How to switch from Outlook.com to Hotmail [How-To Guide]
August 7, 2012 571
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Outlook.com is a new free web e-mail service by Microsoft intended to replace Hotmail. Using Outlook.com can be done by creating a new Outlook.com account or upgrading your existing Hotmail account to Outlook.com. If you have used Outlook.com and decided you want to go back to Hotmail, that can be done easily. This guide shows you how to do it.
Before We Begin
Before we being, take note going from Hotmail to Outlook.com does not change your e-mail address. This means if you created a new @outlook.com e-mail, that e-mail will stay with you when you go to Hotmail; if you converted your Hotmail account to Outlook.com, you will still retain the same Hotmail e-mail when you go back.
Also, downgrading from Outlook.com to Hotmail does not result in loss of data. All your e-mails, contacts, folders, etc. are converted with you. The only thing that changes when going from Outlook.com to Hotmail is the user interface; you get the old Hotmail inbox and features back.
Lastly, if you were forced to upgrade to Outlook.com from Hotmail, you cannot revert back to Hotmail. Going from Outlook.com to Hotmail is only for those people that voluntarily upgraded.
UPDATE: It looks like Microsoft is no longer allowing people to revert back to Hotmail from Outlook.com. Sorry people — you are stuck with Outlook.com, you cannot change back!
How To Go Back To Hotmail From Outlook.com (How To Turn Off Outlook.com)
The following are the steps you need to take to covert your Outlook.com account to Hotmail:
Note: To enlarge any images below, simply click on them.
- Login to Outlook.com.
- Once logged in, you will be taken to your Outlook.com inbox. From there click on the gear icon located near the top-right corner:
- Clicking on the gear icon will open a menu. From that menu click on Switch back to Hotmail:
- Next you will be prompted with a message asking for feedback. If you want to provide feedback, click on Send feedback; otherwise, click on Skip feedback:
- Done.
If you opted to send feedback, you will be asked a series of questions after which you will be taken to Hotmail; if you opted to not send feedback, you will be taken directly to Hotmail:
Conclusion
Switching between Hotmail and Outlook.com is very easy and dotTech’s two guides How To Upgrade From Hotmail to Outlook.com and How To Switch from Outlook.com to Hotmail make the process even easier thanks to our step-by-step directions with screenshots. So go, venture into the world of Microsoft e-mail without fear of permanent change. Enjoy!
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msn giveth and msn taketh away. I hate Outlook, but I am learning to live with it. I still think it is better than any other e-mail I have tried. Unfortunately, as it is a free service, I suppose msn has the right to impose on us what they want. I do wish they would stop referring to it as an upgrade, as it certainly is not, but in my experience, once you stop ranting, it is usable. Lots of quirks and problems, but it is free, and it is here to stay – or at least until msn comes up with yet another “upgrade”.
[@ALAN SHEEHAN.] It might or might not be true that it is no longer to get back into Hotmail. The twirps have been teasing us for months, forcing us into Outlook and then grudgingly allowing us to escape.
Right now my wife’s account is still in Hotmail — I just wish I could figure out how to get a transfusion from hers to restore life to the pallid corpse which Outlook has made of my own….
Please help! another service says it can import CSV files but how is this done? please step by step (I know not how to move or bulk fwd my folders with past info -my data – referrals etc.. as I have had Hotmail for 15yrs!!!!) Didn’t want to drop Hotmail ever- may keep outlook but this will help me clean out clean up and get on with it..
thanks ahead
hollyloveshotmail
@Glenda – A wise decision. Many more probs with GMail
@John They are changing gradually so the un changed will be changed in the newt 4 weeks
Good Luck to all
JB,How are you pal?,yes sadly..its as KF says,in
about a month or so HOTMAIL will be-R.I.P.Your
tone is very polite considering things “twirps”.One of
my friends E-mailed me recently with-Have you seen
what those “Fu**ing Sh*t for brains Morons @ MS
have pulled with this poxy F**king load of crap they
call an Upgrade?If clowns like these can become
Millionaires peddling products like this in their remit,
then on that scale of brain for brain we should all be
Billionaires soon-lol. OK,enough of the laughs,do you want any help with Outlook,myself and many
others are at hand,& as for me..i’m around often
into the small hours,being a night owl,regards-Alan.
Kendra,A very serious Q comes to mind..are our
E-mail addresses on dotTech safe?
[@ALAN SHEEHAN.]
Alan, I for one have asked already for help and I cannot see any word coming from people, such as yourself, who seem be dealing positively with this “upgrade” and have something good to say about Outlook.
I understand this is a one way trip, there’s no way back, and regrettably so, but I am still one of the “happy few” who are still in “enduring” Hotmail. Before I jump into the water (or get pushed before I do) I would love to hear from you people, already dealing with it an loving it, a word or two about the sunny side of the experience.
Is there anything you can provide about this?
Thanks in advance.
[@Glenda Kanashige]
Glenda, I had asked you before for your help in providing a couple of reasons that could alleviate my anxiety level and make my remaining days (God knows how many) with Hotmail less stressful but I did not see much on your last comment that could be taken as an attempt to address my concerns…
You say that unfortunately, because it is a free service, you suppose msn has the right to impose on us what they want. I say you may be unaware that, like me, there are scores of Hotmail users who do pay for the use of the service. This makes it relevant to understand how the product you are currently paying for may compare with the one that is being quite unceremoniously pushed down your throat by the gods at msn… And to this extent, your “msn giveth and msn taketh away” sounds vastly misplaced, wouldn’t you agree?
But if you (or anyone else) have any positive comments about Outlook, by all means, please! They will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
The unfathomable designs of gods?…
At this point (and, oh!, how I would love that this may turn out not to be my last opinion!) I do think this move, to which MSN decided to give the honorable title of an UPGRADE, has turned already into a worldwide public relations fracas for Microsoft. Like I say, for my own benefit, I wish I’m wrong. But if it comes out I was right, the fault lies solely and squarely on the company’s management. They could (actually, they should) have done a much better job while achieving the same or similar results and still keeping the good will and the loyalty of millions of customers around the world. I see no need to bother trying to explain how, as I’m sure any average adult person can fully see it.
Which leaves us to wonder why they took the path they did… It’s open to anyone’s guess!
Mark Hi,I don’t know how you got the impression that
i had positive things to say about this- Upgrade????
it is a blight on the Web/Net community,but we are
stuck with it*.There are other providers,but having
had a good look at the pros and cons comments on
them,i’m afraid its a case of “the devil you know”–
RE*above.The only way out of this mess,if there is
one,is or those like myself who have nailed down
what makes Outlook tick to come forward,and offer
help to those who are struggling.Do you need help on a certain aspect of the new system?,because
all i seem to find,is moans and grumbling about the
whole thing.If i found this site for the 1st time,i would
have gone straight for the poster who posted-”cant
find anything on the new System & need help”?One
can join in with the comments-”bemoaning ones lot”
later,far better to get Pro-avtive NOW!
I for one, have only ever used the free service. I can only imagine how galling it must be for you paying customers to be forced to move. To be honest, now I am using it, I find – so far – very little difference between Outlook and Hotmail. Some commands, such as Forward, Phishing Scam, Mark as Unread, and Sign Out are hidden behind arrowheads and other icons, but once I found them, the system worked well. I may also have missed some of the more major problems, as I managed to hold on to my Hotmail for a fairly long time. And there have also been a few Outlook updates recently, which may have ironed out some more of the wrinkles. I don’t like the look of Outlook, but I have customised my page with preferred colours, so it is a bit less unattractive to my eyes. I have not lost any information or been unable to access my account since I was changed over, and some of the other problems I have read about, which I experienced even with Hotmail, such as “server unavailable” or very slow connections, turned out to be problems with my laptop rather than with Hotmail/Outlook. I upgraded from Vista to Windows 7, and exchanged Internet Explorer for Mozilla Firefox, and things ran a lot more smoothly. Again, Mozilla has its own set of issues, and there are things I liked better with Internet Explorer, but the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages. Are there specific problems you are worried about? I am not really computer savvy, and perhaps people who know more than me see more problems than I do, but all in all, I till prefer Outlook to gmail, Yahoo or any of the (admittedly few) systems I have tried, and it is the closest to the old, beloved Hotmail. I would have been really happy to stay with Hotmail, but as I can’t, I am just trying to make the best of it.
Famous Last Words. When I tried to go to the next message, I got an “Outlook is experiencing problems message, but Merde Happens.
Well done,good luck to you Glenda.I have just one
suggestion to make,try using Chrome-its faster!
Well, Alan, as someone who hates change, I have avoided Google Chrome like the plague. But as one who always embraces it once I am forced to, I will give Chrome a try. One problem – I am not sure I can go any faster.
It is like a VIOLETION!!!!!I DON’T WANT TO BE IN OUTLOOK AND YOU TURNED MY HOTMAIL TO OUTLOOK WITHOUT MY PERMITION!!!LET ME TAKE BACK TO HOTMAIL OR I LL CHANGE TO ANOTHER EMAIL!!!!!!BASTARDS YOU HAVE NO THE RIGHT TO CHANGE MY EMAIL!!!!I HATE THIS “FROZEN”OUTLOOK FORMAT!!!!
[@ALAN SHEEHAN.] [@Glenda Kanashige]
So now, I hope, you have a better understanding of the different types of Hotmail users and the somewhat different issues that each type may be facing. This may also give you a better grasp of why some may be more prone to bemoaning than to being pro-active… I for one have decided to keep my head cool and trying to understand what’s really at issue here. My unenthusiastic approach derives solely from all the readings anyone can find all over the web, on one side and, on the other, the great parsimony of words and explanations that seems to be Microsoft’s official approach. And this, you’ll admit, makes you wonder… Case to say: Their silence is deafening… And why?
If you read my previous postings, you may have noticed that at this point I do not have any personal issue with Outlook whatsoever, because I still did not jump into the pool and have not been pushed either… I’m still happily swimming the familiar waters of Hotmail… But I do understand what’s coming, unannounced, at any minute. And I must be honest, I do resent the way MSN has handled the whole issue. It’s like they just sat down and said: Unleash the hounds!!!…
They do have the means and the resources — they SHOULD have acted in a much more businesslike way and make all the announcements necessary to avoid this ongoing terrible backlash, visible to anyone except, as it looks, to themselves…
At the very least, they should have contacted those people, such as myself, who have been paying them for many years for the use of their service. And if this is too much for anyone to ask for, then I suspect our business people may be learning too much too fast from China… I surely hope not!
Before finishing, and since you kindly volunteer to provide help to people who may need it, I feel encouraged to ask why don’t you please provide a side-by-side comparison of Hotmail vs. Outlook, possibly citing any pluses, any minuses and/or any “likes-dislikes”?
Please note that as far as I am personally concerned, I don’t care about links to Facebook, Twiter or Skipe. On the other hand, I would love to get a better understanding of some hinted suggestions that have been made about links with Office and Windows 8… Any thoughts?
Thanks and regards.
Natalia
They dont need your permission. It is their system. they did send you 2 emails explaining it
[@Kendra farns]
Kendra, that’s for sure. But I wonder if that will be the new business standard we want to pursue… I would say it’s not!
Mark Lee
You are of course correct. I dont use either Hotmail or Outlook.com (I just support them) but no matter what you use the powers that be are squeezing the last thin dimes out for profit Is there an alternative? IMHO not.
I always hated outlook. I mean the last time I heard about it was like 10 years ago. Very few people used it then and nobody will use it now. What a moronic msn idea.
[@sasha alex]
Sasha, what you say is of little use to the rest of us if you do not follow up with a suggestion about what you consider to be a good replacement for the retiring Hotmail.
Without Hotmail, and Outlook being, as you say, a moronic idea of msn’s, which I’m not confirming or denying because I do not know Outlook (yet…), your suggestion or recommendation would be, I believe, a positive contribution for me and possibly many others, as “evicted” (or soon-to–be “evicted”) Hotmail users.
Thanks.
ML,the only thing that will work for everyone is,
make a choice..stick with Outlook or find a new
provider.For those who choose the later,i wish them
good luck,but don’t expect it to be plain sailing,there
will be other problems with any new provider and as
I have said before..”better the Devil you know”……..
However help with poking the new Devil in the eye is
at hand from many posters who have already found
their way round the new System & who can save
you a lot of time and trouble.Speaking from my own
point of view,i’m a “Night Owl” & i will help in any way
that i can into the small hours,kind regards-JAN.
AS
Thumbs up for the devil you know.
Thanks KF,Good luck,Alan.
I am probably not the person to be giving advice. I am just a non-savvy housewife who uses e-mail every day to contact my friends around the world. A side-by-side comparison is a bit beyond my talents, but in my case, except for the hidden commands which you have to search for and whose whereabouts I often forget, Outlook seems to work exactly as my Hotmail account did, which leads me to believe I am missing something, as other people seem to be having serious problems. I never use links to Facebook or Twitter and have been using Skype independently for several years, so have no idea how they work. As I said once before, I like that Outlook doesn’t automatically open the next e-mail or Junk mail when you delete the one you have read. Apart from that, and the appearance, I can see almost no difference. Most of the commands at the top of the page: Not Junk, Sweep, Move To, have down-pointing arrowheads beside them. When you click on the arrowhead, more commands appear in a dropdown, many of which were on the banner in Hotmail. To the right of Empty, there are three little dots, which open another dropdown with: Mark as Unread and other commands. My account has a picture, which was my Skype logo but now isn’t, and when I click on that, there is yet another dropdown which allows me, amongst other things, to Sign Out. Everything else on my account seems to work just the same as Hotmail. But as I said, maybe I am missing something.