How to Set Up Outlook.com Email on Windows Mail

Authored by: Support.com Tech Pro Team

1. Introduction

Outlook.com and Hotmail.com are very popular, free to use email service providers. This guide will help you setup the Windows 10 Mail program to access your email, rather than rely on the web interface.

Before You Begin:

Verify Password
Before setting up, take a moment to visit the web-based version of your email, and try to log in. You will need to remember your password in order to complete setup.

2. Setup Windows 10 Mail with Outlook.com Account

Outlook.com and Hotmail.com email addresses are hosted from the same servers, any instructions listed here will apply to both.

Open Windows 10 Mail, and select Add account.

Windows 10 Mail welcome screen with Add account highlighted.

Select Outlook.com from the list.

Add account with Outlook.com highlighted.

Type in your full email address, and select Next.

Enter your email password, and select Sign in.

After a few moments, your email will sync and appear in your inbox.

Outlook.com mail setup in Windows 10 Mail.

Your email account is now setup in Windows Mail! Open Windows Mail any time you'd like to check your email.

3. Basic Use of Windows Mail

Windows Mail is a simple program to use, with the workflow going from left to right. What this means is you choose things on the left, then move a column to the right, choose something else, and move a column to the right to read or do something.

This guide will give you a brief overview of the three sections of Windows Mail, and the options in each one.

Menu Ribbon

On the left-hand side is the Menu Ribbon containing many of the major areas you may wish to visit when you are working with your Mail.

Expands the menu with text descriptions, favorite folders, etc.

New Mail

Allows you to compose a new mail message to someone.

Windows Mail with new mail message highlighted.

Accounts

If you have multiple mail accounts, you can choose which account you are working with.

Folders

Allows you to choose what folder of mail you are in, such as a subfolder in your Inbox for organization, or the Trash if you've deleted something on accident.

Mail

Microsoft considers Mail part of a suite of communication applications, this reminds you where you are.

Calendar

Open the Calendar app to organize appointments.

People

Open the people app to manage your Contacts.

To-Do

Opens the Tasks app to create to-do lists.

Settings

Change settings in the Mail program, such as customizing how often it checks for new mail, or the background image.

Messages Pane

Just after the Menu ribbon, you will see your Messages Pane, where you're shown a small icon (a picture if the contact has one, otherwise just their initials), the sender's name, the Subject, and the first little bit of the message itself as a preview. It's organized by date, and shows the time the message came in on the right if it was recently.

Items in bold haven't been opened yet. Normal items have been opened.

At the top are the following options:

Allows you to search through your messages.

Sync

Refreshes your messages, and checks-in any new messages right away.

Selection Mode

Most useful when you want to delete a lot of messages, Selection Mode will let you put checks next to messages to select multiple pieces of mail, and either delete, move, copy, print, or any other "bulk" task to a bunch of messages at once.

In addition, when you move your mouse over any mail in this list, three other icons appear.

Composing and Sending an Email

Select the + from the Menu Ribbon, and the far-right pane will change to allow you to write an email.

Generally speaking, you will need to put in the other person's email address for To, the Subject of your email, and then the body of your email. When you are done, select Send in the top-right corner.