Customize / change how often Windows Mail checks for new email messages

By default, Windows Mail will regularly check for new emails on the server; the number of minutes Windows Mail waits before checking for the next batch of new email messages is something you can configure. On the one hand, you want the automatic email check to be frequent enough so that you can reply to emails you receive in a timely manner, but on the other hand, every time Windows Mail notifies you of new email messages is an interruption of your concentration and workflow. You have to find the right balance between the two, and then customize the number of minutes you want before Windows Mail checks for new emails; as a side note, Windows Mail will automatically check for new emails when you open it.

Configure how often Windows Mail checks for new emails

Follow these steps to customize the number of minutes Windows Mail will wait between new email checks: (after it has started)

• Once inside Windows Mail, click on the Tools menu
• Choose "Options"
• Confirm that the General tab is selected (it is by default)
• Under the "Send / Receive Messages" section, the third checkbox reads a "Check for new messages every ... minutes"
• The current number of minutes Windows Mail will wait before checking for new emails is indicated in the text box (numerical field).
• Either type the number of minutes you want, or use the counter arrows to increment or decrement the duration to wait between new email checks.
• Once you have customized the number of minutes you want to wait, you are essentially done: but before applying the change, notice the dropdown menu right below: this menu determines what Windows Mail should do in case it tries to check for email's that does not see an active Internet connection.
• Both for security reasons, and for battery life concerns on a laptop, you may want to keep the default choice, which is "Do not connect". This means that Windows Mail will not attempt to set up an Internet connection to check for new emails.
• Click on the OK button to accept the new settings and return to Windows Mail.
• From now on, Windows Mail will wait the number of minutes you just configured before checking for new emails on the server; and again, the duration of time is calculated from the time you start Windows Mail.
  
  In other words, if you chose to make Windows Mail check for new emails every 30 minutes, the next check will happen half an hour after you started Windows Mail.

This is it! You can change this setting at any time by following the steps outlined above; note that you can always manually check for new emails, regardless of whether the number of minutes to wait before new mail checks has elapsed or not - you ultimately have full control!