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The verification is good enough. IMAP is not supported.
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The verification is good enough. IMAP is not supported.

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<div class="content wysiwyg-content">
Hello,<br />
<br />
Is there a way to access hotmail or Windows Live email using the IMAP protocol or through HTTP? I know it will support POP3 but I want to use IMAP or HTTP. I have searched for tech articles on this and it is unclear to me what Hotmail or Windows Live will support, today.<br />
<br />
If there is a 3rd party plug-in that will also allow me to access all of my Hotmail folders using IMAP or HTTP I am open to this, too.<br />
<br />
Thanks,<br />
John
</div>
</div>


Hello,

Is there a way to access hotmail or Windows Live email using the IMAP protocol or through HTTP? I know it will support POP3 but I want to use IMAP or HTTP. I have searched for tech articles on this and it is unclear to me what Hotmail or Windows Live will support, today.

If there is a 3rd party plug-in that will also allow me to access all of my Hotmail folders using IMAP or HTTP I am open to this, too.

Thanks,
John

Hotmail, Windows Live, and Outlook 2007

Interactions between email servers and clients are governed by email protocols. The three most common email protocols are POP, IMAP and MAPI. Most email software operates under one of these (and many products support more than one).  The correct protocol must be selected, and correctly configured, if you want your email account to work.

Email Protocols

An email client, email reader or more formally mail user agent (MUA) is a computer program in the category of groupware environments used to access and manage a user's email. A web application that provides message management, composition, and reception functions may internally act as an email client; as a whole, it is commonly referred to as webmail. Likewise, email client may be referred to a piece of computer hardware or software whose primary or most visible role is to work as an email client. Email clients can also have other systems, like calendars, notes and contact managers.

Email Clients

Within Internet message handling services (MHS), a message transfer agent or mail transfer agent (MTA) or mail relay is software that transfers electronic mail messages from one computer to another using a client–server application architecture. A MTA implements both the client (sending) and server (receiving) portions of the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP). The terms mail server, mail exchanger, and MX host may also refer to a computer performing the MTA function. The Domain Name System (DNS) associates a mail server to a domain with mail exchanger (MX) resource records containing the domain name of a host providing MTA services.