Mail and Settings

New keyboard shortcuts introduced with Hotmail Wave4 M1 release

MSFT Roopa S — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 14:02:00 GMT

This solution article provides information aboue the new keyboard shortcuts introduced with Hotmail Wave4 M1 release.

Lots of keyboard shortcuts, including shortcuts to match both Yahoo and Gmail have been added in the new Hotmail Wave4 M1 release. A new page in Options has been added to choose what type of shortcuts you'd like to use.

To choose the mode of keyboard shortcuts or to turn off keyboard shortcuts, follow these steps:

1. Go to Options.

2. Click More Options.

3. Under Customize your mail, choose Change keyboard shortcuts.

4. Select which mode you'd like to use:

Turn off keyboard shortcuts
Hotmail and Outlook Web Access (OWA)
Yahoo! Mail
Gmail

Note: The Yahoo! Mail and Gmail modes support many of the shortcuts from those services.

5. Click Save.

Here's a full list of the keyboard shortcuts available:

Email clients showing Incorrect Hotmail Storage size

MSFT Roopa S — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 11:13:00 GMT

This solution article provides information about the incorrect storage limit shown for your Windows Live Hotmail client in email clients.

Symptoms:

Customers who have configured their Hotmail account in email clients see that their storage limit is 500 GB. This information is incorrect and will be fixed in future releases.

- OLC Client

In Outlook 2003 and 2007 with Outlook Connector, the 500 GB size is displayed in the OLC status bar

In Outlook 2010 with OLC, the 500 GB size is displayed in the Outlook BackStage under the MailBox cleanup section:

- MSN Explorer

In MSN Explorer, 512000MB is displayed when you point your mouse cursor on the storage bar in Mail & More.

What should you do?

Please note that Hotmail offers ever growing storage and not 500GB. Any user using Outlook Connector and MSN Explorer v9.6 will see 500 GB, not because they have that much, but because of the way we display the upper limit. We plan on fixing this in the next version.

About Quick Add feature in Hotmail

MSFT Roopa S — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 12:00:00 GMT

This solution articles provides information about the 'Quick Add' feature in Windows Live Hotmail.

Quick Add is a feature available in Windows Live Hotmail that allows users to look for and insert content such as maps, movie show times, images, and even videos into a message. The user simply needs to click "insert" in order to introduce the element into the e-mail.

Quick Add is powered with the Bing search engine.

Please note that there is currently no option to turn off 'Quick Add' feature that pops up on the right hand side of the window when you are composing a new email.

How to setup Hotmail on iPhone?

MSFT Roopa S — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 12:19:00 GMT

This solution article provides information to customers who wish to access their Windows Live Hotmail emails on iPhone.

NOTE: With POP3, there is no synchronizing. For example, if you read an e-mail message on your iPhone the message will be unread if you view your Hotmail account on the web. Also, only messages in your Hotmail Inbox will display on your iPhone. Other folders, and any messages in them, will not be displayed.

To setup pop3 on your iPhone please try the following steps:

1. Tap Settings > Mail > Add Account > Other > Add Mail Account

2. Enter Name, Hotmail Address (Your Live ID), Hotmail Password

Note: You may get an error message saying that you will need to be a Windows Live Hotmail Plus Subscriber. If you see this message, please press "OK" to ignore the message. Pop3 service is now available for free for all Hotmail customers.

3. Click "Save"

Your account will be automatically configured at this point without further action from you.

4. Now please go to the IPhone mail client and start downloading your pop3 messages.

Note: The first download from our pop3 servers could take up to 5 minutes for the first sync.

If for some reason the phone does not auto populate the server information, please use the following server settings:

Pop3 Server: pop3.live.com (Port: 995)
SMTP Server: smtp.live.com (Port: 25)

Advanced Settings:
Incoming Uses SSL: On
Outgoing Uses SSL: On
Authentication: Password
Delete from Server: When removed from inbox

How to close your Hotmail account

MSFT Roopa S — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 13:47:00 GMT

This article provides information on how to close your Hotmail account to users who wish to close their account.

Free Windows Live Hotmail accounts become inactive if you don't sign in for more than 270 days or within the first 10 days after signing up for an account. After an account becomes inactive, all messages, folders, and contacts are deleted. Incoming messages will be sent back to the sender as undeliverable. Your account name is still reserved. However, if the account stays inactive for an additional 90 days, the account name may be permanently deleted. If you don't use your Windows Live ID for 365 days, your Windows Live ID may be permanently deleted.

Close a free Windows Live Hotmail account

1. Visit the Windows Live Hotmail close account web page.

2. Follow the on-screen instructions, and then click Close account to close your account.

Note

If you receive an error message when you try to close your account, contact your account administrator for more information. Some types of accounts, such as Microsoft Office Live Mail, can't be closed this way. Other types of accounts, such as university accounts, can't be closed at all.

Close a paid Windows Live Hotmail account

If you pay for your Windows Live Hotmail account, you have to end your subscription before closing your account. To end your subscription:

1. Visit the Microsoft Billing and Account Management website, and then sign in with the e-mail address that you want to cancel.

2. Follow the on-screen instructions to cancel your paid subscription. This converts your paid Windows Live Hotmail account to a free Windows Live Hotmail account.

3. To cancel your free account after you've canceled your paid subscription, follow the steps above.

We're sorry to see you go! Please take a moment and give us your Feedback on why you are leaving.

Note

If your subscription expires, or if you cancel your paid service, your Windows Live Hotmail account reverts to a free account. You can still use this free Windows Live Hotmail account, but your account will be reduced to 5 gigabytes (GB).

If your account is still active and your messages are missing, make sure that another client e-mail program hasn't downloaded the messages from Windows Live Hotmail and stored them in another location.

How to filter incoming messages and block or allow from specific sender or domain

MSFT Roopa S — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 13:22:00 GMT

This solution article provides information on how to filter incoming messages by creating filters to direct incoming messages to specific folders and how to block or allow messages from specific senders and domains

To organize your Inbox by creating filters to direct incoming messages to specific folders, please follow these steps:

1. Sign in to the Windows Live Hotmail website with your Windows Live Hotmail account.

2. In the upper-right corner of the page, click Options, and then click More options.

3. Under Customize your mail, click Automatically sort e-mail into folders.

4. Perform one of the actions as per your requirement:

Click New filter to Create a new filter

Click Edit next to the filter that you want to edit.

Click Delete next to the filter that you want to delete.

5. Follow the on-screen instructions to specify which messages you want to filter and where you want to filter them, and then click Save.

Note: Not all international characters are supported as filters.

To block or allow messages from specific senders and domains:

To reduce junk e-mail (Unwanted, unsolicited, or illicit e-mail or other electronic messages, including spam), you can block messages from specific e-mail addresses or from an entire domain. You can also specify e-mail addresses or domains that should never be classified as junk e-mail senders. When you do this, mail from these senders will not be blocked.

Block e-mail from a specific sender

1. Sign in to the Windows Live Hotmail website with your Windows Live Hotmail account.

2. Double-click the message from the sender that you want to block.

3. Click Mark as Junk. The e-mail is deleted, and any further e-mail from the same sender is blocked.

Allow e-mail from a specific sender

1. Sign in to the Windows Live Hotmail website with your Windows Live ID Hotmail account.

2. Double-click the message from the sender that you want to allow.

3. Click Mark as safe.

Block e-mail from a sender or domain

1. Sign in to the Windows Live Hotmail website with your Windows Live Hotmail account.

2. In the upper-right corner of the page, click Options, and then click More options.

3. Under Junk e-mail, click Safe and blocked senders.

4. Click Blocked senders.

5. Type an e-mail address or domain, and then click Add to List.

Allow e-mail from a sender or domain

1. Sign in to the Windows Live Hotmail website with your Windows Live Hotmail account.

2. In the upper-right corner of the page, click Options, and then click More options.

3. Under Junk e-mail, click Safe and blocked senders.

4. Click Safe senders.

5. Type an e-mail address or domain, and then click Add to List.

Allow e-mail from a mailing list

1. Sign in to the Windows Live Hotmail website with your Windows Live Hotmail account.

2. In the upper-right corner of the page, click Options, and then click More options.

3. Under Junk e-mail, click Safe and blocked senders.

4. Click Safe mailing lists.

5. Enter the e-mail address for the mailing list, and then click Add to List.

Read blocked e-mail messages

1. Sign in to the Windows Live Hotmail website with your Windows Live Hotmail account.

2. Open the Junk folder, and then click the blocked message.

3. In the warning ribbon at the top of the message, click Show content.

4. To continue to receive messages from this sender, add the sender to your Safe senders list.

Notes

# Messages received from blocked senders or domains are deleted automatically.

# To remove an entry from your Safe senders or Blocked senders lists, select the entry in the list, and then click Remove From List.

# People who send junk e-mail often use a variety of similar e-mail addresses. If you receive junk e-mail from an e-mail address similar to one that you've already blocked, click Mark as Junk on each message that you want to block.

# Never add your personal e-mail address to your Safe senders list.

How to set or change reply address

MSFT Roopa S — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 13:03:00 GMT

This solution article provides information on how to customize Windows Live Hotmail so that people reply to an e-mail address other than the Windows Live Hotmail address that you send e-mail from.

1. Sign in to the Windows Live Hotmail website with your Windows Live Hotmail account.

2. In the upper-right corner of the page, click Options, and then click More options.

3. Under Customize your mail, click Reply-to address.

4. Select Other address, and then type the e-mail address you want people to reply to.

5. Click Save.

How to add a signature to outgoing messages

MSFT Roopa S — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 12:56:00 GMT

This solution article provides information on how to add and edit a signature that automatically appears in all of your outgoing e-mail messages.

1. Sign in to the Windows Live Hotmail website with your Windows Live Hotmail account.

2. In the upper-right corner of the page, click Options, and then click More options.

3. Under Customize your mail, click Personal e-mail signature.

4. Type your signature in the box, and then click Save.

If you wish to add an image to your signature, please make sure that the image that you want to insert in your e-mail signature is from an active Internet website. Otherwise, it will appear as blank on the recipients' end when they receive your message with signature. To do so, please do the following:

1. On the upper-right portion of your Hotmail account, click Options, and then select More Options.

2. Under Customize your mail, click Personal e-mail signature.

3. Open another browser and visit the website with the image that you want to attach to your signature.

4. Copy the image by right-clicking on it and selecting Copy.

5. On the signature page, type the information that you want to append to your outgoing messages and paste the picture on your signature window by pressing "Ctrl" + "V" (wait for the image to load completely).

6. Click Save.

Change your secret question and answer

MSFT Roopa S — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 11:03:00 GMT

This solution article provides you information on how to change the secret question and answer for your Windows Live Hotmail account.

When you create a Windows Live Hotmail account, you can specify a secret question and answer to help you reset your password if you forget it. To help protect your Windows Live Hotmail account, you should periodically change your secret question and answer.

1. Sign in to the Windows Live Hotmail website with your Windows Live Hotmail account.

2. In the upper-right corner of the page, click Options, and then click More options.

3. Under Manage your account, click View and edit your personal information.

4. Next to Question, click Change.

5. Type your password, select a question, and then type the answer to that question.

6. Click Save.

Note

You can also help protect your account by periodically changing your password.

Transfer your e-mail information from another account to your Windows Live Hotmail account

MSFT Roopa S — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 10:54:00 GMT

This solution article provides information to users who wish to transfer their email information from another e-mail account to Windows Live Hotmail account.

TrueSwitch is a web-based service that you can use to transfer your stored e-mail messages, contacts, and calendar from another e-mail account to your Windows Live Hotmail account without having to manually reenter the information.

1. Visit the TrueSwitch transfer website.

2. To read the Terms of service agreement, click Terms of Service. If you agree, close the Terms of Service window, select the appropriate check box, and then click Begin. To continue, you must agree to the Terms of service agreement.

3. Under Copy From, type the e-mail address and password for the e-mail account that you want to copy from.

4. Under Copy to Windows Live Hotmail, type your Windows Live Hotmail e-mail address and password, and then click Continue.

5. Select the check box next to each item that you want to copy.

6. Optional: Send a personal message to your contacts to notify them of the change in your e-mail address.

To customize the message:

a. Click Personalize this message.

b. Enter your first and last name in the appropriate boxes, edit the default message to personalize it, and then click Save & Close.

To select the contacts that you want to send the message to:

a. Click Choose contacts.

b. Select the check box next to each contact that you want to send a personal notification to.

-or-

To send a personal notification to all your contacts, click Select All.

c. Click Save & Close.

7. Click Submit.

8. To go to your Windows Live Hotmail account, click Go to Windows Live Hotmail.

Notes

# The transfer process doesn't modify any existing information in your original account. This information remains intact.

# If you're transferring e-mail information that's stored on your computer, TrueSwitch transfers that information immediately. If you're transferring e-mail information that's stored on a website, the transfer process may take up to 24 hours.

How to change the viewing language in Hotmail

MSFT Roopa S — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 12:43:00 GMT

This solution article provides you information on how to change the viewing language in Windows Live Hotmail.

Windows Live Hotmail can be viewed in a variety of languages.

To change the viewing language:

1. Sign in to the Windows Live Hotmail website with your Windows Live Hotmail account.

2. In the upper-right corner of the page, click Options, and then click More options.

3. Under Customize your mail, click Select Language.

4. Select a language, and then click Save.

Note: When you change the viewing language for Windows Live Hotmail, you also change the language that Help appears in.

Sometimes customers change the language to one that they cant read or in case of account hacks, the language is changed to a foreign language that the customers cant follow. In those cases, follow these steps to change the language.

1. At the upper-right corner of the Windows Live Hotmail home page, click the link beside the question mark icon.
2. Select the first link in the dropdown list.
3. Mark the box beside English or the language of your choice.
4. Click the first button at the lower-right corner of the page to save the setting.

How to set up an automatic vacation reply

MSFT Roopa S — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 12:37:00 GMT

This solution article provides you information on how to set up an automatic vacation reply.

If you're going to be away or if you won't be able to access your Windows Live Hotmail account for awhile, you can set up an automatic vacation reply for your account.

Anybody who sends you an e-mail message while you're away will automatically receive your vacation reply.

To set up an automatic vacation reply:

1. Sign in to the Windows Live Hotmail website with your Windows Live Hotmail account.

2. In the upper-right corner of the page, click Options, and then click More options.

3. Under Manage your account, click Send automated vacation replies.

4. Click Send vacation replies to people who e-mail me.

5. In the text box, type the reply that you want people to receive while you're away, and then click Save.

Notes

I. To stop using the vacation reply, return to the vacation reply settings, click Don't send any vacation replies, and then click Save.

II. Because replying to junk e-mail (Unwanted, unsolicited, or illicit e-mail or other electronic messages, including spam) can frequently lead to even more junk e-mail, make sure that you select the Only reply to your contacts check box if you don't want to send automated vacation replies to junk e-mail senders.

III. If you have your vacation reply turned on, when you sign in to your account, you receive a message to remind you that your vacation reply is still turned on.

Not receiving e-mail from contacts

MSFT Roopa S — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 12:24:00 GMT

This solution article will provide information on what settings to check if you are not receiving emails from your contacts.

What this means?

If you aren't receiving e-mail that has been sent by people you know, it may be because your Junk e-mail filter or your Blocked sender list has excluded them.

What should you do?

Please check your junk mail filter settings and your blocked senders lists to ensure that they are not preventing the emails sent to you from reaching your mailbox. You will also want to add the address to your safe senders list.

Check your Junk folder

1. Sign in to the Windows Live Hotmail website with your Windows Live Hotmail account.

2. Click on the "Junk" button in the left pane

3. Check to see if the missing mail is already in this folder.

4. If you see any messages that should have been delivered to the inbox here, click to put a check in the box to the left of each message and then click the "Not Junk" button

Check your Junk Mail Settings

1. In the upper-right corner of the page, click Options, and then click More options.

2. Under Junk e-mail, click Filters and reporting.

3. Under Choose a junk e-mail filter, choose the level of protection that you want, and then click Save. If the Exclusive level was set, messages from senders not on your Contacts or Safe senders lists will have been sent to the Junk e-mail folder.

Check your Blocked sender list

1. From the Hotmail Options screens under Junk e-mail, click Safe and blocked senders.

2. Click Blocked senders.

3. In the Blocked senders list, select the name or domain (The part of an e-mail address that follows the @ sign, such as msn or hotmail.) that you now want to receive mail from, and then click << Remove from List.

4. Click on "Options" in the upper right to go back to the "Hotmail Options" screen

Add the email address to your Safe senders list

1. From the Hotmail Options screens under Junk e-mail, click Safe and blocked senders.

2. Click Safe Senders

3. In the text box, type in the email address or domain you'd like to always receive email from, and then click Add to list >>

How to change the theme, today page settings and more in Windows Live Hotmail window

MSFT Roopa S — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 12:07:00 GMT

This article provides information on how you can change the appearance of the Windows Live Hotmail window, including the theme, the size of the text, today page settings and the size and location of the reading pane.

Change the text size in Windows Internet Explorer

1. Sign in to the Windows Live Hotmail website with your Windows Live Hotmail account.

2. Click the Internet Explorer View menu, point to Text Size, and then click the size that you want.

Note: To change the text size in an Internet browser other than Internet Explorer, see the documentation for your browser.

Change the Theme

1. Sign in to the Windows Live Hotmail website with your Windows Live Hotmail account.

2. In the upper-right corner of the page, click Options, and then click the theme that you want.

Change the Today page settings

1. Sign in to the Windows Live Hotmail website with your Windows Live Hotmail account.

2. In the upper-right corner of the page, click Options, and then click More options.

3. Under Customize your mail, click Today page settings.

4. Under Choose whether you'd like to see the Today page after you sign in, select Show me the Today page after I sign in or Skip the Today page and take me straight to my inbox.

5. Click Save.

Move or hide the reading pane

1. Sign in to the Windows Live Hotmail website with your Windows Live Hotmail account.

2. In the upper-right corner of the page, click Options, and then click More options.

3. Under Customize your mail, click Reading pane settings.

4. Under Reading pane settings, select Right, Bottom, or Off.

5. Under When you first open your Inbox or another folder, set the reading pane to, select either Show the first message automatically or Show a message only after you select it.

6. Click Save.

Note: To resize the reading pane on the Mail page, hold the pointer over the boundary between the reading pane and your message list, and then click and drag the boundary.

Note: Presently, you can't change the number of e-mail messages displayed on a page in the message list.

How to add your e-mail account to Microsoft Outlook Express

MSFT Roopa S — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 11:20:00 GMT

If you use Outlook Express to access your Hotmail Inbox, you can download the free Windows Live Mail program or you can change your Outlook Express settings to use the POP3

Use Windows Live Mail as your e-mail program

If you have Windows XP with Service Pack 2 or later installed on your computer, we recommend installing Windows Live Mail to access your Hotmail account. Windows Live Mail is a free e-mail program with many of the same features as Outlook Express, such as synchronizing your e-mail messages, folders, contacts, and more. It also includes junk mail filtering and a built-in calendar that works with your Windows Live Calendar.

Add a Hotmail POP3 account in Outlook Express

NOTE: If you are moving from DAV to POP3, there are a few important differences. With POP3, there is no synchronizing. For example, if you read an e-mail message in Outlook Express the message will be unread if you view your Hotmail account on the web. Also, only messages in your Hotmail Inbox will display in Outlook Express. Other folders, and any messages in them, will not be displayed.

1. In Outlook Express, on the Tools menu, click Accounts.

2. Click Add, and then click Mail.

3. Type your name, and then click Next.

4. Type your full Hotmail e-mail address, and then click Next.

5. Enter the following information, and then click Next:

· In the My incoming mail server is a list, click POP3.

· In the Incoming mail (POP3, IMAP, or HTTP) server box, type pop3.live.com

· In the Outgoing mail (SMTP) server box, type smtp.live.com

6. Type the account name (type your full MSN address if you have an @msn.com account) and the password for your Hotmail account. Clear the Remember password check box unless you're the only person with access to the computer. Make sure that the Log on using Secure Password Authentication (SPA) check box isn't selected.

7. Click Next, and then click Finish.

8. In the Internet Accounts window, click the Mail tab, click the Hotmail account that you added, and then click Properties.

9. Click on the Servers tab and under 'Outgoing Mail Servers', please check the "My server requires authentication" box.

10. Click on the Settings button to the right of the "My server requires authentication" option. You may need to turn on the "Use same settings as my incoming server" option unless you are using a special account setup requiring a different Account name and password. Most people will need to use the default option of "Use same settings as my incoming server".

11. Click the Advanced tab, and under Server Port Numbers, enter the following information, and then click OK:

· In the Incoming mail (POP3) box, type 995.

· In the Outgoing mail (SMTP) box, type 25 or 587.

· Under both Outgoing mail (SMTP) and Incoming mail (POP3), select the This server requires a secure connection (SSL) check box.

· 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. By default, Outlook Express will delete the messages from the Hotmail server when they are downloaded to your computer.

12. Click OK.

13. On the Internet Accounts window, take a look at your mail accounts by selecting the Mail tab. If you see your Hotmail account with Type 'HTTP', select the account and click the Remove button (NOTE: this should apply if you are moving from the DAV protocol to the POP protocol - you've added an account with POP through the above instructions and now need to delete the previous account accessed through DAV).