How to Set up Outlook 2013 and Use it as the MailTo mail client in Windows 8 / 8.1?

If you have Outlook 2013 on your Window 8 or 8.1 machine, you can use it as a mail client. You do not have to have Exchange Server to use it. The Mail Server could be Yahoo Mail, Gmail Server, or other mail servers supporting POP3.

You can enter Outlook 2013 in the search box on your machine to see if you have Outlook 2013 installed on your PC.

The next step is to set up the Outlook account. You can use your existing email account with the corresponding mail server provider such as Yahoo Mail or GMail. The key part is to set the parameter values correctly. You may need to click Advanced Settings and several tabs to find these options. I used the Yahoo Mail server info and my Yahoo email account:

Incoming Mail (POP) Server

Requires SSL (Secure Socket Layer)
  • Server - pop.mail.yahoo.com
  • Port - 995
  • Requires SSL - Yes

Outgoing Mail (SMTP) Server

Requires TLS (Transport Layer Security)
  • Server - smtp.mail.yahoo.com
  • Port - 587
  • Requires SSL - Yes
  • Requires authentication - Yes
As long as it works, you can use Outlook 2013 via the Yahoo Mail server. You should see all of your yahoo mails in Outlook 2013 promptly.

Further more, you can use Outlook 2013as your default mailto option in IE or Chrome. 

Step 1: Search on Default Program in the Search box in Win 8/8.1, or find it in control panel under Programs
Step 2: Click "Associate a file type or protocol with a program"
Step 3: On the list of the first column (i.e., Extensions), find "MAILTO" near the bottom, then click Choose Program.
Step 4: Select a desirable email program such as Outlook, Live Mail, or Google Chrome at your discretion.

P. S. The setup in Windows 10 is similar.