Today I will show you how to set up Microsoft Outlook 2007-2010-2013 to access your Hotmail or Outlook.com account via IMAP so you can keep local copies of all your emails and access your email from any connected device. It’s a pretty straight-forward process too and all you’ll need is your Hotmail email address, password, a pen and paper.
You may also need to visit my guide about "550 5.3.4 Requested action not taken; We noticed some unusual activity in your Hotmail account. To help protect you, we’ve temporarily blocked your account" error message if you are having trouble setting up an email app like Outlook to access your Hotmail account.
Watch the video above or follow the text guide below.
Setup Outlook to access Hotmail via IMAP
- Open Outlook and…
- For a new, never before setup Outlook 2007/2010/2013:
- The Microsoft Outlook 20xx Startup screen should now be open
- Click Next > then select Yes to the Would you like to configure an E-mail account? option, then click Next > again
- For a previously setup Outlook 2007 (ie. you are adding an email account as well as an existing one):
- Click the Tools menu, then click Account Settings
- Now select the E-mail tab and click the New… button
- You should now see the Choose E-mail Service screen
- Select the Microsoft Exchange, POP3, IMAP, or HTTP option and click Next >
- For a previously setup Outlook 2010 or 2013 (ie. you are adding an email account as well as an existing one):
- Click the File tab, then click the Info menu item (left pane) then click the + Add Account button
- For a new, never before setup Outlook 2007/2010/2013:
- The Auto Account Setup screen should now be in-view
- Select the Manually configure server settings or extra server types option and click Next >
- For Outlook 2013, select the POP or IMAP option on the Choose service screen, then click Next >
- For Outlook 2007 and 2010, leave the Internet E-mail option selected and click Next >
- Enter your details into the Internet E-mail Settings screen as follows:
- Your Name: [enter your name]
- Your E-mail: [enter your email address]
- For Account Type: option, choose IMAP
- For Incoming mail server: field, type imap-mail.outlook.com
- For Outgoing mail server: field, type smtp-mail.outlook.com
- User Name: [enter your full email address ie. yourname@hotmail.com]
- Password: [enter your email password] & leave the Remember password box checked
- Leave Require logon using Secure Password Authentication (SPA) box un-checked (important!)
- Leave Test account settings by clicking the Next button box checked (recommended)
- Click the More Settings… button, then select the Outgoing Server tab
- Check the My outgoing server (SMTP) requires authentication box
- Select the Use same settings as my incoming mail server option
- Select the Advanced tab, then enter port details as follows:
- Incoming server (IMAP): 993
- Use the following type of encrypted connection: SSL
- Outgoing server (SMTP): 587
- Use the following type of encrypted connection: TLS
- Server timeout: 5 minutes
- Leave other settings at defaults unless you require otherwise
- Click OK to close the More Settings… window, then click Next > on the Internet E-mail Settings screen
- Outlook will now attempt to logon to the incoming server, then send a test message to the outgoing server
- If Outlook is successful at both, you will see 2 green ticks, click the Close button on the Test Account Settings popup
- You should now see the Congratulations! screen, click Finish and you’re all done
- If Outlook was unsuccessful (1 or 2 red cross) double-check your settings and if needed, go through this guide again
Ronny says
May 19, 2017 at 9:38 amFinally! A guide that actually works. Thank you very much for that!
George says
April 14, 2017 at 6:08 amExcellent primer! Thank you!
Shafi says
February 1, 2017 at 5:42 amYour well-built guide helped me a lot! I tried several methods to setup Hotmail in outlook; however failed to do so,
Finally, coming across this page I managed to resolve it.
Many Thanks
Richie says
February 2, 2017 at 10:42 amCheers Shafi, glad it helped 🙂
Shivkant Singhal says
November 21, 2016 at 7:28 pmAfter lot of if and buts, finally this page gave me solution which I could applied in few minutes. Thanks
Richie says
November 30, 2016 at 7:04 pmGlad it helped Shivkant 🙂
Ernest Brant says
November 12, 2016 at 6:49 pmPerfect, Thanks very much for posting 🙂
Richie says
November 14, 2016 at 10:17 pmno worries Ernest, cheers, Richie
Dan H. says
October 28, 2016 at 3:27 amThank you for your “Setup Outlook to access Hotmail via IMAP” document. Perfectly accurate, and it brought an end to months of suffering with pop-ups for one of my clients.
Richie Brereton says
October 28, 2016 at 11:22 amthanks for the feedback Dan, cheers mate, Richie
Adam Payseno says
September 2, 2016 at 7:21 pmGenious. You just ended a 3 hour quest of mine searching the web to figure this out. This is the only thing that worked. Much appreciated
Richie Brereton says
September 3, 2016 at 2:08 pmNo problems Adam, glad I could help 🙂 cheers, Richie
John Orr says
December 27, 2015 at 11:19 amThank you best tutorial I have found, and its working finally
Richie Brereton says
January 4, 2016 at 6:23 pmThanks John, cheers! Richie
Claudia Tanner says
October 8, 2015 at 5:12 amHi
I’ve got Mac Outlook 2011 and it looks very different to the ones you’ve got in your video. Setting hotmail up as POP doesn’t download any of my subfolders. So I try for the ‘Exchange’ option and the auto search for the server address doesn’t work. Manually I’ve tried different addresses (such as the ones in your vid) but had no luck. There’s no ingoing and outgoing addresses, just one server address.Any ideas please, this is driving me nuts!!
Richie Brereton says
October 8, 2015 at 12:23 pmHi Claudia, yes setting up Outlook on a MAC is a little different, see this guide: https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Add-an-email-account-to-Outlook-for-Mac-2011-fdd33fab-b745-4762-a1c6-70ddba452983 and let me know how you go.
Cheers
Richie
kesausin says
August 25, 2015 at 2:23 pmHi there,
I am using outlook 2007. I am having issues with sent folder. Outlook 2007 is able to sync only up to year 2012, My emails go up to year 2007. I am not having issues with inbox and other folders.
Richie Brereton says
August 25, 2015 at 2:57 pmHowdy, you can force Outlook to download all folders and messages, see this guide: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/microsoft-office/force-outlook-2007-to-download-complete-imap-items/ and let me know if that solves the issue mate. Cheers! Richie
Samarjeet says
July 1, 2015 at 12:03 amAmazing work Richie Brereton , keep it up, after 2 hours of try as per Microsoft support page, I googled and came here and it worked in minutes. Great Job
Richie Brereton says
July 1, 2015 at 12:16 pmThanks mate, I appreciate you feedback. cheers, Richie
Dan says
July 28, 2015 at 9:50 amI got it working, but I cannot seem to get all my hotmail folders synced. I see them all, but no email are in any of them. They are empty. How do I get all my email in them?
Richie Brereton says
July 28, 2015 at 11:13 pmHowdy Dan, have you tried the Hotmail Connector app? see this: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2735989 and see if it works. Let me know how you go mate.
Cheers!
Richie
Sandy says
June 7, 2015 at 10:44 pmafter HOURS trying to get my email to work…. You saved the day! Thanks….
Richie Brereton says
June 7, 2015 at 10:52 pmNo worries Sandy, glad it helped 🙂 cheers! Richie
Brown says
March 11, 2015 at 10:44 pmHie Thanks it helped, i was getting worried. easy steps to follow.
Richie Brereton says
March 12, 2015 at 10:19 amglad it helped. cheers mate, Richie
Ed Moore says
December 15, 2014 at 12:06 amRichie,
Thank you very much for this guide. This was very helpful!
Ed
Richie Brereton says
December 15, 2014 at 2:56 pmNo worries Ed, glad it helped. cheers! Richie
duydangle says
November 10, 2014 at 2:34 pmThanks for your detailed guide. Thanks!
Richie Brereton says
November 13, 2014 at 7:07 pmno probs, glad it helped. cheers! Richie
Michelle Moore says
September 2, 2014 at 11:35 amCan I do this with an existing account without losing the messages currently stored?
ComputerTech says
September 2, 2014 at 5:09 pmHi Michelle, if you don’t delete the existing account your emails should stay there and will be available via the folder on the right-side pane (be sure to click on the little arrows). You can then move your emails into the new folders. Cheers! Richie
Michelle Moore says
September 2, 2014 at 11:19 pmThank you!
Nicholas Marks says
August 17, 2014 at 9:09 pmNice job. If you set up Outlook to connect to your Hotmail account using POP3 it leaves you unable to access any subfolders you may have, whereas using IMAP you can.
ComputerTech says
August 17, 2014 at 9:24 pmHi Nicholas, yep IMAP is far better that POP3. Another good aspect is that you can sync folders/emails in your IMAP account with different devices like your phone and laptop. cheers, Richie