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Posted by on May 26, 2018

Microsoft finally implemented IMAP interface on a Hotmail (outlook.com, live.com, live.ca, etc.). Finally, they have caught up to the 21st
century and implemented a mail system which is designed for a world where people have multiple devices.  They steadfastly refuse to implement CALDAV or CARDDAV, so no hope of syncing calenders or contacts though, even though, as a recent survey for Help-My-Tech.ca (a Lower Mainland on-site tech support company) showed, 58% of respondents called accessing their email and contacts from anywhere absolutely critical (30% said they “cannot live without it”).

If you have a Mac, you know that that settings up hotmail accounts is simple, easy and automatic, right? Well… not so fast.

Create new mac mail account

Click the “+” to create a new account

The first thing you do is create a new hotmail email account in Mac Mail by clicking on the plus sign.

Add Hotmail Account

Trying to add a Hotmail account normally

The normal method would be to simply enter the Hotmail address (or outlook.com, etc.) and expect that the Mac will capture the settings for you. Apple thinks that Hotmail does not support IMAP so it sets the POP settings for you.

Mac Hotmail Account Settings Fail

Mail sets the POP settings – FAIL!To set the IMAP settings for Hotmail on the Mac, you must first make it think you are setting up a different kind of account that it doesn’t know the settings for.

Add Garbage Account that you can change to Hotmail IMAP later

Create an account that doesn’t exist on a domain that doesn’t exist.

First you create a garbage account. You will change this to the Hotmail account later after you have set-up IMAP.

Set the Hotmail IMAP servers

Set-up the account as IMAP and enter the Hotmail IMAP servers.

Now we manually create it as IMAP with the server name as imap-mail.outlook.com and a user name of the full hotmail.com, outlook.com or live.com address. I am not sure if this will work for a live.ca or other address.

Checking outlook.com connection

Wait while Mail checks for the best available port and security

Rather than letting you set-up the port and security manually, mail does it for you. Refill your coffee.

Hotmail Outgoing Mail

Set the outgoing outlook.com server

The outgoing (SMTP) server for your Hotmail account must be smtp-mail.outlook.com to allow mail to be sent and validated as coming from a real Hotmail account. Using this port ensures that mail you send from your Mac (or PC) will end up in the “Sent” folder on all connected devices. Make sure that the check-box “Use only this server” is checked.

Do not take the account online

Verification screen. Do not take this account online yet.

A verification screen will be displayed. Do not take the account online yet (it is not a Hotmail address yet!). Click create.

Edit the Account

Click the hotmail account to edit it.

Click on the Hotmail IMAP account to edit the settings.

Set you Hotmail address

Change the email address to your actual Hotmail address

Now we are ready to change the email address to the actual hotmail.com, outlook.com or live.com address.

Close and Save

Close and save the settings.

Close the dialog box and choose “Save” when prompted.

Take Hotmail IMAP online

Take the account online.

From the Mail menu, select Mailbox -> Take All Accounts Online then wait a minute or more depending on the number of folders you have in your hotmail account.

Hotmail IMAP folders on apple osx mail

Mail showing Hotmail with all folders in sync.

Finally! All Hotmail folders , read status, flags, etc. are in sync between your iPhone, iPad, Mac, PC, Android Tablet and the web.

 

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