Over the last 9 months or so, Microsoft has been revamping, upgrading and improving their Windows Live Mail services and it’s now very competitive with both Yahoo and Gmail as far as being able to pull all your different email accounts together in one place. Even POP accounts can now be added to Windows Live Mail.
POP accounts are the ones most have if you’re using the ‘traditional’ desktop client, such as Outlook, Outlook Express or Thunderbird. Then, if you’re away on vacation, business trip or just at work, you’re disconnected from your email unless you’ve learned how to access your mail via the web. I’ve found that to be a tedious process.For those of us with multiple email accounts, that also means going to multiple web pages to check mail.
With Live Mail, you now have the ability to aggregate all your mail accounts into one handy place. That means you only have to go one place to check your email which means fewer passwords to remember and enter. I realize you can do this with GMail & Yahoo, but that’s another column.
One of the greatest challenges for a VA (Virtual Assistant), is finding and figuring out which collaboration tool to use most efficiently with our clients. Many of us are asked to check client Outlook email accounts and need the ability to respond to inquiries on their behalf. With this upgrade of Windows Live Mail, it’s now possible to add up to 4 POP accounts.
I always like to try things out on myself before a client, so I added in an account from our family computer. I must confess, I was quite elated when the emails started appearing in my live account.
Account Setup
So – how do we make this magic happen? First, you’ll need a windows live or hotmail account. After that’s set up, then you’ll see the ‘add another email account’ button from your In-box on the left-hand side. Click the link and you’ll be taken to a box where you’ll need to fill out this information:
Of course, you’ll need the POP settings of the email you are wanting to add in. An important consideration is whether to leave email on the server or not. I found if I didn’t, my external account showed up only in my live account, not in both Live and Outlook. I wanted to be able to view mail from both accounts. Do realize that this will also leave a copy on your ISP’s severs too. For my ISP, I was able to check a box for them to notify me when it was 70% to capacity. Some ISPs allow you to save messages for a certain period of time on the server. Also realize that you’ll have to do double duty in your mailbox maintenance. For example, emails I delete in Outlook on one computer are not deleted on my live mail on the other computer.
Outlook Connector
If you have Outlook 2003 or 2007, I strongly urge you to download and install the free Microsoft Outlook Connector. After it’s installed, it will prompt you through a few simple steps to set up your Outlook to be synced with your Live Mail, Contacts & Calendar. Note – the calendar is a 1-way sync from Live to Outlook.
Designate A Separate Folder for Email
When I first set the account up, I told it to bring all the mail right into my inbox. A few hours later, I realized I wanted them to go into a separate folder. To do this, go to options and more options to the manage your account screen.
Click on the send and receive from other accounts and then click on edit your account, there is a ‘next’ button at the bottom of the page, click that and then you’ll see the screen below where you can edit your account and set up a folder for the external account mail to go into.
Change your Reply-to Address
This is a handy feature for VAs to use as it enables us to reply on behalf of our clients. A word of warning here though – the email will say it’s being sent ‘on behalf of’ and will have your live email address listed in the ‘from’ box as well. Unfortunately, it looks like that’s the way it is now. Many of us don’t like this as it doesn’t present quite the image we’d like.

reply to address
Other Features
- You can use Outlook Connector only if your Windows Live ID (The e-mail address and password that you use to sign in to Windows Live programs and services such as Windows Live Hotmail and Windows Live Messenger; Microsoft services such as Xbox LIVE, MSN, and Office Live; and anywhere else that you see the Windows Live ID logo.) is a Hotmail account. You can’t use Outlook Connector if you signed up for Windows Live using another e-mail address.
- Custom Signature – limited to one signature – this is a downgrade from Outlook where multiple signatures can be set up and applied as needed.
- Offline Availability – you can work offline, but only if you also are using Outlook and the Outlook Connector. The ability is there to compose and read emails already downloaded and the next time you’re on-line everything will sync up and go.
- Distribution Lists – these are called categories in Live Mail. Go to contacts (people), and click on ‘manage categories’. From there you can set up or revise your lists. Just start typing in a name and it’ll appear.
- Sort Into Folders – this is taking place of Outlook’s more robust ‘Rules’ settings. I’m currently not using this feature
- Spam Filter/Blocked & Safe Sender Lists – this is also similar to what is offered in Outlook
- Forward email to another account & Vacation Settings
- Add a Gmail or Yahoo account (Yahoo account must be the premium), here are instructions
- Context sensitive help. If you’re in mail and click on a help button, you will be taken to an area where you can type in your mail related questions. I was able to find answers to all my questions. I do observe that it seems like there are so many help sites that it is overwhelming to get to the right one sometimes. When I feel I’m in a maze, I will do a Google or Bing search and that works very well.
Ready to Go Totally to a Web Based Email?
I’m not ready to give up my Outlook. I have it set up with four email accounts coming in and I’m comfortable with the interface and the many options. For example, I like being able to set a future delivery date for an email and having multiple signatures to name two.
There’s also the issue of backing up the Windows Live Mail. I searched this topic in Microsoft and was give this link that instructs how to backup mail, calendars and contacts. However, I could only follow the instructions for backing up contacts. I never did find a ‘Tools’ menu choice to click to start the process.
Since I use Outlook, I backup my Windows Live Mail using the handy .pst backup tool instead – another reason to keep Outlook.
I do enjoy being able to get to my Live mail from a browser and the user interface is easier and prettier than either Gmail or Yahoo Mail. It’s super easy to change the theme and colors for a variety.
Links to other reading
Lifehacker’s article on many email types and services
freeware for live mail backup (although it said freeware, there is a charge)
What’s worked for you and do you have anything to share or add to this? Thanks.
[…] couple of weeks ago, we talked about the upgrade Windows Live made by allowing import of not only internet based email, but POP accounts. Many are looking for a way to […]
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I have windows live mail and many accounts(9) the mails arrive in separate accounts I would like to receive all the mails at a time as it was in outlook express if not i have to go account by account is it possible?, thanks
You can add multiple accounts if you’re using Windows Live Mail. A couple of caveats – they need to be POP enabled. WL will tell you right away if it’ll work or not. I see you have yahoo mail. It won’t work with that, but if you have the upgraded yahoo mail account, then I think it may. But if you have a lot of accounts from your old Outlook Express days, you should be able to bring them all in to WLM.
You can install Windows Live Mail as a desktop application (if you have Vista or Windows 7, it won’t work with XP), or use it in your browser.
Here’s instructions:
After you’re signed in, go to ‘options’ it’s a bit hard to find, but look way over to the right.
Click ‘options’>click ‘more options’>click ‘send & receive mail from other accounts’ and then you’ll follow the instructions. You’ll need to know some of the settings from your POP account. You may have to bing or google what those should be if you don’t know. I changed my incoming server to 110 – WLM defaulted to 995.
Then they will start coming into the one WLM account. You will be prompted and given some options as to where it will appear and what your new mail account will be called. Good luck
[…] promoting that. They did not mention that you can also add POP accounts into Hotmail/Live Mail. Here’s an article I wrote that tells how this works. It should be noted that you must have the Yahoo Plus mail in […]
I seem to be having a hard time , subscribing to your RSS feed. It comes up with error 404. Let me know if its a easy to fix error or if its just me . Ive tried firefox and IE. Im using AVG Firewall and im not sure how to turn it off . Im not excellent with Laptops. Ill come back to your site and see if you have responded. see you soon
Thanks for writing. Do you have any readers set up now in Google, Yahoo or Windows Live? That is necessary before you can subscribe. So if you have a Google ID, a Yahoo or Windows Live account, you can go there and get it set up.
Here's some information with links to how to set up a feed reader in Google and others: http://www.whatisrss.com/:
A variety of RSS Readers are available for different platforms. Some popular feed readers include Amphetadesk (Windows, Linux, Mac), FeedReader (Windows), and NewsGator (Windows – integrates with Outlook). There are also a number of web-based feed readers available. My Yahoo, Bloglines, and Google Reader are popular web-based feed readers.
Once you have your Feed Reader, it is a matter of finding sites that syndicate content and adding their RSS feed to the list of feeds your Feed Reader checks. Many sites display a small icon with the acronyms RSS, XML, or RDF to let you know a feed is available.
Here's a link to a description of what rss is: http://www.rss-specifications.com/subscribe-to-fe…
I hope that helps – let me know if it worked for you.
Lynn Dye
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