Ask the Hotmail team anything [and we'll reply via video]

[throwawar679]

What i like about hotmail recently

-speed. it's super fast.

-instant action buttons are amazingly useful. i was a skeptic at first, but after thoroughly using them, they're a godsend, thanks for that

-skydrive integration. more and more of my friends are using it for sharing docs, pdfs and some pictures. absolutely killer feature.

thanks hotmail team!

like?? give me 2 example that hotmail has which gmail doesnt.

Dont say flagging spam is a hotmail only thing.. gmail had it for years... hotmail recently implemented it...

instant action buttons is a feature that isnt on gmail. im not sure if this other feature is on gmail, but on hotmail, you can have your flagged messages (aka important messages) saved at a special spot above the rest of your inbox. like, they're not buried within ur inbox but rather they're RIGHT above it. not in a separate folder, right above the inbox list. they don't get sorted with the rest of your inbox. you could collapse this list if you're not using it, or completely disable it through the options menu.

btw, if im not clear enough, flagged messages != "flagging spam"

[still1]

What i like about hotmail recently

-speed. it's super fast.

-instant action buttons are amazingly useful. i was a skeptic at first, but after thoroughly using them, they're a godsend, thanks for that

-skydrive integration. more and more of my friends are using it for sharing docs, pdfs and some pictures. absolutely killer feature.

thanks hotmail team!

instant action buttons is a feature that isnt on gmail. im not sure if this other feature is on gmail, but on hotmail, you can have your flagged messages (aka important messages) saved at a special spot above the rest of your inbox. like, they're not buried within ur inbox but rather they're RIGHT above it. not in a separate folder, right above the inbox list. they don't get sorted with the rest of your inbox. you could collapse this list if you're not using it, or completely disable it through the options menu.

btw, if im not clear enough, flagged messages != "flagging spam"

I think u missed my edited post.. i meant flagging message instead i typed flagging spam...

like i said its called starring in gmail where you can group all your emails at one place.. Its there in gmail as well and its there for yeas which is a new feature in hotmail.. if you check this thread most ask questions about features that exist in gmail but not in hotmail... there are ton...

You didnt even give me one feature that exist in hotmail but not in gmail.

[throwawar679]

I think u missed my edited post.. i meant flagging message instead i typed flagging spam...

like i said its called starring in gmail where you can group all your emails at one place.. Its there in gmail as well and its there for yeas which is a new feature in hotmail.. if you check this thread most ask questions about features that exist in gmail but not in hotmail... there are ton...

You didnt even give me one feature that exist in hotmail but not in gmail.

I did give a feature, instant action buttons.

And the starred emails do serve the same purpose as the flagged messages as on hotmail, I suppose.

Just so you know, I have both a Gmail and hotmail. I only use hotmail, but I opened a Gmail account specifically to try its features. I just went on it an hour ago and I see no instant action buttons.

When did you last use hotmail?

[still1]

I did give a feature, instant action buttons.

And the starred emails do serve the same purpose as the flagged messages as on hotmail, I suppose.

Just so you know, I have both a Gmail and hotmail. I only use hotmail, but I opened a Gmail account specifically to try its features. I just went on it an hour ago and I see no instant action buttons.

When did you last use hotmail?

instant action buttons in hotmail make it so you don?t have to open a message to take action on it like mark as read/unread,delete and flag...

you can do the same with gmail. it has similar option to star but not to delete which is just a checkbox away and not a killer feature...

just to let you know i asked 2 feature even if u consider this as a feature then need 1 more...

Thats the best part about gmail... i can point out lot of feature that exist in gmail but not in hotmail.

[Foxxx428]

What's this Hotmail? I saw a very valid point on the front page. Hotmail accounts are easily hacked. Yes they generally have weak passwords but these are brute force attacks. Why does Hotmail allow hundreds of passwords per minute instead of locking the account for a while? I've been approached by a few hotmail "customers" with locked accounts. They were not locked by suspicous activity on the account. They were all locked because a friend reported spam coming from that account. That's all I have to say.

[Manish]

Please, please, please can we have better Mac/iOS support:

imap

Mac hotmail connector for Mac MS Office

Native Mac Hotmail client

Frankly, just implementing IMAP support would be enough. However it'd be nice to see some consideration towards the bottom two points too.

(I realise that I completely ignored the "we can't talk about future plans" point. But Hotmail needs IMAP!)

[jimmyfal]

Can I now import more than 1000 contacts? I left a while back because there was a 1000 contact limit. Has this limit been lifted or is it now just you can only import 1000 at a time?

JF

[MWKZ]

Why POP/IMAP protocols are disabled? We understand that SMTP should be disabled to stop sending mass spam emails by some bad users but why not to let users simply use any POP client to view their emails?

I case these settings really exist please just give us the addresses and ports ans security settings.

Thanks

[psreloaded]

Gmails interface is not to my taste but thats just me. I feel its dated and like we are living in 1999 again. Functionality wise, its really hard to tell which is better but both are definitely good. I would lean a bit towards hotmail now. I have multiple accounts in both and some accounts in both sides have been filled with spam so pretty much same in my experience.

[Axel]

I'd like to know why there isn't any way I can block particular headers in Hotmail and there are no advanced customisation options for this. Reason being that I receive a lot of SPAM which all looks very similar in layout and it's always at roughly the same time in the day. I attempted to talk with Hotmail support and the only advice I was offered was to set my Junk filter to exclusive, which just isn't practical for me at all.

Many thanks.

[Sir Topham Hatt]

For example, I recently set up a new hotmail address and within 24hours, without even giving the address out, I'd received over a hundred blatant spam emails into my inbox.

Yet when I look at my hotmail address (although to be fair it is an "@live.com" I think), I haven't had any which haven't been caught.

5. No archive option. It's nice to be able to hide emails you don't care about from your inbox.

If you don't care about them, why are you archiving them?

There's options for folders under the inbox which makes it easier (and better) for filing.

Q: I have an Android phone. Although it handles Hotmail fine, would you say better integration with other operating systems is something you are interested in for the future? Or will the emphasis be on Windows-only softwares?

I agree about the hotmail name. It's very 1990's. I am happy that you have the "@live.com" choice.

I also agree about the UI. Although I would say it looks more professional than Gmail, it does seem cluttered, what with the ads and all that facebook chat thing that I never use (as I use Windows Live Mail - so actually the UI doesn't really matter to me anyway!).

Good idea by the way (Y)

[cooky560 Veteran]

What was wrong so wrong with the interface in the image below that you had to change it considering:

- It was fast, and easy to use

- It looked professional

- There was the option to buy ad-removal

- Less Spam

- It worked with a webmessenger

- It was uncluttered.

Whereas the new interface looks ugly, is slow and offered none of these benefits.

[tiagosilva29]

How does one patch KDE2 under FreeBSD?

[belto]

I just wonder why i cannot get my emails to work with my minimac, especially my hotmail account. Live works but not hotmail, what gives?

[(Account no longer active)]

Hi there!

I have been using Hotmail everyday for the last seven years, and love it. There has been some great features added recently, and I have noticed much improved response times. I like the Hotmail user interface better than Gmail's. I see not problem in this regard.

Only one issue: recently, I have discovered a bug when you reply to email in plain text format (my preffered option, as some people I send emails to still use old webmail interfaces from the 90s - and they won't change).

To replicate the bug, set your email to compose email in Plain Text Format, not Rich Text Format. To do this, click on New (to compose a new email), and then "Rich Text" (if selected), and choose "Plain Text".

Now, go back to your Inbox, and reply to any message. Look what happens to the email you're replying too - there are "#" and "&" signs all over the place.

It was not doing this a month ago.

Could you please fix this? I have tried this on multiple accounts, and it always produces the same result.

There is a remedy, but it is a bit of a pain to do everytime: set email to compose in "Rich Text Format" (same steps as above). Then, reply to a message, and then choose "Plain Text" - it will convert to plain text.

Hope you take notice of this! I will also post it to the Hotmail support page over the next few days.

By the way, I am using Firefox.

Thanks.

Please guys, can we have debates (Gmail vs Hotmail) elsewhere? Some people have been using Hotmail for 10 years, others have been using Gmail for 10 years. This topic is not for debates.

[scotters83]

Why is flag implementation not used through your mobile apps? For i.e. I can't flag or see flagged messages on the official Android Hotmail app. Also, it is impossible to send mail on behalf of another address like I can on the desktop version. I want to consider making the switch to you guys, but these two key areas are why I don't bother switching from Gmail. Thanks!

[Guest]

I always considered Microsoft being one of the few companies which handle my private data delicately and do not interfer with or search through it. (Other than i.e. Google Mail, where I get ads depending on the topics I discuss in private mails).

So why is it necessary for Microsoft to scan all the content that I upload to my Skydrive for possible violation of the code of conduct?

I understand that other users must be protected but isn't it enough to controll the content that I share openly?

Don't get me wrong, I don't mind the code of conduct and content policies, I just mind Microsoft scanning all my data and possibly banning me from my Skydrive.

[Auroka]

Yet when I look at my hotmail address (although to be fair it is an "@live.com" I think), I haven't had any which haven't been caught.

I agree about the hotmail name. It's very 1990's. I am happy that you have the "@live.com" choice.

Is it just me or is the "@live.com" option really "@LIVE.COM"? (In all caps)

I know I most of the time when I see my email address it's all lowercase, but just knowing the @LIVE.COM is really all caps annoys me.

And yes, I know I've got issues. :s

[butilikethecookie]

Will there be a windows 8 metro app?

An iOS app?

[henk2]

I have 2 'problems' working with Hotmail:

You can't attach files by simply dragging and dropping. Especially when adding a bunch of files, this feature would be really convenient.

The other problem stems from the Sending/receiving email from other accounts feature. At this moment, email sent as if from another account will bear a "From x@hotmail.com on behalf of x@example.com" header. I got several questions from recipients who tought my account was hacked or something, while others said that the email was deliverded to their spam/junk folder. I think it is quite awkward. Solution: let people in Hotmail add that account?s smtp server (next to pop), so mail is sent via these servers instead of Hotmail.

[The.Clinton]

Are there any plans to make a google-apps like setup? Simplified interface (branding etc), push contacts/email/calendars to various devices (how about outlook-exchange type too? Google don't offer this AFAIK) and the ability to set a pre-defined signature sent from every email address on the domain (like a legal disclaimer)?

[Roger H. Veteran]

I know you can't talk about upcoming stuff, but are reply "flags" supposed to be synced? By this i mean, similarly to Exchange, if I reply on the web it syncs with outlook and mobile devices (shows that it's already been replied to). On Windows 8 (i know, still beta! :D) it doesn't and if I reply on my mobile device, it doesn't show on the web interface.

This works flawlessly with Outlook with the connector obviously but for whatever reason doesn't work with mobile devices using EAS (not pop3, i double checked!).

[GalileoMS]

Loving all the questions. Since there are questions that are basically asking the same thing, we'll probably just provide one response instead of replying individually to everyone.

We'll keep this open for another day before closing it up. So keep the questions coming!

[BajiRav]

1. Do you plan to support two-step verification? (similar to what Google has)
   
2. Can we have a less text-heavy UI? Right now the web UI is very text-centric and things become confusing especially for email threads of 10+ messages that have active view (attachments, video links etc.)
   
3. Any plans to support search-as-you-type in Contacts?
   
4. I want to link facebook but filter them out in Contacts (similar to WP), possible?
   
5. When I send photos as Skydrive album, can the default permissions be "View only"? (to reduce one extra click :p )
   

Apart from above, can't think of any other thing yet, just like to say good job on,

• Send photos as Skydrive albums
  
• EAS :D I use hotmail more ever since this happened.
  
• Mutliple email addresses on one account :)
  

[Singh400]

Why don't you guys implement something that allows me to easily manage Safe Sender lists? I'm talking about removing multiple entries and adding multiple entries.

So my current safe senders looks like this:

• mail1@domaina.com
  
• mail2@domainb.com
  
• mail3@domainc.com
  
• mail4@domaind.com
  
• mail5@domaine.com
  

And here is what I want to do in one simple easy process:-

• @domaina.com
  
• @domainb.com
  
• @domainc.com
  
• @domaind.com
  
• @domaine.com
  

Also, your Android app rocks!