Microsoft Enables POP3 and SMTP for Hotmail

Hotmail – POP3 and SMTP Settings

Back in January 2009 Microsoft announced that they enabled POP3 and SMTP for their classic webmail client – Hotmail. Initially the service was launched only in 9 countries – United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, France, Japan, Spain, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands. In March, it was announced that POP3 access is available to Hotmail users worldwide.

What does it mean to you?

Well, a few things. POP3 is a mail transfer protocol that is used to download email from a mail server to a email client, e.g., Outlook. With POP3 emabled at Hotmail, you are no longer bound to webmail interface. You can now download hotmail email directly to your Outlook or even mobile phone – such as Windows Mobile Phone, iPhone or BlackBerry.

These are the settings that you need to use. It’s basically the same type of information you would use to download email from your ISP provider.

Hotmail POP3 Settings: pop3.live.com (Port 995)
POP SSL required? Yes
User name: Your Windows Live ID, for example yourname@hotmail.com
Password: Your Hotmail or Windows Live password
Hotmail SMTP Settings: smtp.live.com (Port 25)
Authentication required? Yes (same as POP username and password)
TLS/SSL required? Yes
Secure Connection: Always use a secure connection (SSL) when retrieving mail

Additional Hotmail tools

In addition to POP3, Microsoft offers other tools like viewing your Hotmail using Windows Live Mail, Microsoft Office Outlook via the Outlook Connector, or Windows Live for Windows Mobile phone.

Hotmail Settings for Thunderbird

You can also setup your other webmail clients to retrieve email messages from Hotmail with POP3. Thunderbird Hotmail POP3 and Thunderbird Hotmail SMTP settings can be found in this page http://blogs.howtogeek.com/mysticgeek/2009/03/16/how-to-add-hotmail-to-thunderbird/.

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