Hotmail and Outlook: Making the Connection

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Windows Live Hotmail email is a web-based mail service from Microsoft that uses the HTTP protocol instead of POP3 like most other online mail services. This gives it some real advantages when it comes to working with Outlook.

With an HTTP connection, Outlook and Hotmail can share information. In practical terms, this means that the way you organize your mail in Hotmail folders automatically gets duplicated in Outlook. It also means that any changes you make to these folders and the messages in them automatically get synchronized when Outlook next connects. And it goes the other way too. When you make changes to your Hotmail folders in Outlook, or do something with a Hotmail message in Outlook, those changes get sent over to

For example, if you create a new Hotmail folder on the server (using the normal Hotmail web interface), that new folder will appear in Outlook the next time Outlook connects to the Hotmail server. Similarly, if you do something to a Hotmail folder or a message in a Hotmail folder using Outlook, that change gets synchronized to the Hotmail server the next time Outlook connects.

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by Bill Mann

As someone who uses both Outlook 2010 and Hotmail, you may have heard of something called the Outlook Hotmail Connector. It is an add-in program that creates a simple and effective Hotmail Outlook 2010 connection. Would you like to learn more? Then keep reading.

Making this kind of connection makes lots of sense. If you can get your Hotmail stuff to appear in Outlook, you save yourself the hassle of checking some of your mail in one place (Outlook) and the rest in another (your Hotmail web page). Besides, Hotmail and Outlook are both Microsoft products, so they should work together well, right?

That's what the Outlook Hotmail Connector is all about. This Outlook add-in replaces the previous methods of connecting the two with a powerful synchronized interface. With the connector installed, you get all sorts of super powers. It can:

• Send and receive Hotmail messages


• Manage your Hotmail contacts


• Block junk mail that would otherwise find its way over to Outlook


• Ensure that both Hotmail and Outlook are using the same safe and blocked lists


• Manage your Windows Live Calendar from within Outlook


• Apply Outlook's mail handling rules to your Hotmail account


• Monitor your Hotmail status

How to Make the Connection with the Outlook Hotmail Connector

Getting the Outlook Hotmail Connector installed and running isn't. But before you can start, you have to figure out which version of the connector to use.

Microsoft has released two: one for the 32-bit version of Outlook 2010, and one for the 64-bit version. You need to figure out which version of Outlook 2010 (32-bit or 64-bit) you are running so you know which version of the connector you need.

Unsure whether you are running the 32-bit or the 64-bit version of Outlook 2010? Here's how you find out.

In Outlook, click the File tab on the ribbon. On the file page that appears, click Help. The right-hand pane of the Help page that appears contains detailed information about your copy of Outlook. This includes a version number. At the end of the version number the page tells whether Outlook is the 32-bit version or the 64-bit version.

With that out of the way, you are ready to start installing the Outlook Hotmail Connector. But Microsoft is continuing to update the connector, and the instructions for downloading and installing the latest version may change.

Your best bet is to go online and find detailed instructions, ideally with screen shots for important steps, that will walk you through the process for the most current version of the Outlook Hotmail Connector.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5095511

Here are the steps to follow if you need to get a new Hotmail account:

1. Go to the Microsoft Online Services sign up page (opens a new window)


2. click Windows Live Hotmail Plus in the E-Mail section of the window.


3. Review the plan features, then click Get it now and follow the instructions that appear.


4. When done signing up, close that window.

Your account is ready to use. Skip ahead to Hotmail Outlook Setup.

Here are the steps to follow if you are going to upgrade an existing Hotmail account:

1. Log in to Hotmail on the Web.


2. At the top of any Hotmail page, click Options to open the Options page.


3. On the left side of the Options page, click Upgrade to open the Upgrade Options page


4. On the Upgrade Options page, click Windows Live Upgrade Opportunities.


5. Review the possible plans. You need at lest the Hotmail Plus plan to connect to Outlook.


6. click the Get it now button for the plan you want, and follow the instructions that appear.

Hotmail Outlook Setup
The exact steps to follow will vary slightly depending on whether you are using Outlook 2007 or Outlook 2010. And of course they can change whenever Microsoft releases a new connector.

So if you use Outlook 2010 I suggest you visit THIS PAGE for up-to-date instructions.

If you use Outlook 2007 I suggest you visit THIS PAGE for the instructions you need.