Configuring an Outlook.com account in Outlook

All outlook.com accounts are now on the Office 365 servers and should be configured as an Exchange account in Outlook 2007 and newer. IMAP and POP3 are supported if you need email-only.

Sync calendar and contacts using Outlook.com | Articles on the new Outlook.com.

Note: Microsoft discontinued HTTP (WebDAV) support for Hotmail accounts. For more information, see MSN (and Hotmail) Access Denied? Exchange ActiveSync was turned off in Feb. 2017.

You can configure your Outlook.com (or Hotmail/Live) account as POP3, IMAP, or using Exchange Services. Note: You need to use Outlook 2007 and newer with all updates installed to connect using Exchange services once your account is moved to the new servers.

If Auto Account Setup doesn't work for an outlook.com email address, you'll need to configure the account manually using POP3 or IMAP and SMTP. Exchange services cannot be configured manually - you need to use Auto Account Setup.

If you enabled two-factor authentication on the Outlook.com account, you'll need to generate an app password to use with the account in Outlook.

Exchange Account with Outlook.com

To set up an Outlook.com account using Exchange services, use Auto Account Setup. Enter your email address and password and Outlook will find the account information.

If you use Outlook 2007 or Outlook 2010, you need to have all updates (as of 2015) installed to connect to Outlook.com using Exchange.

Outlook 2003 users will need to use IMAP or POP3 to connect to the new Outlook.com server, and will lose Calendar and Contact sync. Windows Live Mail users will also need to use POP3 or IMAP and will lose calendar & contact sync. (If you need calendar and contact sync, take a look at eM client. If you only have one or two accounts, it's free.)

Outlook Connector

The Outlook Connector is no longer supported.

If you still have the Outlook connector account in your profile, you will add the Outlook.com account to your profile using Auto Account Setup then remove the Outlook Connector account from your profile and uninstall the Connector. Before removing the account, it's recommended that you export calendar and contacts (as well as Tasks and Notes) to a pst, as any new items will not be synced up.

Outlook 2013/2016 EAS

Exchange ActiveSync is no longer supported for the desktop client.

EAS is now discontinued for Outlook desktop and all users will need to use Exchange services. Exchange gives a much better experience (multiple contact folders and contact groups).

EAS will continue to work on smartphones; however many smartphones now use EWS (Exchange web services) to access email.

Outlook.com IMAP Configuration

Outlook 2003 users will need to use IMAP with the new server. (Or upgrade to an newer version of Outlook.)

To set up an Outlook.com IMAP account in Outlook, you'll need to use the manual setup option. Server settings are below; don't forget to set the Outgoing Server tab (in More Settings) to authenticate with the mail server.

Incoming IMAP Server: imap-mail.outlook.com
Outgoing SMTP Server: smtp-mail.outlook.com

Click More Settings button, then Advanced tab. Select SSL as the encryption type for the incoming server. The port should change to 993 automatically. Change the SMTP encryption to TLS and the port number to 587.

Screenshots and step-by-step instructions are at Setting up an Outlook.com IMAP account

Use POP3 and SMTP

POP3 is disabled by default on Outlook.com accounts moved to the new server. You'll need to log into Outlook.com to enable POP3. Once enabled, you can choose whether to allow apps and devices delete mail from the server.

To use POP3/SMTP with your Outlook.com account, you'll use these settings:

Incoming server name: pop-mail.outlook.com
Outgoing server: smtp-mail.outlook.com

While setting up the account, click on the More Settings button and on Outgoing Mail Servers tab, select the My server requires authentication box. Choose Use same settings as my incoming server.

Click the Advanced tab, and under Server Port Numbers, enter the following information:
For Incoming mail (POP3), use Port 995.
For Outgoing mail (SMTP), use Port 587.

Under both Outgoing mail (SMTP) and Incoming mail (POP3), select the ‘requires secure connection (SSL)’ check box. In Outlook 2007 and up, choose Auto; use SSL and port 25 for Outlook 2003.

Under Delivery, select the Leave a copy of messages on server check box if you want to see your messages when you use Hotmail in a web browser, your mobile phone, or other e-mail programs.

Adjust your settings in the account options online (under Accounts, POP and IMAP), and either let Outlook.com move the mail to special POP folder when Outlook tries to delete it from the server or let Outlook (and other clients) delete the messages.