I wrote yesterday about how to interface Hotmail with Gmail now that Microsoft has opened up their Hotmail service to all POP3 clients. Without being so technical, the opening of POP3 allows you to check your @hotmail.com or @live.com addresses from a traditional POP3 client – such as Outlook or in this case, Thunderbird. I’ll detail how to connect Thunderbird to the Hotmail service, but, generally speaking, the information is applicable to most other desktop email applications

  1. From within Thunderbird open Tools->Account Settings from the top menu.

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  2. Once inside Account Settings click Add Account.

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  3. Choose Email Account.

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  4. Then supply your Name and Hotmail/Live email address.

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  5. For the Server Information select POP and use the address pop3.live.com for the Incoming Server.

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  6. Your Incoming User Name should already be completed for you.

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  7. Then choose a label for your Account Name – this can be anything you’d like.

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  8. Finally confirm that everything entered previously was correct.

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  9. Up till this point it’s been pretty straightforward and not unlike adding any other email account. But in order to tie Hotmail in fully, you must enable POP3 over SSL. You should now be back on the Account Settings dialog with your newly created Hotmail account. Select Server Settings underneath Hotmail, then under Security Settings choose SSL. You’ll notice the port has changed from 110 to 995.

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  10. From this same dialog, I recommend to Leave messages on server by checking the appropriate box under Server Settings. Otherwise, Thunderbird will pull the emails down locally and remove them from the Hotmail web interface – likely eliminating one of the major advantages of having your email in the cloud.

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  11. Lastly, if you want to be able to send email from our Hotmail/Live account you’ll need to add Microsoft’s SMTP server information. Still in the Account Settings dialog click Outgoing Server (SMTP) and then  Add. Provide the information as seen below.

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  12. Eleven steps later you are now able to send and receive email from your Hotmail account from within Mozilla Thunderbird. If you have multiple email accounts configured in Thunderbird, you are able to switch between identities in the Compose window – click the From drop down to toggle back and forth.

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