Outlook finds wrong mail servers

You use another provider for your email, for example Microsoft 365 or Hosted Exchange, while your website is hosted with us? Then Outlook may pick up our mail servers instead of your provider’s during setup. The account cannot be set up, the password is rejected, or calendars and shared mailboxes are missing.

Why does this happen?

Outlook looks up the settings automatically. It asks your domain’s website first and only then your mail provider. If mail autodiscover is still switched on in the hosting control panel, your website answers with our mail servers and Outlook stops looking.

The order matters: If you switch off the mail service first, mail autodiscover stays on and the checkbox can no longer be changed. So please follow the steps exactly as described here.

Step 1: Open the hosting control panel

Step 2: Open the mail settings of the domain

Click «Mail» on the left, select the «Mail Settings» tab at the top and click your domain.

Step 3: Switch off mail autodiscover

If the mail service is already set to «Disabled for incoming mail», temporarily select «Enabled». Only then can the checkbox be changed. At the very bottom, clear the checkbox «Enable mail autodiscover» and click «Save».

Step 4: Switch off the mail service

Open the mail settings of your domain again. Under «Mail service on this domain» select «Disabled for incoming mail» and click «Save». Mail autodiscover stays switched off.

Caution: Do not select «Not configured» if there are still mailboxes with emails on our servers that you need. This permanently deletes all mailboxes of the domain. With «Disabled for incoming mail» your website, for example a contact form, can still send emails.

Step 5: Check the DNS records

All DNS records, such as MX, Autodiscover, SPF and any others, must be set exactly as your mail provider specifies. Here is how to change them yourself: Change DNS entries

If you would rather have us set the records, use the form Order DNS change (CHF 45 per change and domain) and upload your provider’s specification as a screenshot or PDF. If you get Microsoft 365 from us, we set the records free of charge: Exchange Online from FireStorm

Step 6: Set up Outlook again

The change takes effect within a few minutes. Then remove the account in Outlook and set it up again. Outlook partly remembers old settings, so sometimes only a new Outlook profile helps.