How To Login Hotmail UK Email Account

In this era of the ‘dot-com’ boom, webmail services have become a reliable platform for people worldwide to utilise for various essential purposes, besides exchanging emails. Hotmail is undoubtedly one of the most popular email service providers today. In fact, Hotmail surpassed Yahoo to become the world’s second-most-used email provider, with Gmail taking the top spot. As Microsoft claimed in 2016, Hotmail has garnered over 450 million active users worldwide.

Microsoft’s Hotmail free email service offers numerous significant features. However, it’s worth noting that Hotmail, rebranded as Outlook in 2012, has somewhat confusing terminology. It has failed to clearly differentiate between its Windows App or Office 365 and the free email account, leaving many users struggling to organise the two services properly.

To address this issue, we have decided to guide you on how to create a Hotmail account and log in to an existing Hotmail account on various devices. We will also discuss the available Hotmail features and what you can expect from this email service provider.

How to Sign in to Hotmail UK Account from Various Devices?

Once your Hotmail account is successfully created, you can sign in through any web browser software or app. Although you can always use the web interface, users can now also sign in to their Hotmail account via the Outlook mobile app, available for Android, iOS, and Windows Phone.

Signing in to an Outlook account from any device is easier than you might expect.

How to Login to Hotmail UK via Android App:

Firstly, visit the Outlook official site or Play Store to download Outlook for Android.
Install the app on your Android device and then launch it.
Tap on the “Get Started” button to proceed.
Under the “Add Account” section, enter your primary email ID and tap “Continue”.
Enter your password, select your name, and then choose “Set up Account Manually”.
In the top-right corner, tap the tick icon.

How to Login to Hotmail UK Email via iOS App:

In the “App List”, select your device’s “Settings” option.
Select “email + accounts” and then choose “Add an Account”.
Select an account type and opt for “Exchange”. Ensure your phone runs Windows 8 or a newer version.
Enter your email ID and password.
Tap the “Sign in” button to proceed.

How to Login to Hotmail via Windows Phone:

In the “App List”, select device “Settings” option.
Now select “email + accounts” option and then select “Add an Account”.
Now select an account type and opt “Exchange”. Make sure your phone runs with Windows 8 or newer version.
Type in your email ID and then Password.
Tap on “Sign in” button to proceed.
Finally, hit the “No” option.

How to Sign in to Hotmail Email UK via Desktop Browser:

Open your Windows or Mac browser, go to the Hotmail login page or simply type Login.live.com and press Enter.
Enter either your email ID, Skype ID or phone number.
Enter your Hotmail password and click “Next”.
Now, click on the “Sign in” option.

Once you’ve mastered the Hotmail sign-in process, you can access your Outlook account from any of your devices simultaneously. All your activities in your Hotmail account are synced in real-time across all the active devices you are signed in to. The Hotmail mobile app is comparatively easier to operate when using a smartphone or tablet. Logging in to your Outlook account from a personal computer is hassle-free as well.

If you’re using a Windows PC, you can take advantage of numerous benefits offered by Microsoft Outlook service. While Hotmail’s mailing service is free, the premium version offers even more features. Consequently, Outlook has become the second most popular mailing service in the world today.

What is Hotmail?

In general, Hotmail is a free email service that enables you to send and receive emails from any corner of the globe, provided you have an active internet connection. Hotmail is widely appreciated for its robust online security and anti-spam mailing service.

Operated by Microsoft, the platform is seamlessly integrated with the Windows operating system. It’s worth mentioning that Hotmail can also be used in conjunction with the Outlook Office 365 app.

The service is connected to other Microsoft products such as Windows Live ID, Microsoft Xbox, Skype, and many more. Let’s delve deeper into Hotmail and its history.

About Hotmail:

Sabeer Bhatia, along with Jack Smith, founded Hotmail in 1995. The term ‘Hotmail’ was inspired by HTML. In December 1997, Microsoft Corporation acquired Hotmail for $400 million and renamed it MSC Hotmail. In November 2005, Hotmail was rebuilt with a new interface. By 2006, the service was integrated into Windows Live Hotmail.

In October 2011, Microsoft released Hotmail’s final version, available in 36 major languages worldwide. Just a year later, Hotmail was rebranded as Outlook by Microsoft. At that point, the old Hotmail interface was entirely changed, and the previous Hotmail domain was redesigned to redirect to Outlook.com. All email accounts created with the old Hotmail were moved to the new Outlook interface.

Since Hotmail’s inception and Microsoft’s acquisition, the free email service managed to attract over 100 million users worldwide. However, during those days, Hotmail had only a few service features such as spam filters, virus scans, address books for saving contacts, a schedule calendar, 250 MB of free space, along with the free email service.

Over a decade, as Microsoft continually updated Hotmail’s user interface to make the service safer, faster, and more reliable, the new Outlook free email service has evolved to include many essential features users appreciate.

Microsoft’s current Hotmail (Outlook) email service offers numerous valuable features. Let’s explore them.

Hotmail Features

Microsoft Hotmail has introduced many innovative and satisfying features to make the email experience more interactive and engaging. Below is a list of Hotmail’s new features designed and developed to provide the best email experience.

#1. Security: Microsoft has added top-notch security features to Windows Live Hotmail, previously limited to login protection against phishing. Hotmail now offers HTTPS, similar to Gmail’s security features introduced a few months ago. This ensures user security throughout the entire session, making Hotmail more robust in terms of security.

#2. Active Packages: To make Hotmail more interactive, Microsoft introduced Active View features. These allow users to directly interact with their email contents. Hotmail is now integrated with popular external services such as YouTube, Flickr, Twitter and more, enabling users to stay connected with these platforms directly from their email interface. For example, if you receive an email containing a YouTube link, you no longer need to visit YouTube to watch the video, as Hotmail’s Active View Packages feature allows you to play it directly within your email interface. This feature is particularly useful for those using the shipping services of the United States Postal Service, as it enables real-time tracking of delivery and shipping status.

#3. Facebook Chatting: This feature enables users to stay connected with their social media friends on Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus. Currently available in a few regions such as Germany, Brazil, the US, and the UK, this feature will be accessible to the rest of the world within a few months. Users can now manage their contacts in various ways, such as removing duplicate contacts and creating specific groups. You can continue your social network conversations on Twitter, Google Plus, and Facebook directly from your email window. A new iOS and Android app called “People” has been developed, offering direct access to your friends’ posts and timelines without opening your mobile Facebook and Twitter apps.

#4. Photo Sharing: Email is an ideal platform for sharing photos, with more than 2 billion images shared by users on Hotmail each month. Previously, Hotmail had limitations due to its restricted attachment size, but it is now the only email service provider that allows users to send up to 10 GB of attachments per email. Hotmail has expanded its capabilities, enabling users to share a photo album from SkyDrive. This feature is currently available only in the US but will soon be accessible to users worldwide. Along with this, Microsoft has increased the attachment size limit to 25 MB for regular emails.

#5. Calendar: Many users are familiar with the aesthetically pleasing Windows Calendar. This feature is now available on Outlook, with all the functionalities present in Windows Calendar. First released in 2008 as Windows Live Calendar, users who are fans of this calendar can now import and export files to and from Outlook. This feature allows users to create, view, manage, and share calendars with other users as needed. Simply drag and drop calendar files onto Outlook, and its intuitive user interface will make your calendar more appealing and organised.

#6. Task and Event Management: Outlook now allows you to manage and set reminders for important tasks and events. With the newly introduced Task option, you can easily track tasks that need to be completed. You can create your own task items in an email with an actionable flag to help with tracking, or alternatively, you can add tasks to the to-do list within Outlook.

#7. Sweep: This essential functionality has been added to Outlook to help you manage and filter your emails more efficiently. With the Sweep or Virtual Broom feature, you can easily delete or search for emails based on the sender name, recipient name, subject, and date/time. This is particularly helpful for those dealing with a large number of emails daily. The Outlook Broom assists in performing bulk email moves and deletions.

#8. MS Office on Outlook: Outlook can now be easily integrated with Microsoft Office products, such as Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. Users can log in to all MS Office products directly from Outlook and manage documents with any updates being automatically saved to OneDrive. Once MS Office is synchronised with offline products, you can log in to MS Office directly using your Hotmail credentials, and use it just like the offline version.

#9. Skype: This feature enables users to access Skype directly through Outlook. Similar to the Active Packages View feature listed earlier, this functionality allows users to send messages and make calls on Skype directly from Outlook.

#10. Aliases: This interesting feature, recently added to Microsoft Outlook, allows users to create up to 10 different email addresses that share the same main inbox. With the same contact list and email settings, you can use 10 different email IDs on Outlook, and recipients of your aliases email will be unaware of your primary email address.

Now that you have a good understanding of Hotmail’s features and how they can benefit you in various tasks, we will show you how to create a Hotmail or Outlook account easily if you haven’t used Hotmail before or don’t have an account in Outlook.

How to Create a Hotmail (Outlook) Account? (Desktop)

Setting up a Hotmail account is simple and free, though there is also the option to upgrade to a premium account for additional features. The free account is more than sufficient for most users who simply want to access the email service. Here are step-by-step instructions to create a Hotmail account for free:

Step 1: Open your preferred web browser and visit the Outlook Sign-in page.

Step 2: Scroll down slightly and click on the “Create one!” option.

Step 3: Enter a desired email ID or username. You can also use an active phone number or an existing email ID.

Step 4: Create a password, ensuring it contains a minimum of 8 characters and at least two of the following options: numbers, symbols, and uppercase/lowercase letters.

Step 5: Click the “Next” button to proceed to the next page.

Step 6: Enter your first and last name.

Step 7: Click the “Next” button again.

Step 8: Select your “Country” or Region and your Date of Birth.

Step 9: Enter the Captcha Code displayed in the box and click the “Next” button.

Your free Hotmail account will be created, and you can sign in to Outlook using the chosen login credentials from any smartphone or personal computer.