How to use Outlook email on Linux

Microsoft has yet to release a native Linux client for its Outlook email service. As a result, if you’re a Linux fan and need access to Outlook, you must use a third-party application like Prospect Mail. Here’s how to use it to access Outlook email on Linux.

Install Prospect Mail on Linux

Prospect Mail is distributed primarily on GitHub via source code. However, it is also possible to download installable binary packages for Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, OpenSUSE, or via AppImage or Snap package. In this section of the guide, we’ll go over how to get the Prospect Mail program up and running on your Linux PC.

To start the installation process, open up a terminal window by pressing Ctrl + Alt + T or Ctrl + Shift + T on the keyboard. Then, once the terminal window is open, follow the installation instructions below that correspond with the Linux distribution you use.

Ubuntu

There’s a DEB package of Prospect Mail that Ubuntu Linux users can easily download and install using the following wget command.

wget https://archive.org/download/prospect-mail/prospect-mail_0.1.2_amd64.deb

Let the wget application download the Prospect Mail DEB package to your Linux PC. Once the downloading process is finished, you can use the dpkg command to install the Prospect Mail application on your Ubuntu Linux computer.

sudo dpkg -i prospect-mail_0.1.2_amd64.deb

See any errors in the terminal prompt after installing the Prospect Mail package? They’re most likely dependency issues. To resolve them, follow this guide here.

Debian

To install the Prospect Mail application on Debian, you must download the DEB package to your PC. To do this, open up a terminal window. From there, use the wget downloader app to grab the DEB package.

wget https://archive.org/download/prospect-mail/prospect-mail_0.1.2_amd64.deb

Once the Prospect Mail DEB package is done downloading to your Debian Linux PC, you’ll be able to install the software with the following dpkg command.

sudo dpkg -i sudo dpkg -i prospect-mail_0.1.2_amd64.deb

After the installation of Prospect Mail, you may notice some errors in the terminal prompt. To correct them, follow our guide on how to resolve Debian dependency errors.

Fedora

There’s an RPM package file of Prospect Mail available, so if you’re using Fedora Linux, it’ll be easy to install. To get your hands on the RPM package, use the wget downloader command below.

wget https://archive.org/download/prospect-mail/prospect-mail-0.1.2.x86_64.rpm

Following the download of the Prospect Mail RPM package file on your Linux PC, use the Dnf package manager command below to install the software.

sudo dnf install prospect-mail-0.1.2.x86_64.rpm

OpenSUSE

Using OpenSUSE Linux and looking to get Prospect Mail installed? If so, you’ll need to download the RPM version. To get it, use the wget download command below in a terminal window.

wget https://archive.org/download/prospect-mail/prospect-mail-0.1.2.x86_64.rpm

After you’ve downloaded the RPM package to your OpenSUSE Linux PC, install it with the Zypper package manager.

sudo zypper install prospect-mail-0.1.2.x86_64.rpm

AppImage

There’s an AppImage of Prospect Mail for those not able to use DEB or RPM package files. To use the AppImage, start by downloading it with the wget command below.

wget https://archive.org/download/prospect-mail/Prospect%20Mail-0.1.2.AppImage

Once the AppImage file is done downloading, create a new folder called “AppImages” in your home directory with the mkdir command.

mkdir -p ~/AppImages/

Move the Prospect Mail AppImage file into the new folder using the mv command.

mv 'Prospect Mail-0.1.2.AppImage' ~/AppImages/

Move the terminal window into the “AppImages” directory with the CD command.

cd ~/AppImages/

Update the permissions of the AppImage file with chmod.

chmod +x 'Prospect Mail-0.1.2.AppImage'

You can then run the app with:

./'Prospect Mail-0.1.2.AppImage'

Or, open up the Linux file manager, click on the “AppImages” folder, and double-click on Prospect Mail-0.1.2.AppImage.

Snap package

Prospect Mail is available on the Snap Store as a Snap package, so if you’re using a Linux distribution that supports Snaps, use the command below to get it working.

Note: you must have Snap support enabled on your Linux PC to use Prospect Mail. For more information, click here.

sudo snap install prospect-mail

Accessing Outlook

To access your Outlook email account on Linux, start by launching the Prospect Mail app on the desktop. Then, with the app open, you will see a login screen. This screen says, “Sign in to continue to Outlook.” Enter your email address and press the blue “Next” button at the bottom.

After clicking the “Next” button, write in your password, and log in. Upon signing in to the Outlook login page, your account should load, and you’ll be able to access your email.

Disclaimer

When using Prospect Mail, please keep in mind that you may run into bugs and hiccups while using this software, as it is still in active development. Be sure to report any problems at the issues page for help.