Proton Mail Bridge Microsoft Outlook 2016 for Windows setup guide

Proton Mail Bridge(new window) is an open-source application that allows you to fully integrate your Proton Mail account with any program that supports IMAP and SMTP. This includes Microsoft Outlook, Mozilla Thunderbird, and Apple Mail.

It runs in the background on your computer and seamlessly encrypts and decrypts your mail as it enters and leaves your computer.

Before you configure Outlook to use Proton Mail, you must first sign up for a Proton Mail account(new window) and download and install Proton Mail Bridge on your computer.

Once you’ve installed and added your account(s) to Proton Mail Bridge, you will need to configure your email client. Proton Mail Bridge works with most email clients and applications that support IMAP / SMTP connections.

In this guide, we provide step-by-step instructions for configuring Outlook 2016 for use with Proton Mail Bridge.

How to set up Outlook 2016 for Proton Mail Bridge

1. Open Outlook and go to the File tab → Account Information → Add account.

2. Enter your email address, select Advanced options and check Let me set up my account manually.

3. Select IMAP.

4. Enter the account details given in the Proton Mail Bridge app(new window), then click Connect.

5. You will be asked to enter your Proton Mail Bridge password twice (for IMAP and SMTP).

Note: Do not use your regular Proton Mail account details. You must use the account details provided in Proton Mail Bridge under Mailbox details. 

6. You may see a security warning. If you do, click Yes.

7. Go to File → Account Settings →  Account Settings…

8. Select your Proton Mail account and click Change…

9. Go to More Settings…

10. Go to the Advanced tab. Under Sent Items, check Do not save copies of sent items, and under Deleted Items, check Purge items when switching folders while online. Click OK.

Setup is now complete and Outlook 2016 is ready to use Proton Mail Bridge.

Notes

1. In split addresses mode every IMAP account that you set up with Proton Mail Bridge is address-specific and will only be able to send and receive emails from the address it is set up with.

You can add any number of addresses to Outlook, but wait for one address to download before adding another.

2. Newer versions of Outlook for Windows support adding aliases in combined address mode. If your version of Outlook supports this, start writing a new message., then go to Options → ⋮ → Show Fields → From → Other Email Address and enter your address. Click Okay when you’re done.

If this feature isn’t supported, you’ll need to enable Split address mode.

Learn more about combined addresses mode and split addresses mode

To do this, open the Bridge app and toggle the Split addresses button on.