Sync Outlook with Windows Live Calendar For Free – Updated

During this last week, Microsoft released a new version of its Microsoft Outlook Connector. This happened to add support for the recent update done on Windows Live Calendar which is still in Beta.

With this update you can now sync multiple Windows Live Calendars with Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 or Office Outlook 2007. You can now take advantage of Outlook’s great calendar and time management features and still access your schedule on the web anytime, and anywhere… and always for free (ok you need to buy outlook first… although there are other ways to get outlook… like… maybe some special… very special promotions… :)…!! )

For those that never used the Windows Live Calendar Beta, you can access it on this web address: http://calendar.live.com. It has a fast and functional Ajax user interface providing a rich experience on the web… supporting many new features making Outlook look even better!! For example, if you have multiple calendars (maybe one to use for work, another one for your events) or even shared calendars, each of them will sync with Microsoft Office Outlook always by using the Office Outlook Connector Beta.

Check out the How To? after the break…

 

First the Requirements… you need to have the following:

  • Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 or 2007
  • If you’re reading this you must have internet… right 🙂
  • A Windows Live/Hotmail Account (if you don’t have an account, click here to register)

 

Now the How To? You need to do the following:

  • Download the Office Outlook Connector 12.1 Beta Microsoft Office Outlook Hotmail Connector from here
  • If outlook is open, close it
  • Install the downloaded Office Outlook Connector 12.1 Beta Microsoft Office Outlook Hotmail Connector
  • Run Outlook
  • Enter your Windows Live/Hotmail account details in the prompt loaded
  • Your Windows Live/Hotmail account can be accessed from the Mail Folders List as one of your personal folders

Any appointments you make, they are automatically synced back to your live account and can be accessed from anywhere!! Another important thing is that you can have as many Hotmail accounts as you want synced with your Outlook… Finally The Cost?… No need to worry cause it’s free!!! What can I say??? Thank you Microsoft!!! 😉 Happy Calendaring!

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85 Responses

  1. I tried and it does not really sync. It appears to add your hotmail account to outlook. I was looking to sync my work outlook calendar with my hotmail calendar. Now I can see both calendars in outlook but it does not take appointments from on e and place it in the other. Same goes with mail and contacts.

    • Yes finally. I have srtgguled these last few years with two calendars google (from anywhere) and blackberry/outlook from car or appt. This is great can’t wait to try it.

  2. Hi Greg, sorry for the misunderstanding… what the Microsoft Outlook Connector does is that it creates a new ‘Personal Folders’ in your Outlook… which shows you all the mails and calendar events in your hotmail. Then if you add new events or delete any mail, it syncs back to the online hotmail and calendar. I will check if there’s some sync tool that can sync other personal calendars… in your case your work outlook calendar… with your windows live account/hotmail.

  3. This works for syncing with outlook and homtail / live. Once the info is in outlook, don’t get fooled into thinking that it will sync with an iPhone via iTunes. Apparently the outlook connector stores calendar and such in a new location that iTunes isn’t aware of. It would be nice if Microsoft made stuff work with iphone… heck the only reason i bought outlook was cause that’s the only app iphone would sync with.

  4. Hi there

    I can sync my live.com account with Outlook 2003.
    Now what I want is to use Personal Folders (.pst) so that I can store my e-mails there instead of having them online.
    I’ve already added the .pst and set it up to deliver the messages there but it is not working.

    Suggestions?

    thanks

  5. (1) I want to do the same thing that Greg mentioned – I want my current Exchange calendar in Outlook to synchronize with my Windows Live Calendar, so that they both have the same appointments and changes in one are reflected in the other. Anyone know if this is possible?

    (2) Larry – I think you have it backwards. Outlook is an established product with an enormous user base. The phone you are talking about is tiny in comparison. Why should Microsoft have to design their software for that small portion of users? Instead I think Apple should make their phone work with the standard e-mail client, i.e. Outlook. If you want things to work together nicely, get a Windows Mobile phone.

    • Hi Darren,

      Hoping you can help me – I just got a HTC – Mozart and I am hoping to get all my calendar entries from Outlook on my PC to sync with my phone calendar.

      Is this possible and how?

      Thanks heaps

      Donna

      • Donna,

        This is possible and I just did it. You will have to do the following steps to accomplish this.

        1. From your Outlook Client you will have to publish your calendar to Office.live (select access to everyone and share rhe full details)
        2. Once published share the calendar and it will prompt you to send a mail to someone with whom you want to share the claendar, yuu need this step to get the website address of the calendar you published in step-1. The adress is something like webcals://……, copy this adress by removing the “s” from “webcals”.
        3. Go to your windows live calendar, click on any claendar and you will have the option to subscribe. click and follow the steps, you will have to give the adress that you copied in step-2. Thats it…

        Let me know if this worked for you. Regards, Rizwan…

  6. Is a sharepoint calender at Microsoft Office Live Workspace not the solution to this? I am trying to figure it out… Already have a Calendar folder opened in my Outlook 2003. Now I am messing with access settings… i only have read-only permissions, but I want to have full access and organise meetings from the sharepoint calendar…

  7. Clearly, MSN is misleading if it claims that the outlook and MSN live/hotmail calendars. It is just not true. Overlaying two calendars on top of each other is NOT the same as synchronising them.

    Microsoft does only provide this very half-hearted function overlay function so that I-Phones cannot be synchronised with hotmail accounts. Shame- the outlook connector adds only very little by doing this.

    If anyone knows of a solution to true synchronisation of hotmail and outlook, it would be greatly appreciated. Outlook connector is NOT the answer.

  8. I’ve been messing with this all morning, this is NOT syncing as others have appropriately alluded above. All this does is allow you to view your Windows Live Calendar within Outlook and manage it. Any editing to your original Outlook calendar is not reflected or synced in any manner with your Live Calendar and vice-versa.

    Furthermore, as far as I can tell, this does not allow any additional capability to sync your Live Calendar with a Windows Mobile Device (ie there is still no capability to do this).

    TRUE syncing (IMO) would be ONE calendar shared between all three of these platforms. That is my pipe dream…

    This goes exactly the same for contacts as well (ie not really “syncing”). However, I do see you could just import your entire contact list from Outlook, and then with using Windows Live Mobile, sync contacts to your WM device; this seems mostly convenient (sometimes I just need to manually sync the WM Device – Outlook syncs when you “Send/Receive”).

  9. Would it really be so hard to offer free syncing between outlook and windows live? I’m able to view/edit my outlook calendar via google calendar perfectly right now, but windows live is so much cooler 🙂

  10. I will just stick to google sync. It works as it is supposed to work. The windows live connector is not doing what it says it can do. Microsoft always has to make it hard. What a racket!

  11. I have to agree with James, I read the info and worked diligently to get this thing to supposedly sync using my Live ID which is my gmail account and another account not hotmail. only to discover that there is no unity sync as stated. Very frustrating and complete waste of my time. I do not like the false or half truths espoused by Microsoft and their products. Someone please free me from the tyranny!

  12. I hate to rupture the bubble that any aforementioned people have stated above, but Outlook Connector since September of 2008 has had support for syncing calendar data FROM outlook back to the service on the web. I have been using this to track my Bills, School Work, and other social activities. The only shortcoming I have found is the inability to have it syncronize to my blackberry without any third party intervention. A minor complaint at best.

    You have to ensure that you are working on the tabs, or calendars, that outlook connector brings to Outlook. IE: My bills calendar is a red tab at the top. If i want to add my Electric Bill to the bills calendar, i simply right click and add the event. When i do my next send/receive sync, it automagically pops up in the calendar and with a simple refresh, its also been placed on my online calendar, not just the local Outlook Calendar. Now I’m not sure if this works with the “default” calendar setup, your mileage may vary.

    • Finally someone who knows what they are talking about.
      Way to go Chuck.

      You have to make the account the default account or it will not work.

      Chuck if I update the Live Caledar (edit it there)
      when I do a send/recieve will it sync back to Outlook?

      MTF

    • You seem to not have any problems with this….Can you please see my question that I posted and let me know what you think? I’m confused…

    • Here’s my question, so you don’t have to scroll to the bottom and find it:

      I’m trying to sync my Outlook 2007 calendar to my Windows Calendar. My hotmail account is over 10 years old….Is this still a ‘live’ account and is this maybe the issue? In my OL ‘07, I have three different hotmail accounts synced to it, so I have multiple calendars (quite a few actually) on the ‘calendars’ tab, and may need to rid of a few since I only use the one. Right now, there is a different calendar that is syncing to this main hotmail account, but it’s a different calendar that I use for my work…The main one that I use, my personal one in OL, is the one that I want to sync over as well so I am able to access both of them in hotmail. I was told I have to copy the ’shared web address’ from OL (the web address that is sent out to whoever I want to share my calendar with), and then go to my hotmail account and click on ’subscribe’ and put that web address in there. I did, and it didn’t give me any errors originally (that was last night), but when I checked this morning it said that it could not sync it for some reason. I usually don’t have my computer on all the time, but had it on all night in order for OL to hopefully sync with my hotmail acct. I’m lost here…Shouldn’t this have worked? Or isn’t this calendar considered an ‘online calendar?’ Basically the default calendar for this account works fine…All my work info is synced, but this additional ‘personal’ calendar will not. Please help!

    • No, you’re missing the point. Syncing would be merging the Outlook calendar with the Live calendar. This is still separate calendars. You can enter data in Outlook for your Live calendar, but it won’t sync data from the main calendar to Live.

  13. I got the solution. You can sync the outlook with live calendar using the connector. All you have to do after you installed the connector and configured the live account is to tell outlook to use the live folder as you default folder (in outllok 2007: tools> account settings>data files tab>select hotmail account and click “set as default”)
    Now, use the live calendar at your office (every invitation will go to the live calendar) and you will have access at the web.
    If you already have many appointments in you local calendar, just copy them manually (only one time) to the live calendar.

      • Have done it like Nimrod said but with Outlook 2003. Sync) for Calendar and Contacts works. They only items which are not synced are “Task Items”. Any hints how to sync them also or even how to sync Notes?

    • Nimrod, do you know if this works if my Live ID is a gmail address, not hotmail? My current outlook is syn with gmail. For calendar, i like the Live calendar so much more than the Google calenar. So I am trying to syn my Live calendar to my Outlook 2007. Any advice??? Thx!

      • In outlook, when I try to set my hotmail account as default it gives me an error message “The personal Folders file (.pst) you selected does not match the format of your offline folder file (.ost). To correct this, select a personal folders file that supports unicode or disable the use of offline folders”. Is this because I use outlook in cached exchange mode? Do I have to use outlook strictly in online mode to be able to take advantage of your solution?

    • Nimrod, I’m not sure how your suggestion works. When you set up a live account using outlook connector there is no associated data file. In fact, under “account settings”, “Data Files”, the filename for the live account says “Not available”, so when you click on “set as default” it errors out. Any suggestions.

      • Can you be more specific on how you do this in outlook 2003?

        After I installed Connector I ended up with 2 main folders – “Personal Folders” which contains the calandar, address book, etc which sync with my WM device (WM can only sync to this location) and a “hotmail” folder which contains my windows live calander, contacts etc.

        I’m looking to get to one calander which is syncronised across live, outlook and my WM phone.

  14. OL 2003 default PST synchs Contacts and Clalendar only when GMAIL IMAP account is used. When someone sends a sch+ to my hotmail account, it will not synch the calendar in the defalut PST. GMAIL works fine, Hotmail does not. I need to synch the default so that my WM6 Phone gets Contacts and Calendar synched – which will only work on the Defalut PST. I do not want Hotmail or GMAIL PSTs to be the defalut because I don’t want all my contacts on the Server. I want them locally only. Active Synch can’t split where it synchs the Calendar and contacts. XPSP3, OL 2003 OL connector 12.06 Any ideas?? I want both gamil and Hotmail calendars synched on the Phone from the Default PST.

  15. Using Outlook Connector for a while but there are three major drawbacks for me at the moment:

    1. It creates a own .pst file (so having a second calendar, contacts etc.) and it won’t sync with my PDAs. OK, I know there is “Live Mobile” that does this but I’d like to use ActiveSync / WMDC for some reason – so I need an application (outlook add-in) which is able to sync the two .pst files

    2. Sync with TaskItem does not work:

    The following issues occurred while synchronizing with the server:

    Folder Collection Sync Key: 0

    Error synchronizing changes to appointment find a solution that works “task item name” in folder MyName’s calendar

    Server Id: 8447a212-ed3f-4a00-8244-f927845e869c
    Unable to synchronize item : find a solution that works “task item name”
    Change : Update
    SSE Error : (8004a164)

    It is confusing that log message says appointment but it is a task item (really!!)

    3. Photos in contacts are not synchronized

    Any suggestions? A sync utility (Outlook add-in) which is able to sync Contacts, TaskItems, Calendar etc. betwee the two .pst files would be helpful (freeware). Does Microsoft offer something?

  16. @Nimrod Says:
    February 6, 2009 at 11:18 am

    Oh …. I have seen your post to late 😉 Sounds good and I’ll try it!! Many thanks!!

    –hfr

    PS: how can I force synchronization? Sometimes it takes some minutes until the sync is started … e.g. if I create an appointment and close Outlook and shut down the PC the appointment would’nt be synced …

  17. Connector 12.1 now doesn’t sync Tasks and Notes. And Windows Live Calendar has a “To-do list” that doesn’t sync anywhere in Outlook 2003???

    You’d think that all the INTERNAL Microsoft departments would try to make their products work TOGETHER better instead of SEPERATING them or breaking them apart???

    Any word if this will be fixed or if Live Calendar will ever incorporate Tasks and Notes again??

  18. @Nimrod: Wow, it works. I am now able to sync my default .pst with OL :o) Thank you for your idea setting the “default folder”. In reality it does not sync with the local .pst … In reality now the OL is the default calendar (OL using a .ost file). But it simply works and now I am able to sync: OL Outlook PDA(s) and only need to change e.g. a contact, appointment once!!

    @Evillama: Still having the same problem. I think task item should sync but there are error message when OC tries to sync them … I “heard somewhere” that this will work with Outlook 2007 … Don’t know if this is true.

    Hase someone experience with Outlook 2007 + synching task items with Live?

    –hfr

  19. I am using Outlook 2007 and still having the same problem syncing task items with Live! Installed Office Outlook Connector 12.1 Beta and only get calendar, mail and contact synced up!

  20. Thanks for prompt your reply.

    When use use OL About menu item, what version does it display!? I also downloaded and installed 12.1 Beta but it shows 12.0 in the About box *confused*

  21. Would love to be able to sync Windows Live Hotmail – especialy calendar and contacts with Outlook2007 so I can sync with iPod Touch. Did the mBox app through Apple – does the e-mail fine – no contacts or calendar. Ended up setting up a separate user file and installing google calendar and sync application to sync data properly with Outlook 2007 on laptop and Outlook 2003 on office computer…..only solution – now just have to make sure everything syncs properly between the two since Yahoo Intellisync not configured for Outlook 2007 yet.

  22. You can sync Windows Live Calendar with Windows Mobile by way of a third party program. Once such program is Sianix Calendar Sync. In order to sync with Pocket Outlook, you need to share your Windows Live Calendar. Then use the ICS share address to import your Live Calendar.

  23. I’m using the Outlook Connector versión 12.0.6423.1000 and have a Passport.net acccount (myname@myweb.com) created. I tryed to syncronize the calendar and the contacts book with the Outlook 2007, but didm’t work.

    It would be very useful if Microsoft could sync the calendar, task, contacts and notes between Outlook and the Live account, isn’t it?

  24. I use outlook 2007 and windows live calendar – works great with outlook connector 12.1 – BUT how do you sync TASKs and Notes ??? Does anyoneknow if this is possible? Thanks

  25. I tried to sync Outlook with tasks and notes but can’t do it. I had to change to Windows Live Mail to sync tasks but doesn’t have a notes option. Regards.

  26. Outlook Connector 12.1 does not seem to sync tasks and notes between Outlook and Windows Live Calendar.

    This is actually a LOSS of functionality for me as I used to be able to sync e-mail, contacts, calendar, tasks, and notes perfectly between Outlook and my MSN Premium account online. After the switch over to Live, tasks and notes syncing was lost.

    I’ve seen some mention on other sites of tasks and notes syncing being an available feature with “paid subscriptions,” but don’t know how reliable this is, nor do they go into much detail. Paid subscription to what, exactly? Does or will Windows Live Hotmail/Calendar implement a subscription model in addition to the free services? And what became of my MSN Premium account?

    I don’t imagine there are too many people in this boat–i.e., former MSN Premium subscribers–but seriously, what gives? This latest Outlook Connector “upgrade” has been nothing but a step backwards for me. Ughh.

  27. If you use a Free Hotmail account you will only be able to sync Contacs and Calendar this is not posible if you use a Passport.net account. Only if you use a Premium account (how much it costs?) will sync contacts, calendar, notes and tasks. Why don’t we write to MS and ask for it?

    • I have a premium MSN account and you can’t sync tasks, notes and on some systems the calendar. I have spent hours getting the run around on the telephone. Without any luck. This used to work fine before th migration. Also I used to be able to sync colored coded (labeled) appts and that functionality was lost as well. My MSN Premium account for all appearances is now a Hotmail Plus account. Definately a headache and a downgrade with this migration.

      • How can I get such a premium MSN account and where are the differences to a “normal account”!? How much to you pay for your premium MSN account?

        It should (it was) possible to sync “tasks”. Someone sayd that it only works with Outlook 2007. This may explain why I got error messages when syncing tasks (so Outlook connector tried to sync task but failed).

        The message(s) I got:
        “Unable to synchronize item” Change : Update SSE Error (8004a164)

        Others claim that only using a premium account it is possible to sync tasks (I don’t believe that because I see no reason why Microsoft should to that)

        I think it is a technical problem. I am also able to sync tasks using OL (OfficeLive which seems to based on SharePoint technology) with Outlook 2003.

  28. Nena seems to be in the same boat as me with a former MSN Premium account that no longer syncs tasks and notes between Outlook and Live.

    However, I have no idea what a “Hotmail Plus” account is. Based on Nena’s reply, Hotmail Plus still doesn’t restore the lost functionality.

    Hfrmobile, I have no idea how to get an MSN Premium account. Mine was simply part of a Verizon DSL package. I don’t think Microsoft even offers MSN Premium anymore. As far as I can tell, my former “MSN Premium” account is no different from any free Hotmail or Live account. (Before the migration, there used to be differences.)

    I think Microsoft simply dropped the ball in terms of carrying over the extra features of MSN Premium during its migration to Live. So basically they’ve stripped my MSN Premium account of any advantages it once had over the freebie accounts. Fortunately I’m not paying for it (directly anyway).

    And echoing Nena’s experience, troubleshooting with MS is typically a pretty hopeless task, especially when the solution to the problem simply does not exist. I can only hope that MS is at least aware of the issue. That they’ll fix it is more than I’d hope for, however.

  29. Does the Connector force Blackberry users to use gmail?

    Since upgrading to Connector, when I receive an appointment request which is sent to “myname@msn.com” it goes into my Windows Live Calendar and not my “Outlook Calendar” as it used to.

    There does not appear to be any way to sync my “Windows Live Calendar” and my “Outlook Calendar”

    As my Blackberry will only sync with my “Outlook Calendar” this is not helpful. It is vital to me that my appointments show up on my Blackberry.

    The only but simple solution seems to be to completely ignore the “Windows Live Calendar”, exclusively use my “Outlook Calendar” but send and receive meeting requests using my Gmail account (myname@gmail.com). When I do this the appoints go straight into my “Outlook Calendar” and my Blackberry syncs fine with it. All seems to be fine.

    1. Is this really the case, the Connector forces anyone using a Blackberry to use Gmail if they want their calendar items to show up on their Blackberry?
    2. Is there any way to solve this using msn/hotmail email?
    3. How do I sync my outlook calendar with my live calendar and should I try to?
    4. Am I missing something or is this crazy?

  30. If you make your Live calendar the default, wouldn’t you lose the ability to sync with Windows Mobile (via Exchange ActiveSync or Mobile Device Center)?

  31. I’m trying to sync my Outlook 2007 calendar to my Windows Calendar. My hotmail account is over 10 years old….Is this still a ‘live’ account and is this maybe the issue? In my OL ’07, I have three different hotmail accounts synced to it, so I have multiple calendars (quite a few actually) on the ‘calendars’ tab, and may need to rid of a few since I only use the one. Right now, there is a different calendar that is syncing to this main hotmail account, but it’s a different calendar that I use for my work…The main one that I use, my personal one in OL, is the one that I want to sync over as well so I am able to access both of them in hotmail. I was told I have to copy the ‘shared web address’ from OL (the web address that is sent out to whoever I want to share my calendar with), and then go to my hotmail account and click on ‘subscribe’ and put that web address in there. I did, and it didn’t give me any errors originally (that was last night), but when I checked this morning it said that it could not sync it for some reason. I usually don’t have my computer on all the time, but had it on all night in order for OL to hopefully sync with my hotmail acct. I’m lost here…Shouldn’t this have worked? Or isn’t this calendar considered an ‘online calendar?’ Basically the default calendar for this account works fine…All my work info is synced, but this additional ‘personal’ calendar will not. Please help! 🙂

    • Basically, the ‘default’ calendar for this account is syncing fine, but how do I sync one that isn’t the default? I’d like both of them on my hotmail.

  32. Is there away to sync my windows live calendar’s to-do list? I created a new calendar, entered a bunch of stuff in the to-do list from windows live and now I would like to sync to my outlook 2007 (connector 12.1). Thank you for you help.

    • It should work, but it doesn’t. Some people claim that sync with to-do list only works for Outlook 2007 and others claim that you’ll need a “premium account” (what a “premium account” is) …

      I also like to sync my to-do list but at the moment I found no way to do so … If you find a solution please leave a reply here 😉

      Info: If using Office Live Workspaces you’ll be able to sync “to-do” lists (Live Workspaces == Sharepoint) …

  33. Trying to sync my windows live to microsoft office outlook 2007. Can’t get it to sync. Downloaded the connector-exe but it doesn’t come up with the navigator pane. It gives me an error(0x8004210) outlook cannot connect to your outgoing (SMTP) e-mail server. Everything else seems to connect just not the sending which i think keeps the navigation pane from coming up. I just want to use outlook instead of windows live hotmail. I really don’t know the computer lingo, just new at this. Can anyone help?

    • Same boat here. I’m trying to set things up where I can have my assistant enter appointments in my outlook and have them show up in my hotmail calender for when I’m on the road and such, or vise versa. I set up outlook connector and it now forwards the e-mails form hotmail to outlook, but doesn’t seem to transfer appointments from hotmail to outlook. I’m not good with the high end lingo either. Help would be appreciated, or suggestion for another detailed online calender that would work better for this. Thanks in advance for the help!

      • I can’t even get my e-mail or contacts to forward. I guess i’m heading down to STAPLES they have a tec their that says he can help.He thinks it may just be some settings that need ajusted. I think it’s only $19.95 at ours. Good Luck, maybe you should check out STAPLES there!

  34. I know the problem and I can give you an idea. So the problem is sync the Outlook calendar, contacts e what ever with any other device or software. I´ll not be in detail, just the overview of the solution. This idea you will never loose any emails, contacts, calendars, TO DO or Task. You wiil not worry about backup of PST or emails. If you use 2 computers this is the answer.
    Follow the steps bellow?
    1- You need to have already installed the Office Outlook connector already installed and of course an accounto into Live Mail/Hotmail so…
    2- Create a new profile and don´t create the outlook email account, you go NEXT and create the Outlook email account by Outlook Connector. This way the outlook account will be your default account to send/receive and all of your emails, contacts, Calendars, To Do and Tasks will be in the Hotmail account BUT you can see them into Outlook.
    3- If you have others account into others webmails, you just configure the account as IMAP into the Outlook. This way you can send emails by this account too.
    4- Configure the Hotmail to get the emails FROM the others accounts acting as outlook BUT as you can see the emails will be into Internet Hotmail. So you can see thme from any place in the world.
    5- If you want you can modify the place to store your SENT emails, by creating a Rule to move a copy of any other account to any place or the default will be your default account, in this case HOTMAIL account, so, in the Internet too.

    Regards,

  35. In response to Mcorrea on 14feb10: It indeed works as Mcorrea describes, but some explanation might be necessary. In step 2 to create the new profile, you need to go to in Windows to Control Panel –> User accounts –> Mail –> Profiles –> Show profiles and then add a new profile. Enter a name, click OK, then a wizard opens and you choose View or change existing e-mail accounts. Click on Next. Click on Add and choose Additional Server types. There you will find the Outlook Hotmail connector, click Next. Now fill in your Hotmail details, click OK and you should be set up.

    Once you have added the profile, you have to go back to the Control panel –> User accounts –> Mail –> Profiles and you see the newly added profile. You can either choose to have Outlook prompt you to choose the old or the new profile when it starts or you can choose to Always choose the Hotmail account. In both cases the the newly created Hotmail by Outlook connector account will be your default account. If you desire to do so, you can delete the old profile.

    Bear in mind that if you now start Outlook that it will take a while (several minutes) before all email from your Hotmail account will be imported into your Outlook. Depending upon the amount of email, contacts, etc. it will take longer.

    In any case you are now set-up to send/receive email through Outlook (but actually through Hotmail), you can access your mail on any computer through your Windows Live (Hotmail) account and you can now synchronise your Windows mobile phone with outlook: one calendar, one set of contacts, one set of emails.

    Make sure before you delete the old profile that you copy your relevant data to your hotmail account. Best way to do that is when you first add the Hotmail account to Outlook as a seperate account. You then have 2 calendars, 2 sets of contacts. I dragged my Outlook contacts to the Hotmail contacts and where necessary merged the contact information. Then later when you create the new profile and add the Hotmail account through the Outlook connector as described above, you will see them as your default contacts in Outlook.

    By the way I use Office2003 on a Windows7 platform.

  36. Help. Have an iPhone – and have synched it with Outlook to connect with contacts and e-mails in a ‘live’ account.
    Want to synch calendars in my live account with iPhone. Can this be done?

  37. I found that a google calendar with a G-mail account can e automatically synched with your outlook. I had nothing but problems with the Outlook connector thing with hotmail, so I searched around the the google one works MUCH better! It won’t sync contacts or anything, but if you’re just looking for an online calendar that can be synced with your outlook, I would HIGHLY recommend this one over the hotmail outlook connector.

  38. When using your link I just get the following:

    Aufgrund eines internen Fehlers besteht die Möglichkeit, dass Sie unsere Produkte nicht nutzen können.
    Wir möchten Sie darauf aufmerksam machen dass es im Moment zu einer Fehlermeldung „Seite kann nicht angezeigt werden“ kommen kann, da wir gerade für Sie an unserer Support Seite arbeiten um sie zu verbessern. Wir bitten Sie um Verständnis für die mögliche Verzögerung und möchten Sie bitten es einfach später noch einmal zu versuchen.

    Wir konnten keine Lösung finden

    😉 No test-system? They are working always on the production system … ^^

    BTW, why do iPhone users like to use Hotmail/LiveMail? Just try WM (Windows Mobile) or even WP7 (Windows Phone 7) and you’ll see it would work with any problems.

  39. I have a crappie old PDA Tungsten 5 I’ve manage to get it to sync with outlook 07 and I’ve managed to get outlook to sync with windows live mail, and I’ve manage to get calendars set up and recognize both, lastly I’ve been able to import a calendar a file in to my windows live account (it only transfer 2 items and not everything and they are marked as busy with no information)
    Can anyone here tell me how to get a full calendar form outlook from a pda to windows live mail calendar?

  40. When I upgraded my computer to a new dell, it didn’t come with a licensed package of Outlook. Instead, it had Windows Live Email. However, Windows Live Calendar and Windows Live Email cannot interpret the Outlook calendar invites. Do you know of any interface products that will allow me to use the free version of Windows Live Email/Calendar, but interpret Outlook calendar invites?

  41. Solution:
    1. create the hotmail folder as new calendar in outlook by using the office outlook connector
    2. export your outlook calendar to a CSV file
    3. import that same CSV file in the new hotmail calendar

    You’ve manually synced to your hotmail folder. In the future, only use the hotmail folder

  42. I have just downloaded Outlook Hotmail Connector and am trying to use it. I am just trying to share the calendar back and forth from Outlook to my Live account. When I enter a date in Outlook it pushes through to my Live calendar, but when I enter a date in the Live calendar it does not show up in Outlook.

    The reason I am trying to sync is I have shared calendars through my Live account. The shared calendars are showing up on the side like I should be able to read them in Outlook, but nothing that is on the calendars is showing up. Does anyone know how I can get info from my Live account to show up in Outlook?

  43. I hear you about search speed–Microsoft has always relied on Moore’s Law and for some people it works great. I’m glad that you’ve had good luck with it. Also, good point about Live offering a very different grounds for comparison

  44. Hi everyone, this blog has become a good learning aid for everything to do with Outlook and Windows Live. However, I could not find the answer to my question. Sorry if it has already been answered. Is there a way of copying all my appointments from my local appointments to my on-line appointments?

    I am (still) using Windows XP and Outlook 2007

    Regards

    Lawrence

    • Using Outlook 2003 this was possible:
      – Use the list view of all appointments
      – Select all
      – Copy
      – Paste it wherever you like (e.g. the synced appointments of a Windows Live account)

      Info: This is just copy&paste and no sync between the appointments (source / destination!)

      Regards,
      Harald-René Flasch

    • Hi. Instead of the Outlook Hotmail Connector you may take a look at the CompanionLink program on http://www.companionlink.com. It is not free, but a 14-days trial is available. It synchronizes your private folders for Contacts, Calendar and Tasks between Outlook and Windows Live Mail. From there you can syncrhonize to a Windows Phone 7.5 PDA if needed.
      The program may synchronize to a bunch of other devices as well.
      I have just installed it and tried it a few times and it seems to work – some more tests are needed. However I have not been able to find a way to have synchronization done automatically every, say, 3 hours. You have to run the program manually when you want synchronization to appear.

  45. Magnificent website. Lots of helpful information here.
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