Windows Live Mail actually stores individual emails in industry standard. There are lots of ways to do this, and Microsoft provided reasonably clear instructions along with the announcement: Windows Live Mail 2012 will not connect to If you decide to switch to the Mail app or Microsoft Office Outlook, then you will need to import your emails from Windows Live Mail. Your “new” account only does email, so you will lose the address book/contacts and calendar features. Once you have downloaded your emails using the new settings, you can use the mouse to drag-and-drop emails across from the “old” Microsoft account, but don’t delete it. The settings shown in the screenshot worked perfectly for one of my old Hotmail accounts even though Windows Live Mail didn’t work with the automatic settings. WLM server settings Photograph: Jack Schofield/Screengrab Some people who want to use the Mail app will have to upgrade to Windows 10 to get it. The Mail app has another drawback: it runs on Windows 8/8.1/10, but not on Windows XP/Vista/7. However, you may not need them, or you may already be using a range of apps instead. Outlook is far more powerful than Windows Live Mail and has more advanced features for emails, contacts, calendars and to-do lists. The Mail app is simpler but less powerful than Windows Live Mail: it has limited options for sorting emails, and it cannot send emails to groups. These don’t expire.Įither way, it is a slightly awkward choice: you can upgrade to Outlook or downgrade to Mail, but you can’t stay at the same level. Alternatively, you could buy a standalone copy of Microsoft Office Home and Business 2016 (£164) or Microsoft Office Outlook 2016 instead. The obvious catch is that, after the first year, you’d be paying £59.99 per year for Office 365 Personal, though this does include full copies of Microsoft Office programs plus a 1TB free online storage. (You should have received this offer by email, but if not, the details are online.) Outlook costs money, but Microsoft is offering Live Mail users a free subscription to Office 365 for one year. Microsoft suggests using either its free Mail app or Outlook, the email and personal information manager that is part of Microsoft Office. Microsoft is moving all its own email services to a single codebase at Photograph: Mike Segar / Reuters/Reuters Microsoft suggests.

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