# Can I set up Thunderbird to check my Hotmail account? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 2, 2005, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-set-up-thunderbird-to-check-my-hotmail-account/297430 "2005-04-02T19:00:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DadWagonDriver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/edb3f5/32.png) [@DadWagonDriver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DadWagonDriver)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2005, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-set-up-thunderbird-to-check-my-hotmail-account/297430/1 "2005-04-02T19:00:30Z")
Gosh, how embarassing to ask such a n00b question. But, I’m sick of having to go to Hotmail to check my various accounts with them. Can I set up T-Bird or Outlook Express to check my Hotmail accounts? ---
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2005, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-set-up-thunderbird-to-check-my-hotmail-account/297430/2 "2005-04-02T19:04:05Z")
> [@wmulax93](#): > > Gosh, how embarassing to ask such a n00b question. But, I’m sick of having to go to Hotmail to check my various accounts with them. Can I set up T-Bird or Outlook Express to check my Hotmail accounts? You can set up outlook , to check hotmail , I am not sure if T-bird supports it without a plugin. In Outlook , when you set up a new account , look for the drop down box that would normally support POP or IMAP and look for HTML , then add your normal hotmail user name and password Declan ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2005, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-set-up-thunderbird-to-check-my-hotmail-account/297430/3 "2005-04-02T19:08:48Z")
You can only check it with Outlook if you have a pay account though, right? ---
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2005, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-set-up-thunderbird-to-check-my-hotmail-account/297430/4 "2005-04-02T19:18:18Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > You can only check it with Outlook if you have a pay account though, right? I access hotmail through the web , so aside from experimenting with it several years ago , I could not tell ya if its a pay service now , or if your paying for the filters. Declan ---
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2005, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-set-up-thunderbird-to-check-my-hotmail-account/297430/5 "2005-04-02T19:22:11Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > You can only check it with **Outlook** if you have a pay account though, right? Okay , I just set up my hotmail account and no transaction pop ups appeared or links to the msn site that would hit me up for money ---
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2005, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-set-up-thunderbird-to-check-my-hotmail-account/297430/6 "2005-04-02T19:27:51Z")
> [@Declan](#): > > Okay , I just set up my hotmail account and no transaction pop ups appeared or links to the msn site that would hit me up for money ah , this linky [hotpopper](http://www.boolean.ca/hotpop/) suggests that you do have to pay for the service with non ms proggies Declan ---
**Author:** ![Earthling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/90db22/32.png) [@Earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthling)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2005, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-set-up-thunderbird-to-check-my-hotmail-account/297430/7 "2005-04-02T19:56:02Z")
> [@wmulax93](#): > > Gosh, how embarassing to ask such a n00b question. But, I’m sick of having to go to Hotmail to check my various accounts with them. Can I set up T-Bird or Outlook Express to check my Hotmail accounts? [ol][li]It’s easy to set up Outlook Express to work with Hotmail. I actually have a suspicion that that’s one of the purposes Microsoft bundles OE for free with every operating system. For specific instructions on how to do so, log in to your Hotmail account on the web, click on the Help link in the upper-right corner, and search for “Outlook Express.” No payment is needed. I don’t know how well it’ll work with _multiple_ Hotmail accounts, though.[/li][li]On page 5 of _Microsoft Outlook Version 2002 Inside Out_, it mentions support for HTML-based email accounts such as Hotmail as a new feature, so from this we can infer that versions of Outlook earlier than 2002 (aka XP) don’t support Hotmail at all. I’ve set up Outlook XP with Hotmail myself, and they get along just fine, and there’s no payment or special account needed.[/li][li]According to [Mozilla.org](http://Mozilla.org)’s official support channels, [Thunderbird does not support Hotmail](http://www.mozilla.org/support/thunderbird/faq#q2.3). There are third-party plugins that allow this functionality, as **Declan** found, but they require a paid Hotmail account.[/li]Uh, have you thought about using Gmail instead? I have plenty of invites to give away, and Thunderbird works great with multiple Gmail accounts as well.[/ol] ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2005, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-set-up-thunderbird-to-check-my-hotmail-account/297430/8 "2005-04-02T20:35:46Z")
> [@Earthling](#): > > For specific instructions on how to do so, log in to your Hotmail account on the web, click on the Help link in the upper-right corner, and search for “Outlook Express.” No payment is needed. After I click the help link, there’s a list of “Recent customer questions”. One of them is “Why can’t I access Outlook or Outlook Express from my free Hotmail account?” which says: > [@](#): > > To protect our users from the increasing amount of unsolicited junk e-mail or spam sent from MSN Hotmail through Outlook and Outlook Express, we have reluctantly had to restrict the new use of Outlook and Outlook Express to subscribers. > > By making this feature part of a subscription, (which requires a user to provide billing information), we can more effectively manage and put a stop to abuse of this functionality, and help protect you and others from unsolicited mail. Looks like payment is indeed needed. ---
**Author:** ![Earthling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/90db22/32.png) [@Earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthling)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2005, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-set-up-thunderbird-to-check-my-hotmail-account/297430/9 "2005-04-02T20:42:55Z")
Well, that’s odd. Even though I primarily use Thunderbird and Gmail, I still experiment with Outlook and Outlook Express on my free Hotmail account occasionally (as late as today!), and they work just fine. Maybe the words “new use” are significant, and people like myself who have had accounts for years are grandfathered. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2005, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-set-up-thunderbird-to-check-my-hotmail-account/297430/10 "2005-04-02T21:48:35Z")
> [@Earthling](#): > > Well, that’s odd. Even though I primarily use Thunderbird and Gmail, I still experiment with Outlook and Outlook Express on my free Hotmail account occasionally (as late as today!), and they work just fine. Maybe the words “new use” are significant, and people like myself who have had accounts for years are grandfathered. This is indeed true. I received a notice for Hotmail Staff about 2 weeks ago saying that since I’m a long term user, I can continue to use Outlook (!!!??? Yeah, right) to access Hotmail. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2005, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-set-up-thunderbird-to-check-my-hotmail-account/297430/11 "2005-04-02T22:16:33Z")
Huh, I was a long time user, and I used it with Outlook, and it just stopped working for me when they stopped the free access. Maybe if I try again it’ll work! ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2005, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-set-up-thunderbird-to-check-my-hotmail-account/297430/12 "2005-04-03T02:26:56Z")
Hey, it works! I guess my account was grandfathered in. I’m sure it stopped working before though, I guess having this active for older accounts is something they did some time after stopping it for all free accounts. ---
**Author:** ![Cugel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cugel/32/1199_2.png) [@Cugel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cugel)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2005, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-set-up-thunderbird-to-check-my-hotmail-account/297430/13 "2005-04-03T04:20:25Z")
[Getmail](http://www.e-eeasy.com/GetMail.aspx) is another workaround. Forwards your Hotmail to another account e.g. your ISP account.