Last week, Microsoft officially launched the beta version of Outlook.com, their new web email service. While the company's previous Hotmail service is still sticking around, Microsoft is actively encouraging its users to consider transferring over to the new Outlook.com.
In a new post on the official Outlook blog, Microsoft recommend that Hotmail users who want to use Outlook.com do so by using their current Hotmail account, rather than create an all new account on Outlook.com. Microsoft states that the current Hotmail.com address will continue to work in Outlook.com. All of a Hotmail's user's settings, including their password, folders, contacts, signatures and more will continue to work as they did before in Outlook.com
Even with all of these setting staying the way they are, Microsoft is also offering two ways for Hotmail users to change their email address to one with an @outlook.com name. One is setting up an alias on your Hotmail account that adds one with an @outlook.com address. You can add up to five aliases a year, with a maximum of 15.
The other option for a Hotmail user is to rename their email address to one with an @Outlook.com address. This means that the @Hotmail.com address becomes an alias under the Outlook.com account; it also means that users should still receive all emails from that @hotmail.com account.
Microsoft does warn that this option also means that users will have use their new @outlook.com name when they sign into other Microsoft-based devices. It's an even bigger hassle if you own a Windows Phone product. Microsoft states:
If you use a Windows Phone, you will need to reset your Windows Phone to factory settings, and then set it back up with the new account name. You will lose all personal data on the Windows Phone when you do this, so make sure you have that data backed up. You will need to re-install all your applications on your phone, although you will not need to re-purchase them.
Source: Outlook blog | Image via Microsoft
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