Hotmail had been the free email service of Microsoft which was till the appearance of Gmail was the number one free email service that millions of people prefer to use. Hotmail was the first free webmail service to enter the market in 1996 and has led to a dominant position for a long time. However, in the mid-2000s, the faster, simpler, more storage-intensive Gmail knocked it out of the saddle, and attempts to renew Hotmail later could not stop the migration of users.
Therefore, around 2012, Microsoft decided to upgrade and transition the Hotmail email service to Outlook.com. And by 2013, it was officially completed. This means that Microsoft’s free web-based e-mail service is officially closed. Users are required to move to Outlook.com. More than 400 million active accounts are now using Outlook. During the migration process, Microsoft has moved at least about 150 petabytes of email data in just six weeks to Outlook.com.
In terms of interface, Outlook.com is indeed more modern and fresh. In addition, Outlook is now equipped with several features, such as two-way authentication, calendar, and application updates, and integration with Skydrive cloud services for data storage and Skype for video chatting.
All existing Hotmail users can easily and quickly switch to the completely revamped service at Outlook.com (keeping all their mail and settings), and new retry can try the latest solution with an email address ending in @ outlook.com by default. Of course, it’s not just the Hotmail name that’s been known for more than 16 years that has changed at all: from social integration to multimedia extras, there have been many surprises in web Outlook.
The @ hotmail.com e-mail addresses are still available and usable, ie if the sender writes to any Hotmail address in the future, the e-mail will arrive in the Outlook.com account. Hotmail was formerly known as Windows Live Hotmail and also MSN Hotmail.
Why Hotmail has been transitioned to Outlook.com?
Since the launch of the Hotmail.com email service, it experienced many changes, including one not very successful re-branding. Despite this, Microsoft continues to experiment with its email, and today the Hotmail brand has faded into the background ad has paved the way for the new Outlook.com service.
Inside the company, the reason for the next re-branding is because of the not-so-good image of Hotmail, which seems to have forever gained the fame of unreliable and slow email. The main cause for the downfall of Hotmail is the arise of Gmail which came in the market luring many Hotmail and other email users by offering any features that these email services didn’t have at the time.
Thus, Microsoft decided to compete for users using a different name, and since the only Outlook is directly related to email among the company’s products, it is known to a sufficient extent, the choice fell on it. Eventually,Outlook.com came with the ability to save your data and address, or register a new one.
Outlook.com has, in fact, many more features that the Gmail and other email services don’t have. With Outlook, Microsoft has been able to get back its lost users to Gmail. Many have defined the Outlook.com as the Retro Style Hotmail. One of the best things that Microsoft did with Outlook is it enables people to use their old Hotmail address in outlook.com.
Features of Outlook.com email service
The outlook.com has included many features overcoming not only the failures of Hotmail but also competing with the features of Gmail. Some of these features are still those which many users may not know to exist in outlook.com. Take a look at these features of outlook.com:
1. Inbox
The first thing that catches your eye when logging on to Outlook.com is the new inbox interface, which is made in the Metro style and is very similar to the standard mail client for Windows 8 and 10. The user has the opportunity to choose the main color, it will be painted the top panel, as well as links. In addition, the Inbox has two additional types of display. Letters are grouped on the topic of correspondence, which is very convenient for prolonged communication with one or more recipients.
In the left column is a search bar, folders, as well as links to message groups with photos, documents and important correspondence. The user himself can create a folder and the rules according to which letters will fall into it. Otherwise, Outlook.com looks different from Hotmail, but the service structure remains the same; for active Microsoft mail users, the new interface will not seem completely unusual.
2. Composing new message
At first glance, the design of the message compilation window looks very unusual, since the address bar is on the left side, and the message subject and text of the message itself are centered on the screen. Nevertheless, you quickly get used to such a design, it does not seem too complicated, on the contrary, large interface elements allow you to quickly navigate. When writing a letter, you can switch from the input mode of formatted text to plain or HTML.
There is also a panel with basic formatting tools, you can choose one of nine fonts and its sizes. The spellcheck button is present which on pressing will check all the spelling of your message. Adding attachments to Outlook.com is implemented by a special button that allows you to transfer files from your computer or mobile. It is convenient to correspond through Outlook.com, you quickly get used to the interface, and it pleases with its simplicity.
3. Strong mailbox
The mailbox of the free e-mail offer is 15 gigabytes in size and therefore offers long-term space for numerous messages. There is a direct connection to the OneDrive cloud storage, whose storage space is measured separately. Attachments of up to 25 megabytes in size can be sent directly via Outlook. Outlook automatically transfers any larger data to the OneDrive cloud when it is sent so that there is virtually no size limit when sending mail. Your Outlook and Skype contacts are also conveniently merged, a seamless transition between the two platforms is created.
Navigating between folders is very clear and a powerful search function is available. If you want, you can create alias addresses that allow sending and receiving emails from alternative addresses from an account. Forwarding rules are also quickly created. As is typical for Microsoft, some of the setting menus are unfortunately rather confusing.
This is due in particular to the fact that Microsoft repeatedly refers to alternative company-specific pages for profile configurations. However, this inconvenience does not affect Outlook itself. Microsoft completely does without advertising: fortunately, no annoying ads land on the website or in the mailbox itself.
4. Connection to office
In Microsoft’s online interface, you can easily switch between mail and office applications: Word, Excel, and Co. can be called up easily with just one click in their web variants. The sharing of documents via e-mail from the office applications also works well.
5. Quick setup in app and third-party software
Outlook can be quickly set up in any mail software using the IMAP and POP3 protocol, and profiles tailored to the service are often available for selection. Free apps are available for Android and iOS, which convince with very high speeds and a clear design. If you want, you can also conveniently integrate mails from other services here.
6. Spam protection
Outlook protects you against annoying commercial emails and other spam with the help of a spam folder. All e-mails that should not end up in your mailbox are reliably sorted into these – but sometimes the spam filter is too hasty because important e-mails sometimes end up in the spam folder.
7. Safety
Microsoft offers solid security features when dealing with emails. This includes encrypted registration in the webmail interface, the encrypted data transmission there and also the e-mail access secured with TLS Forward Secrecy via the SMTP server. The sending of emails is also secured by TLS with Forward Secrecy. When stored on the Microsoft servers, emails are unfortunately not encrypted. Your own Microsoft account – and with it Outlook – can be protected using two-factor authentication.
8. Preview message
A preview of each letter is available in the message list. You see the sender address, subject and the first line of the main text. The last parameter can be configured. To do this, open the View tab, find the View Message button and select the desired number of lines. If you wish, you can completely turn off viewing to save space. Outlook will also ask if you want to apply the setting only to this folder or to all mailboxes.
9. Main mailbox
If you have several accounts in Outlook, you can choose one as the main one, so that the corresponding folder opens when the mail starts. To do this, click File → Options and in the window that appears, select the Advanced tab in the left panel. In the section Starting and ending work with Outlook, click on the Browse button. In the Select Folder dialog box, find the account you need and select Inbox or another necessary folder. Now it will open when you start working with Outlook.
10. Search folders
If you often look for letters by driving the same words and expressions into the search bar, you can simplify your task. Outlook supports search folders or smart folders. Set them up and you can forget about the manual sorting of correspondence. Go to the Folder tab → Create Search Folder. In the window that appears, you can select a search folder from the templates provided by Outlook, or create your own yourself.
For example, the search folder Unread emails will show all messages that you did not open, regardless of where they are and what accounts they belong to. Emails will not move anywhere: only links to them are displayed in search folders. If the Outlook templates do not suit you, select Create a custom search folder at the bottom of the list. Click Select. Then enter a name for the folder, click Conditions and indicate by what criteria you want to select messages in it.
11. Cleaning Folders
This function deletes redundant messages in the selected folder. Redundant refers to quoted copies of your letters. To check the function in action, right-click on the folder in which the replays and copies of messages have accumulated, and select Clear folder. You can specify which messages are considered redundant.
To do this, select File → Options → Mail → Clear Conversation. Here you can configure the cleaning so that it does not affect important or marked messages, as well as choose which folder to move unwanted messages. By default, they are sent to the Deleted Items folder of the account to which they belong.
12. Delayed Delivery
This function allows you to write a letter now, and send it later. Just indicate the time of sending and forget about the letter, it will reach without your participation. Write a new letter, specify the addressee and subject, as usual. Then click the Options button in the message box and select Delivery Delay. In the window that opens, select the Do not deliver to checkbox and specify the date and time.
You can set other parameters. For example, mark the message as important or forward a copy to another address. Outlook saves the messages planned for sending in the Outbox folder until they are sent. Then the letters will be moved to the Sent folder. If you need to cancel the delivery delay or change the date and time of sending, open the Outbox folder and look for your message there. Click Delivery Delay on the Settings tab and change the date and time in the Do not deliver to the field. Or uncheck the box to disable the delivery delay.
13. Fast Action
In skilled hands, this is an incredibly powerful tool that will help to cope with large volumes of correspondence. The Quick Actions function allows you to automate any sequence of actions and perform them with one click. On the Home tab, find the Quick Actions button. To do this, click on Create New in the Quick Action section and specify a name. Then, by clicking on the Actions button, select the operations that you want to perform, step by step.
You can save a quick action on the toolbar or assign it a hotkey combination. For example, you can create a quick action to move selected messages to a specific folder and mark them as read. Or massively respond to your interlocutors by creating a calendar reminder of a meeting with them.
14. Outlook Windows
You can open several Outlook windows at the same time. This will allow you to view email, calendar, and tasks on a large monitor without using the navigation buttons to switch between mail and calendar. Right-click on the open email client icon in the taskbar and select Outlook in the menu that appears. A second window will open. When you close the mail client, go to File → Exit in any of the open windows, without clicking the close window button in the upper right corner. The next time you start, Outlook will open with the same number of windows.
15. Rules
This function allows you to automatically perform certain actions with new mail. Click Rules in the Home tab and select Manage Rules and Alerts. Here you can create, modify and manually run them. Click Create Rule, and then set your preferences in the window that appears. You can indicate to the application that it emits a specific sound signal, displays an alert and transfers letters corresponding to one or another criterion to the desired folder.
16. Account Names
By default, your email is used as the account name in Outlook, but you can change the account name. At the same time, it will remain the same on the server of your email provider, so you can call your mailboxes by their contents: Work, Home and so on. To change the account name, right-click on the account (panel on the left) and select Account Properties. Or go to File → Details. Then open the Account Settings, select the account whose name you want to change, and click Change. Enter a new name, then click Next and Finish.
17. Command Line
Geeky things that will help to use Outlook more efficiently are suitable for those who are used to working with the keyboard, and not with the mouse. Press Win + R to open a command prompt, and enter the commands:
- outlook.exe / nopreview: open Outlook without a message preview window.
- outlook.exe / select folder_name: open Outlook with a specific e-mail folder instead of the one that you have assigned the main one. If you enter outlook: calendar instead of folder_name, the calendar opens.
- outlook.exe / restore: open Outlook by restoring all windows if the program was closed as a result of a system error.
- outlook.exe / finder: to open a powerful Outlook search tool instantly.
What is the maximum file size that can be sent via Hotmail?
Microsoft has raised the maximum limit of email attachments to 150MB for users of Microsoft Outlook email services. Users of the Outlook Web Access e-mail service from Microsoft under Office 365 can send attachments ranging from 1MB to the highest of 150MB. Microsoft also sets different limits for different groups of users. Although it can send attachments up to 150MB in size, it doesn’t mean that users can send 150MB attachments in one email. Microsoft sets each email limit at a maximum of 25MB.
Outlook Web Access limits the size of messages that can be sent is 25 percent less than the maximum send size. It means that if the attachment size is allowed 100MB users can only send 75MB and each attachment can be no bigger than 25 MB, so users can send three attachments, each measuring 25MB.
In addition, there is no guarantee that people sent email attachments up to 150MB will be able to receive it. Because it could be that the file is too big to download or there is a maximum limit of emails set by the Office 365 recipient. Although Microsoft can now send large email attachments, users are still advised to send large files using the cloud.
Sending larger files more than 25 MB size
The outlook is an e-mail service from Microsoft that offers filtering functions so that it can filter any e-mail from whatever origin. Outlook e-mail also allows automatically sending all e-mails from certain senders to specific folders.
How to attach a folder to your Outlook email:
Method 1
- Right-click on the folder that you want to attach
- In the menu that appears, select Send to, then select Compressed (zipped) folder then the folder is automatically compressed and a new zip file is formed, rename the folder that is zipped if necessary.
- Open and login to Microsoft Outlook on your PC
- After entering then create a new message by clicking New message, fill in the destination email address, subject and message.
- To attach the folder, click Attach, which is at the top of the screen, select Browse this computer
- On the screen that appears search for and selects the folder that was previously compressed zip then click Open
- The compressed folder has been attached, then click Send to send it
Method 2
Another method for attaching folders in e-mail messages is the Send to Mail recipient feature
- Locate the compressed folder that you want to attach in an Outlook e-mail message on your computer.
- Right-click the zip folder, select Send to then click Mail Recipient
- Then all files in this folder will be attached to the new e-mail message as attachments
Method 3
In the third method, you can send the larger files in outlook mail via the cloud service and then sharing a link. Among the several cloud services available to upload and share files, the popular ones are OneDrive, Dropbox, iCloud, and Google Drive. Choose the cloud service you want to use, and then store the file in the cloud. Then include the link to the file in your email message and then end it to the recipient.
Method 4
Usually, the larger files that you want to send via email are the image files. The other simple method is to decrease the image size and then send it. For this, you have three options.
Option I: Inserting a picture in the message body and then resizing it
- To insert a picture in the body of your message, place the cursor where you want your image to be. Then click on Insert and choose the picture. If the size of the picture is large, you can change the size of the picture by using the sizing handles.
- Tap on the photo so that a small circular sizing handle at each corner of the picture will appear.
- Now click on one of the handles, drag the handle toward the center to reduce the size of the picture. Or, you can click on the Format, enter the adequate measurement in the size group.
- There is also another option, on the same Format tab, select Compress Pictures. And then choose the resolution and compression and click on OK.
Option II: Attaching the image and then resizing it
- Attach the images that you want to send to your email message.
- Then click File > Info.
- Under the Image Attachments section, you have to select Resize large images when I send this message option.
- Now, return to your message, and click Send, while doing so, the outlook will automatically adjust the size of the image.
Method 5
In another method, you can save the file you want to send in a SharePoint server library. It is useful especially when you are using outlook email for business purposes. Follow the steps given below:
- In Word, click File > Save As > Add a place where you want to save your word file.
- Under Add a place, click on the service that you want to use, like Office 365 SharePoint or OneDrive.
- The Sign-in screen will appear for the service that you have chosen. Complete the form, remember you may have to contact for the username and password to your IT Department.
- Once you complete the above stage, the new location appears on Word’s Save As pane.
- Now open the file that you want to share. Then click on File and then click on Save As.
- On the Save As an option, you have to double click the location that you want to use. Such as your SharePoint document library, a location on your computer, your MySite, or your OneDrive.
- Select the name that you want your file to be saved as and then click Save. If you are redirected to the Info Tab, click on Share again.
- Under Share with People (or, in Word 2013, Invite People), type the names or email addresses of the recipient you want to share the file with.
- If you want to give more rights to the recipient, then you can select Can Edit or Can View. It will allow the recipient to edit or only view the file.
- Enter a message in the box below the address line, this is optional, then click Share.
Method 6
Add Outlook Attachment Size Limit
By default, Outlook can only send an email with max attachments of 25MB, and many mail servers that allow attachments more than that may be more than 50MB. Now if we upload file attachments in outlook windows more than 25MB, the error attachment size exceeds the allowable limit error will appear. You can overcome it by setting the max attachment via the registry. Follow the steps given below:
- Press on the Windows keyboard + R.
- On the run menu dialog type Regedit. and type OK.
- Arrange on the menu as below:
- Outlook 2019 and 2016: HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Office \ 16.0 \ Outlook \\ Preferences
- Outlook 2013 : HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Office \ 15.0 \ Outlook \\ Preferences
- Outlook 2010 : HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Office \ 14.0 \ Outlook \\ Preferences
- Double click on MaximumAttachmentSize.
- If you don’t find MaximumAttachmentSize, manually add the added registry> Dword Value and fill the value with MaximumAttachmentSize then enter.
- In this case, the maximum file size is specified in kilobytes (KB). If you know the maximum possible size of file attachments from your mail provider, you can easily calculate the necessary values. You simply multiply this number in megabytes by 1024. Now you have to enter this calculated value in kilobytes. If you want to completely deactivate the warnings, you can set the value to 0. Such as for 2MB -> 2048, 5MB -> 5120, 10MB -> 10240, 50MB -> 51200.
- Increasing the maximum file size for attachments in Outlook does not automatically increase the maximum file size for messages from your email provider. For example, if the server limit is set to 5MB, larger messages will still not be transmitted and you will receive corresponding error messages and warning messages.
- In this case, the only workaround would be to split the too large file into several small parts or to use a file hoster.
Method 7
When everything fails, then take the help of a specialist. The easiest way to spontaneously send large files of any kind are services that specialize in them. Perhaps the best known is Wetransfer, which can send up to 2 GB in one go. Simply enter the address of the recipient and your own, pull in the attachments and click on Send – no registration is necessary.
Wesendit is a recommendable Swiss cloud sender that sends up to 5 GB free of charge and continuously encrypted without registration. Free customer data is automatically deleted after seven days. Droppy is also based in Switzerland. This service also sends up to 5GB free of charge, the transfer is SSL-encrypted and files are deleted after five days or earlier at the user’s request.
Minbox is an interesting alternative for teams. Here files can be uploaded from the computer or the user integrates other cloud services. It is possible to share files individually with team members or to combine them in projects. The US service works in the browser, a program is currently only available for Mac OS. The free storage space is 2 GB.
With the German service, Zeta Uploader only 500 MB uploads are possible free of charge, the email address of the recipient is sufficient and the file can be protected with a password.