Updated February 13, 2012
UPDATE: Microsoft has released Outlook Hotmail Connector 14.0.6106.5001 (I’ll explain in a minute). Follow the procedure on this page to install this version of the connector, or to upgrade from an earlier version.
IMPORTANT: If you use the Outlook Hotmail Connector to sync your Outlook calendar with your Hotmail calendar, DO NOT INSTALL THIS! There are reports that the new version of the connector breaks the synchronization with the Hotmail Calendar. For a write-up about the situation, including a link to the complete discussion in the Microsoft forums, visit: http://www.ghacks.net/2011/07/10/microsoft-outlook-connector-update-breaks-hotmail-sync/
What, you ask, is the Outlook Hotmail Connector? Seeing as both Outlook 2010 and Hotmail are Microsoft products, it would only make sense that you should be able to set up a Hotmail Outlook 2010 connection, which would use Outlook to read your Hotmail. And you can. The secret is the Outlook Hotmail Connector. This Hotmail connector is an Outlook add-in that goes far beyond a simple POP3 connection to:
- Read and Send Hotmail messages
- Manage your Hotmail contacts
- Block junk email messages
- Sync your safe and blocked lists between Hotmail & Outlook
- Manage and synchronize Windows Live Calendar (and other calendars) from Outlook
- Apply Outlook Rules to the Hotmail account, even if it isn’t your primary account
- View your Hotmail account status in the Outlook status bar
The 14.0.6106.5001 release that came out on July 7, 2011 fixes a number of stability and reliability problems. Of particular note is a switch to using the HTTPS protocol for communication between Outlook and Hotmail. That’s the same protocol that is probably used by your online banking account, and means better security for your messages.
Now about that version number…
According to Microsoft, there was some confusion among users because people (including Microsoft) referred to earlier versions of the Outlook Hotmail Connector as 14.0, 14.1, 14.2 and so on, while if you checked the version number in the software, you would find some ugly thing like 14.0.6106.5001.
To make our lives simpler, someone decided to get rid of one of the version numbers. Unfortunately, it was the human-friendly one, so from now on, we’re gonna have to deal with the 11-digit version numbers instead of the 3-digit ones.
Making the Hotmail Outlook 2010 Connection with the Outlook Hotmail Connector
Setting this up is pretty easy. The one thing to watch out for is that you need to be sure to install the correct version of the Outlook Hotmail Connector. There’s one version for the 32-bit version of Outlook 2010, and another for the 64-bit version.
How do you know whether you have the 32-bit or the 64-bit version? In Outlook, click the File tab on the ribbon, then click Help. In the right-hand pane, you will find information about your copy of Outlook. This includes a version number. At the end of the version number, in parentheses, you can see whether you have the 32-bit version or the 64-bit version.
The Procedure
With that out of the way, let’s get started installing the Outlook Hotmail Connector:
- If you have the 32-bit version of Outlook 2010, click HERE. If you have the 64-bit version, click HERE. This takes you to the right spot in the Microsoft Download Center.
- Click the Download button that appears on this page. The Opening OutlookConnector.exe box appears.
- Click the Save File button. This begins the download.
- Locate the OutlookConnector.exe file on your hard drive and double-click it to launch it.
- Follow the instructions that appear on the screen to install the Outlook Hotmail Connector.
Downloading and installing the connector will only take a few minutes. Once you are done, you will need to restart Outlook 2010 to allow the connector to work properly.
Working with the Outlook Hotmail Connector
Once you restart Outlook, you should see a box asking if you want to add a Hotmail account to Outlook. Follow these instructions to do so:
- Click Yes to begin.
- In the Windows Live Hotmail Settings box that appears, fill out the appropriate information for the Hotmail account you wish to add (you must have a Hotmail account set up before you can do this step). Make sure that “Remember password” is checked if you don’t want to have to type it in every time Outlook check the account.
- Click OK to continue setting up the account. It may take Outlook a few minutes to do this. During this time, a new folder will appear in the Navigation Pane of the Mail view. This is the folder that corresponds to your Hotmail account.
From now on, Outlook will sync with your Hotmail account. This means that changes you make to your account through your web browser (say reading a new message, or deleting a piece of junk mail) will be reflected in Outlook, and vice versa. You can test this yourself by logging into your Hotmail account using your web browser and making some change. Within a few moments the change will appear in Outlook.
Now that you have the Outlook Hotmail Connector set up, you can learn more about using Outlook with other web-based email accounts by visiting this Outlook Email Accounts page.
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Stewart,
Thanks for this information. It’s great when people can contribute like this. Now I haven’t personally tried this solution. If anyone else chooses to try this, please post your results here.
–Bill
Spent two days trying to establish wny some contacts never sync with hotmail using the latest MS connector for outlook.
After a degree of troubleshooting, I have found that if in the detailed contact fields (in outlook contacts, open a contact and view details for all mail fields) check the entry for Message Class. If it is anything other than IPM.Contact then in all likelyhood it will never sync.
I found a small utility on the internet which is great fir changing the Message Class without the usual method of writing a VB script. It is a small APP called DocMessageClass.exe and the version I found was at http://www.publicshareware.com/download/DocMessageClass.zip
The original company does not seem to exist anymore and I have run this on Outlook 2007 (it is claimed to run on earlier versions as well but I have not tested it anywhere) .
It is also listed on this liunk with a full description;
http://www.experts-exchange.com/Software/Office_Productivity/Groupware/Outlook/A_4317-Mass-Change-Outlook-Contacts-to-Use-a-New-Form.html
Usual precautions, MAKE SURE YOU BACKUP EVERYTHING BEFORE USE
All problems solved!
Lisa,
I’m sorry to hear of all the problems. I may be able to help with #1. Instructions for importing an ics file are here: http://explore.live.com/windows-live-calendar-subscribe-calendar-ui That said, you need to be sure you are on the latest version of the Outlook Hotmail Connector. A previous version had all sorts of problems with the calendar and with synching in general.
#3 As far as I know there is no manual sync option.
I hope this helps at least a little.
–Bill
I’m having such trouble with the connector and Outlook 2007
1. Won’t let me upload my ics file from my outlook calendar to hotmail without crashing in hotmail.
2. I manually uploaded my contacts to hotmail AND copied them within outlook to my hotmail contacts within outlook and it doubled it in hotmail! UGH! So now started over and waiting waiting for outlook to sync to hotmail.
3. is there a manual sync option on connector?
Lisa
I am not aware of any limits, but I can’t honestly say that I’ve ever seen anything in writing one way or the other about how far back the Outlook Hotmail Connector will sync.
Anyone have any solid information on this?
Anyone aware of limitation on the age of items being synced? I recently reinstalled Office 2010 and when syncing through the hotmail connector only messages from the last year appeared. Before it used to sync everything. When using the Live Essentials 2011 Mail program it synced approx. 2 years back.
Robert,
Try this: clicking the File tab, then Options then Add-Ins to get to the add-ins page. Then click the Add-in Options button to see if you get any options for the Outlook Hotmail Connector.
–Bill
Hello,
I encountered problem installing outlook connector. AS I opoened Outlook for the first time the Windows Live Hotmail Settings boxapeared but I accidentaly closed it. The box never apeared again, even when uninstaled and reinstaled the addon. Do have any clue how can I fix it?
Thanks hopefully they will.
Greg,
I believe this is a limitation of the connector. I tried my usual trick for grouping contacts, which is to categorize them, then view by category, but that doesn’t work either.
Maybe in the next edition they will make the contacts work exactly the same in Hotmail and Outlook?
–Bill
Bill,
Thanks for your time I was able to fix all my contacts to conform to Hotmail’s online limitations and I am ok now with that problem. My new problem is that I would like to sort my contacts into groups so that I can select a group called work and only see contacts associated with my job. I can do it on the online Hotmail account but in outlook I cannot seem to do it very thing I try either give me an error message stating “cannot create the folder. You cannot create subfolders in a mailbox for a web-based account.” I am selecting my contact list and not an email account but I think that the problem again is that it is linked to the online account. Do you know how to create smaller sub groups with in my contacts?
Greg
Greg,
I’m afraid I can’t be of much help on this. I don’t know of any options that would allow you to do what you are asking. I think the best bet would be to investigate the iPhone side of things to see if they have any solutions to the contact issue. Sorry I can’t be of any real help here.
–Bill
I have recently upgraded to window 7 64 bits and office 2010 32 bits. I have set up the Hotmail connector for my email which works great but it also synced my contacts and did some very unfortunate things to them like limiting the size of my notes attached to them and deleting almost all of my phone numbers and addresses pretty much all that is left is the name of the contact. Luckily I have a backup of my contacts. I believe that the problem is with the online version of my contacts because when I was syncing my IPhone I received several error messages from the Hotmail contactor stating problems with character counts. How can I stop the connector from syncing my contacts but continue to sync everything else so that I may have my information back. I did figure out how load my back up file but I loaded it as a separate data base and the data remained intact even after rebooting the computer. The problem with this is while this does not sync to windows live it also does not sync to my I phone which is a must. Simply put I am looking to dump the default contact list that syncs to Hotmail and install my old contact list as the default one and have it sync to my IPhone. I did not have this problem with office 2003. Please help!
Greg
H.S.,
I don’t have any specific suggestions for you. I know that your system technically meets the system requirements for Office 2010 (I’m assuming your CPU is fast enough) but that seems like a really low-powered machine to be running Office 2010 in general and Outlook 2010 in particular. I know when I used to use a Tablet PC, there was a lot of operating system overhead for the handwriting interface and it was just slow.
All I can suggest is closing any other applications when you are using Outlook and giving it some time to chug away.
Sorry I can’t be of more help.
–Bill
I have installed office suite 2010 professional and I have problems using outlook. It takes a very long time to synchronize my folders in hotmail and it freezes my computer when I try to read my e-mails or send a new e-mail. I am running windows XP service pack 3 on my tablet PC and rest of the the office suite seems to work OK. I have 1 gig Ram . Please let me know if you have any suggestions
Ok, my “Limited Connectivity” problem has disappeared again. Are you guys seeing it continuously, or does it come and go?
Gentlemen,
Now I’m seeing the “Limited Connectivity” messages as well. I’m also seeing error messages that Outlook isn’t able to connect to the Windows Live Calendar, and that it can’t synchronize my folder hierarchy. If not for you guys, I would have attributed this to the fact that I’m currently sitting in a small village in Mexico with less than ideal Internet connectivity. Now I would have to say that it is an issue with Hotmail since we’re all seeing it. Web access still works fine for me too. Am assuming it will clear up after a bit, but have no further information right now.
Same issue. Office 2010 (Outlook 32-bit) on Windows 7. Just upgraded Connector from 14.0 to 14.1, same issue.
Outgoing mail won’t go, and the message “limited Connectivity” in the Outlook status bar. I also recreated to local mail file for my hotmail account, but same problem.
Web access still works fine though. HELP!!!!
Michael,
I spent some time searching for possible answers to your problem with no luck. I am running 32-bit Outlook and of course the 32-bit connector with no trouble. I suggest you post on social.answers.microsoft.com and see if one of the Microsofties themselves can help.
Sorry I don’t have anything more useful to give you.
–Bill
The “Limited Connectivity” is not in the system tray of Windows (like in network problems) it is in the Status Bar of Outlook. I have just upgraded to Office 2010 64 bit and the newest 64 bit Outlook connector for Hotmail. Now Send receive takes forever and always results in numerous errors like 0×80004005 (Network Operation Failed) og 0x8004102a “There was an error synchronizing you folder hierarchy” and several Server out of memory errors.
Bill,
This is a confusing situation. In my experience, a “Limited Connectivity” message means a network problem. And my research into your issue backs that up.
That said, I don’t know why IE would be working ok?
CAN ANY READERS HELP US FIGURE THIS ONE OUT?
I loaded Office 2010 and am attempting to run Outlook against a my email address above. When it is running it will get an error message in the bottom bar to the right of the Send/Receive message that states ” Limited Connectivity” and then the system seems to just continue getting a send/receive error message.
Is this an Outook issue, a Hotmail issue, or a network issue? As a further note the IE web browser seems to be working okay and the network in the OS doesn’t show any error messages.
Any help would be appreciated or suggestions on who can help fix this would be helpful.
Corie,
I am not finding any information about this kind of problem, so let’s start at the beginning, just so we can rule things out and know exactly where we stand.
1. Did you use an existing Hotmail account?
2. When you use your web browser, does that account still work normally?
3. Was Outlook connected to an Exchange Server before all this started?
4. Which version of Outlook 2010 are you using 32-bit or 64-bit?
–Bill
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thank you for your reply. i got it figured out
it helps when i read ALL of the directions! thanks so much for your post, it was extremely helpful
~Corie
I’m frustrated…i’ve followed all of the steps but it still isn’t letting me link my hotmail. It just keeps asking if I want to repair or remove the connector, it isn’t asking me to connect the account and I cant get outlook to open now it keeps asking for the microsoft exchange server?!? HELP PLEASE
Hi thanks for your advice