The day of reckoning is here, Hotmail users, after six weeks of migrating 150 petabytes (150 million GBs) of data to the Outlook.com email view. Don't start weeping just yet; your Hotmail address remains the same, you'll just see and experience Outlook's revamped interface.
Read on for the new features to expect as you move from Hotmail's old platform.
Though just announced July 2012, Microsoft's new non-Hotmail email service, Outlook.com, has already grown to 60 million users and is ready for the wild world of nonbeta. Beginning today and progressing over the next several weeks, Hotmail's current hundreds of millions users will start to see their email experience switch to Outlook's web-based email platform. Hotmail addresses won't be changing, but what will be is the way Hotmailers interact with email.
From a solution to "sweep" out inbox clutter to social-media syncing, read on for what to expect in the new Hotmail/Outlook.com look.
Microsoft's Hotmail has just announced a new Active Views platform for messages, allowing users to receive interactive email. Starting this week with partners Orbitz and Monster.com will deliver the first interactive messages to users, allowing recipients to take action with these sites (say, booking a vacation) directly within their inboxes. More partners (like Netflix and LinkedIn) are coming soon.
Find out more after the break.
How many email addresses do you have? I have about five. My main email account for family and friends, one for newsletters and junk, an oldie I keep around for long-time friends, and a few others I use for professional reasons. Having all these email accounts is good for keeping spam out of my main inbox but can prove to be tricky when I forget the log-in info.
This dilemma is now a thing of the past for Hotmail users, since Microsoft launched alias accounts, which allow you to compartmentalize your digital life without needing to remember multiple sign-ins; you can access them all from your main Hotmail account. Find out more, including how many aliases you can have at once after the jump.
Over the holiday weekend, Hotmail users worldwide have been reporting disappearing emails from their inboxes. Microsoft claims it's not a widespread issue, but acknowledged that there is a problem and is working with impacted users to resolve it. The company expects to recover the missing messages completely.
According to affected users, inboxes and folders have been completely emptied; some even thought their accounts might have been hacked. It's the perfect time for a quick reminder: back up important emails regularly! But if you do suspect you've been hacked somewhere along the way, I've got some quick tips on how to handle it, and what to do next after the jump.
A messy inbox can lead to big-time stress, especially when you're short on time and can't wade through every unread. Although there are plenty of ways to keep your email's inbox in check on your own, Microsoft is picking up some of the slack for you with its updated version of Hotmail, making things easier than ever to work directly from your inbox.
Hot on the heels of the revamped Microsoft Office, Hotmail is also undergoing a transformation of sorts, using some of the same features. Notably, the new Hotmail allows you to work in Excel, PowerPoint, and Word right from your inbox without having the programs installed on your computer, thanks to Microsoft's Office web apps (which work similarly to Google Docs). Another helpful feature is "Sweep," which allows you to focus on emails that are most important — messages from contacts and social networks — while the other clutter (newsletters, offers, and the like) can be automatically swept aside into a dedicated folder, keeping you from getting distracted and suffering from a frustrating case of inbox meltdown.
Send a lot of photos and video? Learn about what Hotmail lets you do with your favorite pics and see a demo of the new system after the break.
Microsoft recently unveiled a mandatory site redesign for Hotmail, which looks blue and pleasant enough, but not everyone is as happy with the new look. I wanted to take a look-see, so I signed up for an account. Even though it's been years, I remembered my old Hotmail account info — not that it mattered, since everything is Windows Live now.
But, oh to access my old Hotmail account — I had it during my college days years ago, when it seemed like everyone did, though I now use mainly Gmail (where it seems all my friends are now, too). Since I feel like a Hotmail account a few years ago was as pervasive as AOL was 15 years ago and Gmail is now, prove or unprove my theory: Have you ever been a Hotmail user?
