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.
The first thing you do is create a new hotmail email account in Mac Mail by clicking on the plus sign.
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.
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.
First you create a garbage account. You will change this to the Hotmail account later after you have set-up IMAP.
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.
Rather than letting you set-up the port and security manually, mail does it for you. Refill your coffee.
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.
A verification screen will be displayed. Do not take the account online yet (it is not a Hotmail address yet!). Click create.
Click on the Hotmail IMAP account to edit the settings.
Now we are ready to change the email address to the actual hotmail.com, outlook.com or live.com address.
Close the dialog box and choose “Save” when prompted.
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.
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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