Hotmail and Outlook POP3 and SMTP Configuration

Mar 14, 2009

Updated • May 30, 2017

Microsoft has finally enabled POP3 email access for all users of their Hotmail email service. This essentially means that it is now possible to configure desktop email clients and mobile phone apps to access Hotmail to retrieve and send email, something that was not possible before.

Note: Please note that Microsoft migrated Hotmail to Outlook.com. We have published an update to the original article that you find attached after the original part.

We already mentioned how to configure Hotmail POP3 but in a slightly different context as the article back then concentrated on providing information on how to enable POP3 access for all countries.

Here are the information that have to be entered into the desktop email client so that Hotmail can be accessed:

Incoming Server: pop3.live.com
Incoming Port: 995
SSL Encryption: yes
Outgoing Server: smtp.live.com
Outgoing port: 25 (use port 587 if the default port is not working)
Authentication: yes
TLS Or SSL: yes

Please note that the names may differ depending on the desktop email client in use. The values on the other hand do not change.

The username (usually the Windows Live Hotmail email address) and password are the same that are used when logging into the Hotmail website using a web browser.

There is no need for configuration of POP3 on the Hotmail website. This is a difference to how Gmail is handling external access as it has to be explicitly activated in the email web interface before it is possible to access a Gmail account using POP3 or SMTP.

Update:

Things have changed when Microsoft launched Outlook.com. You need to enable Pop on Outlook.com before you can make use of it in an email client or mobile phone app.

Open Outlook.com and sign in to your account on the site.
Click on the settings icon at the top right and select options.
Select connect devices and apps with pop on the options page.
Switch pop from disable to enable and click save afterwards.
Enabling pop displays another option on the screen. Here you can select whether deleting emails on your device deletes them on Outlook's server or not. The default option is that it won't do so.

Some of the mail server information have changed as well. You need to use the following to connect to Outlook.com:

Incoming server: pop-mail.outlook.com
Port: 995
Encrypted Connection: SSL
Outgoing server: smtp-mail.outlook.com
Port: 25 (or 587 if 25 is blocked)
Authentication: yes
Encrypted connection: TLS

You can use IMAP alternatively. It does not need to be enabled specifically before it can be used.

Incoming server: imap-mail.outlook.com
Port: 993
Encrypted connection: SSL
Outgoing server: smtp-mail.outlook.com
Port: 25 (587 if 25 is blocked)
Authentication: yes
Encrypted Connection: TLS

Office 365 POP and IMAP

Office 365 uses different servers. The following information needs to be entered if you want to access Office 365 for business email using POP3 or IMAP:

Incoming IMAP server: outlook.office365.com
Port: 993
Requires SSL: yes (always encrypted)
alternative Port 143
alternative Requires SSL: Yes (STARTTLS)
Incoming POP3 server: outlook.office365.com
Port: 995
Requires SSL: Yes (always encrypted)
Outgoing SMTP server: smtp.office365.com
Port: 587
Encryption: yes (STARTTLS)

Additional information is available on Microsoft's support website.

Summary

Article Name

Hotmail and Outlook POP3 Configuration

Description

The article provides you with instructions on enabling Pop3 or IMAP access to Hotmail or Outlook.com in third-party email clients or applications.

Author

Martin Brinkmann

Publisher

Ghacks Technology News

Logo

Comments

JMGG said on January 19, 2012 at 8:25 am


You said that Outlook isn’t your main email client, so which is your main one?
1. BalaC said on January 19, 2012 at 9:42 am
  
  
  I think its thunderbird
2. Martin Brinkmann said on January 19, 2012 at 10:15 am
  
  
  It is Mozilla Thunderbird.
Salaam said on September 24, 2012 at 9:52 pm


Awesome! This actually solved my problem… what a stupid bug.
Claud said on December 19, 2012 at 2:08 am


If this is the same bug that I’ve encountered, there may be another fix: (1) hover over open Outlook item in Taskbar, cursor up to hover over Outlook window item, and right-click; (2) this should give you Restore / Move / Size / Minimize / Maximize — choose Move or Size; (3) use your cursor keys, going arbitrarily N/S/E/W, to try to move or size the Outlook window back into view. Basically, the app behaves as though it were open in a 0x0 window, or at a location that’s offscreen, and this will frequently work to resize and/or move the window. Don’t forget to close while resized/moved, so that Outlook remembers the size/position for next time.
1. Lynda said on February 12, 2013 at 3:37 pm
  
  
  THANK YOU Claude!!! I could get the main window to launch but could not get any other message window to show on the desktop. You are my hero!!!!
2. Chad said on November 20, 2018 at 4:24 pm
  
  
  Solved my issue! 6 years later and this is still problem…
3. Ivan X said on January 21, 2021 at 4:50 pm
  
  
  Fantastic. Thank you. Size did the trick.
Andrew said on October 26, 2013 at 7:06 am


This solved my Outlook problem, too. Thank you. :)
Charles said on December 7, 2013 at 7:23 pm


Thank you so much, this started happening to me today and was causing big problems. You are a life saver, I hope I can help you in some way some day.
garth said on November 7, 2014 at 7:13 pm


You are a god – thank you!
Faisal said on February 9, 2015 at 10:09 am


thanks a lot…. work like charm.. :-)
Simon said on March 24, 2015 at 11:36 pm


Yah…thanks Claude. I’ve been having the same problem and tried all the suggestions…your solution was the answer. It had resized itself to a 0/0 box. Cheers
Olu said on April 14, 2015 at 1:35 pm


Excellent post. This had me baffled even trying to accurately describe the problem. This fixed it for me.
Thank you
Coenig said on July 23, 2015 at 7:36 am


Thanks a lot for the article. Don’t know why it happenend, don’t know how it got fixed, but it was really annoying and now it works :-)
Fali said on January 20, 2016 at 4:19 pm


Thanks a lot. I was facing this issue from past 3 week. I tried everything but no resolution. The issue was happening intermittently and mainly when I was changing the display of screen ( as i use 2 monitors). The only option i had was to do system restore. But thanks to you.
1. MIki said on January 10, 2019 at 11:54 am
  
  
  I’ve been tried to sole this problem for 12hours. Your comment about changing the display of screen helped me a lot!! Thanks!!
Christina said on January 20, 2016 at 6:14 pm


Thank you…don’t know why this happened but your instructions helped me fix it. Running Windows 10 and office pro 2007
Oz said on July 22, 2016 at 3:20 pm


Great tip! Thanks!
Tracy said on September 1, 2016 at 4:48 pm


Worked for me, too – thank you!!!
shawn said on September 9, 2016 at 10:25 am


It’s Worked for me, too
thank you very much!
Jari said on October 31, 2016 at 11:53 am


I had a similar issue with Outlook 2013 on Windows 10 and this helped me to fix it. Thank you very much!
Michel H said on November 30, 2016 at 11:08 pm


Thank you so much. Solved!
Considering you published this in 2012, incredible not been debugged by Microsoft.
Thank you again. M
Ziad Bitar said on January 9, 2017 at 2:00 am


This problem was faced by only one user logging to TS 2008 r2 using outlook 2010.The issue was resolved.

Thanks.
Anonymous said on February 15, 2017 at 5:24 pm


Great tip. Thank you!!!! If it helps, I had to use the Control Key and the arrow keys at the same time to bring my window back into view. Worked like a charm.
Rochelle said on March 6, 2017 at 11:59 am


Thank you, this worked !!!!
anom1234 said on May 20, 2018 at 11:20 pm


Man, you are a fucking god. Thanks a lot, what an annoying bug!!
JC said on October 12, 2020 at 2:14 pm


Awesome, this post solved the issue. Many thanks!