password
  • AOL Mail IMAP port: 993
  • AOL Mail IMAP SSL required: yes

To set up outgoing mail through AOL servers, enter the following information in addition to your login screen name and AOL password:

  • AOL Mail SMTP server address: smtp.aol.com
  • AOL Mail Port using SSL/TLS: 587
  • AOL Mail TLS/SSL required: Yes

Settings to Access AOL With Any POP3 Email Program

If your email client doesn't support IMAP, you can enter a POP3 account with the following settings to read your email in a non-AOL account:

  • AOL Mail POP server: pop.aol.com
  • AOL Mail POP login: your AOL screen name
  • AOL Mail POP password: your AOL screen name password
  • AOL Mail POP port: 995
  • AOL Mail SSL required: yes

Set up outgoing AOL mail, too, by entering the same screen name, password, and server along with these settings:

  • AOL Mail outgoing mail server (SMTP): smtp.aol.com
  • AOL Mail Port using SSL/TLS: 587
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