When receiving messages in the inbox is it possible to be alerted without having to actually go into the inbox?

Hi Sajidah

Thank you for your question.

You can turn on a setting in Outlook which will bring up a notification at the bottom of your screen (even if you are working in another application) when a new message arrives.

If you go to Tools - Options and click Email Options on the Preferences tab. Under Message Handling, check the box for Display a notification message when new mail arrives; then click OK, and OK.

I hope this helps.
Amanda