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Setup Outlook to access Hotmail account via IMAP

By 35 Comments

Today I will show you how to setup 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

  1. Open Outlook and…
    1. For a new, never before setup Outlook 2007/2010/2013:
      1. The Microsoft Outlook 20xx Startup screen should now be open
      2. Click Next > then select Yes to the Would you like to configure an E-mail account? option, then click Next > again
    2. For a previously setup Outlook 2007 (ie. you are adding an email account in addition to an existing one):
      1. Click the Tools menu, then click Account Settings
      2. Now select the E-mail tab and click the New… button
      3. You should now see the Choose E-mail Service screen
      4. Select the Microsoft Exchange, POP3, IMAP, or HTTP option and click Next >
    3. For a previously setup Outlook 2010 or 2013 (ie. you are adding an email account in addition to an existing one):
      1. Click the File tab, then click the Info menu item (left pane) then click the + Add Account button
  2. The Auto Account Setup screen should now be in-view
  3. Select the Manually configure server settings or additional server types option and click Next >
    1. For Outlook 2013, select the POP or IMAP option on the Choose service screen, then click Next >
    2. For Outlook 2007 and 2010, leave the Internet E-mail option selected and click Next >
  4. Enter your details into the Internet E-mail Settings screen as follows:
    1. Your Name: [enter your name]
    2. Your E-mail: [enter your email address]
    3. For Account Type: option, choose IMAP
    4. For Incoming mail server: field, type imap-mail.outlook.com
    5. For Outgoing mail server: field, type smtp-mail.outlook.com
    6. User Name: [enter your full email address ie. yourname@hotmail.com]
    7. Password: [enter your email password] & leave the Remember password box checked
    8. Leave Require logon using Secure Password Authentication (SPA) box un-checked (important!)
    9. Leave Test account settings by clicking the Next button box checked (recommended)
  5. Click the More Settings… button, then select the Outgoing Server tab
  6. Check the My outgoing server (SMTP) requires authentication box
  7. Select the Use same settings as my incoming mail server option
  8. Select the Advanced tab, then enter port details as follows:
    1. Incoming server (IMAP): 993
    2. Use the following type of encrypted connection: SSL
    3. Outgoing server (SMTP): 587
    4. Use the following type of encrypted connection: TLS
    5. Server Timeouts: 5 minutes
    6. Leave other settings at defaults unless you require otherwise
    7. Click OK to close the More Settings… window, then click Next > on the Internet E-mail Settings screen
  9. Outlook will now attempt to logon to the incoming server, then send a test message to the outgoing server
  10. If Outlook is successful at both, you will see 2 green ticks, click the Close button on the Test Account Settings popup
  11. You should now see the Congratulations! screen, click Finish and you’re all done
  12. If Outlook was unsuccessful (1 or 2 red cross) double-check your settings and if needed, go through this guide again

Comments

  3. Your 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

    Reply

  6. Thank 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.

    Reply

  7. Genious. 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

    Reply

  9. Hi

    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!!

    Reply

  10. Hi 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.

    Reply

  11. Amazing 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

    Reply

  17. Nice 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.

    Reply

    • Hi 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

      Reply

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